It might surprise you how the Chinese say:

1. “one of my friends”

My first impulse was, of course, a sort of word-for-word translation:

yí gè wǒ de péngyou *WRONG*

This is better:

1. wǒ de yí gè péngyou 我的一个朋友

Which is literally “My one friend.”

So what if you want to say:

2. “He’s my one friend” OR “He’s my only friend”

Here’s where you employ a new word (immortalized in Wáng Lìhóng’s 王力宏 famous song):

2. Tā shì wǒ wéiyī de péngyou. 他是我唯一的朋友.

If you still want to use the number and measure word, you could also say:

2. Wǒ zhǐyǒu tā yí gè péngyou 我只有他一个朋友

So now what about if I want to say:

3. “He’s one of my best students.”

There are three common ways to translate that (click the hanzi for a literal breakdown of what each word means):

3. Tā shì wǒ zuì hǎo xuéshēng zhīyī. 他是我最好学生之一.
Tā shì wǒ zuì hǎo xuéshēng lǐmiàn de yí gè. 他是我最好学生里面的一个.
Tā shì wǒ zuì hǎo xuéshēng (zhī)zhōng de yí gè. 他是我最好学生(之)中的一个.

That’s the same grammar you would use if you wanted to say:

4. “I need one of you to help me.”

Except, my informant said the “zhīyī” 之一 construction would sound weird here, which only leaves:

4. Wǒ xūyào nǐmen lǐmiàn de yí gè lái bāng wǒ. 我需要你们里面的一个来帮我.
Wǒ xūyào nǐmen (zhī)zhōng de yí gè lái bāng wǒ. 我需要你们(之)中的一个来帮我.

And now the grand finale:

5. He’s one of the only foreign teachers who can speak Chinese.

That “one of the only who can” I was told is best translated as “among the minority who can.” For example, one possible translation would be:

5. Tā shì shǎoshù huì shuō zhōngwén de wàijiào zhōng de yí gè 他是少数会说中文的外教中的一个.

What a complex sentence, eh? Anyone know of any other ways to say that? Please help.

• Maybe Someday (easiest Chinese pop song I know)
• Text Message Greetings for Chinese New Year
• Stump the Laowai: wúnài 无奈
• Tone Wars
• A Bit about Bù 不

“Nǐ hǎo 你好,” I said.

He stopped his walk and said, in all sincerity that most people don’t say “nǐ hǎo” 你好 as a greeting. It just sounds too fake (tài jiǎ de 太假的).

I was very startled and asked him to please tell me what I should say. He then went into how good friends will say, “Chīfàn le ma?” 吃饭了吗? or one of the many variations on the question and there are different responses depending on whether or not you’ve just eaten.

This might have been a good little prank, but he was perfectly serious. He was even explaining it to one of his Chinese colleagues who was standing there too (as if he didn’t know!). The colleague, in all earnestness, was agreeing and adding little tid bits of his own to the advice.

I listened very politely and then it ended and they left.

I was surprised to hear all this because:

A. I already know all about “Chī le ma?” 吃了吗? and all the other ”eat-n-greet” options around here. I was shocked that these teachers thought I could understand all the other vocabulary they were using yet, somehow, managed to miss one of the most basic greetings.

B. I thought “Nǐ hǎo” 你好 was perfectly friendly. I had no idea it sounded so “fake.” I think he might have meant it was too formal and not casual enough for good friends.

C. I don’t consider him a good friend. He’s an older teacher who I’ve only spoken with a few times, and usually the conversations have left me (like this one) with an unpleasant wèidào 味道 in my kǒu 口.

So the real questions for any of those loyal few who still tune in to this blog are:

1. Is there any truth in what this man says?

2. Should I now be afraid to say “Nǐ hǎo” 你好 at the risk of sounding fake?

I don’t know why, I  just prefer not to ask people if they’ve eaten as a greeting. But I’d be willing to try if the overwhelming number of comments (i.e. more than zero) tell me I should.

• Stating the Obvious
• Is China a good place to learn Chinese?
• Language Learning is Messy II: Talk a Lot
• Addressing strangers
• Top 10 measure words to know

Example 1: Tennis Player

Imagine I see a girl walking down the street with a tennis racket in her hand. I want to dāshàn 搭讪 (not to be confused with you-know-who). In English, I’d say something like:

“Nice racket you’ve got there. So, are you a tennis player?”

How would we translate that second sentence into Chinese? Well, looking at “reporter” (jìzhě 记者) and “scholar” (xuézhě 学者) we see that you just add “-zhě” 者 to the end of a verb and you’ve suddenly got a noun meaning “someone who VERBs.” Unfortunately, even though the grammar is technically correct for a literal translation, the word dǎzhě 打者 doesn’t exist, so this is impossible:

Wrong:
Nǐ shì wǎngqiú dǎzhě ma? 你是网球打者吗? = Are you a tennis player? [you are tennis play-er {p}]

So what should we say? The other agent markers are out because you can’t add them to “dǎ” 打 either:

• -jiā 家 = -er (like in “huàjiā” 画家 = painter)
• -yuán 员 = -er (like in “yǎnyuán” 演员 = actor / performer)

These words do not exist is Chinese:

Wrong:
Nǐ shì wǎngqiú dǎjiā ma? 你是网球打家吗?
Nǐ shì wǎngqiú dǎyuán ma? 你是网球打员吗?

You could add yuán 员 to “tennis,” but that sounds too professional:

Nǐ shì wǎngqiúyuán ma? 你是网球员吗? = Are you a (professional) tennis player?

That’s not really my question. I just want to know if she plays tennis.

So I suggested to my informants the trusty “shì…de” 是…的 construction:

Nǐ shì dǎ wǎngqiú de ma? 你是打网球的吗? = Are you a tennis player? [you are play tennis {p} {p}]

They said it’s ok, but sounds strange. It turns out what most Chinese people would say is simply:

Nǐ huì dǎ wǎngqiú ma? 你会打网球吗? = Do you know how to play tennis?

OR better yet:

Nǐ jīngcháng dǎ wǎngqiú ma? 你经常打网球吗? = Do you often play tennis?

I know, I know, I know. We don’t want to talk about how often she plays, but that’s the way Chinese people would ask our original question, “Are you a tennis player?” or “Do you play tennis?” Apparently, adding the “jīngcháng” 经常 in there is better (or at least more dìdao 地道) than just saying: “Nǐ dǎ wǎngqiú ma?” 你打网球吗?

Lesson 1 = If you can leave out the agent marker and just ask a simple “Do you often VERB?” question, that’s probably best.

Example 2: Drummer

But sometimes that’s really not what I want to know. Imagine I’m at a rock show and I meet a band of 4 guys before their set. I want to know who is the drummer in the band. Now, I could just ask each of them:

Nǐ huì dǎ gǔ ma? 你会打鼓吗? = Do you know how to play the drums?

But there’s always that chance, especially because everyone knows how to hit stuff, that they’ll ALL say, “Yes.” They might even hit them pretty often, which renders the “jīngcháng” 经常 construction useless. I really just want to ask about the drummer! Enter: “hand.”

Nǐ shì gǔshǒu ma? 你是鼓手吗? = Are you the drummer? [you are drum-hand {p}]

“Hand” works as the agent marker for most (all?) instrumentalists (jítāshǒu 吉他手 = guitarist) and in some other situations as well:

• xuǎnshǒu 选手 = competitor / contestant [choose hand]
• shuǐshǒu 水手 = sailor [water hand]
• qiāngshǒu 枪手 = gunner [gun hand]
• duìshǒu 对手 = opponent [opposite hand]

Summary

I’m always looking for some sort of guīlǜ 规律 to guide me when thinking about these things and here’s what I’ve got so far (although it’s not even close to perfect):

1. If it’s the formal name of an actual job (reporter, scholar, actor, tennis player, etc.) look for some sort of formal word that may use any of the following: “-zhě” 者, “-jiā” 家, or “-yuán” 员 to create the job title.
2. If it’s less formal or more of a temporary or amateur position (drummer in a band, competitor) look to add “-shǒu” 手 after the main noun involved (sailor and gunner are exceptions I guess, as is ).
3. If you just want to talk about a hobby, just ask “Do you often VERB?”

As an example, if I want to create a formal book club dedicated to reading the collected works of Lǔ Xùn 鲁迅, I’d say:

Lǔ Xùn de dúzhě 鲁迅的读者 = readers of Lu Xun

(One student told me that authors often thank the “dúzhě” 读者 at the end of a book.)

But after that tennis racket girl shuts me down and I want to change tactics and ask if she’s an avid reader, I should say:

Nà, nǐ jīngcháng kàn shū ma? 那,你经常看书吗? = So, do you often read books?

She’ll probably think I’m a player or a loser and just walk away.

• Doubt: Harder Than You’d Suspect
• What’s that “zi” 子 thing?
• Hey, That’s Cheating! OK?
• Stump the Chinese: Velcro and Boombox
• HSK Vocabulary Levels Added to MDBG

1. Look at the picture

2. Answer the question (to yourself)

3. Check the answer below (no peeking!)

Question

This is a picture of graffiti advertising for machine drilling a new well (jī zuàn jǐng 机钻井).  I asked my students why there were so many phone numbers advertising the same exact thing.  Some students said the numbers all belong to the same person.  Other students disagreed.  One student said, in Chinese:

Wǒ huáiyí zhèxiē hàomǎ dōu shì yí gè rén de.
我怀疑这些号码都是一个人的.

And the debate went on.

What is the correct English translation of that sentence?

Feel free to use a dictionary.  Click the hanzi above to use an online one.

Write down or at least say aloud what you think the correct translation should be before reading on.  The answer has nothing to do with the context of the situation.  There is one grammatically correct answer.

Answer

Wrong: I doubt these numbers are all one person’s.

Correct: I suspect these numbers are all one person’s.

The Problem

huáiyí 怀疑 = doubt / suspect.

But “doubt” and “suspect” have opposites meanings in English!

So how do we know what native speakers mean when they use huáiyí 怀疑?  And how do we find know what we really said if we use it?

The Solution

Let’s first look at what you have to say in Chinese if you really want to say:

“I doubt these numbers are all one person’s.”
wǒ huáiyí zhèxiē hàomǎ dōu bú shì yí gè rén de.
我怀疑这些号码都不是一个人的.

So here’s how I suggest dealing with huáiyí 怀疑 in different grammatical situations:

1. huáiyí 怀疑 + Independent Noun Clause (contains Subject and Verb, even if the Subject is implied)

In this case, huáiyí 怀疑 = rènwéi 认为 = “suspect” = “think.”

The original sentence:

Wǒ huáiyí zhèxiē hàomǎ dōu shì yí gè rén de.
我怀疑这些号码都是一个人的.

Basically means:

Wǒ rènwéi zhèxiē hàomǎ dōu shì yí gè rén de.
我认为这些号码都是一个人的.

Which can be translated as:

I suspect these numbers are all one person’s.
- or -
I think these number are all one person’s.

2. huáiyí 怀疑 + (nothing)
- or -
huáiyí 怀疑 + Noun

In this case, huáiyí 怀疑 = “doubt.”

For example:

A: tā shuō tā huì lái.
他说他会来.
He said he’ll come.

B: wǒ huáiyí.
我怀疑.
I doubt it.

- or -

B: wǒ huáiyí tā shuō de huà.
我怀疑他说的话.
I doubt what he said.

3. huáiyí 怀疑 + Phrase containing “Verb Not Verb”

In this case, huáiyí 怀疑 = “doubt” + Verb

For example:

wǒ huáiyí tā huì bú huì lái.
我怀疑他会不会来.
I doubt he’ll come.

So in summary, if huáiyí 怀疑 is used:

1. Before a “complete sentence” (independent clause), like “these numbers are all one person’s,” then it means “suspect” or “think.”

2. By itself or before a “thing” (noun or dependent noun clause), like “what he said,” then it means “doubt.”

3. Before a “verb not verb” phrase, like “tā huì bú huì lái 他会不会来,” then it means “doubt” and you just get rid of the “not verb” (bú huì 不会) part.

If anyone else has a better way of keeping “doubt” and “suspect” straight, I’m all ears.

• A Bit about Bù 不
• Tennis Players and Drummers
• What’s that “zi” 子 thing?
• Unnecessary Measure Words
• My One Friend

What’s the difference between “bié” 别 do something and “bú yào” 不要 do something?

I’ve asked various informants over the years and gotten answers ranging from “there’s no difference” to “I can’t explain the difference” to “one of them is more formal” but disagreeing on which one is.  So now, I shall attempt to employ the power of the blogosphere to find out whether there is a difference and what that difference is.

To assist, I offer the following examples:

A. bié shuōhuà le 别说话了 = stop speaking / be quiet

B. bú yào shuōhuà le 不要说话了 = stop speaking / be quiet

Questions (for ya’ll):

1. Which one would an elementary teacher be more likely to say to a room full of noisy kids?

2. Which one would a friend be most likely to say to another friend when hiding during a game of hide and seek?

3. Which one would a mother say to comfort a crying daughter who keeps going on about the goldfish that just died?

4. Can anyone think of a situation or example where “bié” 别 do something would be ok but “bú yào” 不要 do something wouldn’t?  Or vice versa?

5. When in doubt, which one should I use?

If you’ve got an idea, feel free to weigh in with your answers.  Let’s see just how muddy this water can get!

• Unnecessary Measure Words
• Language Learning is Messy V: Celebrate Your Mistakes
• Mates
• Language Learning is Messy III: Learn What You Need
• Hey, That’s Cheating! OK?

He will not tell anyone =

Don’t succumb to the temptation to say:

• (*WRONG*) tā huì bú gàosu biérén 他会不告诉别人 [he will not tell other-person]

You’ve got to put the “bu” before the “hui” like this:

• tā bú huì gàosu biérén 他不会告诉别人 [he not will tell other-person]

You shouldn’t tell her =

Same principle as above, don’t say:

• (*WRONG*) nǐ yīnggāi bú gàosu tā 你应该不告诉她 [you should not tell her]
  

Here’s the correct way:

• nǐ bù yīnggāi gàosu tā 你不应该告诉她 [you not should tell her]

He asked me not to tell anyone =

Perhaps you’re tempted to translate that as:

• (*WRONG*) tā ràng wǒ bú gàosu biérén 他让我不告诉别人 [he asked me not tell others]
  

But no.  You’ve got to say:

1. tā ràng wǒ bú yào gàosu biérén 他让我不要告诉别人 [he asked me not want tell others]

Or, if you prefer, you can say:

2. tā bú ràng wǒ gàosu biérén 他不让我告诉别人 [he not let me tell others].

Numbers 1 and 2 are both gramatically correct but the meaning isn’t exactly the same.  Sentence number 2 really means: “He didn’t let me tell anyone.”  Because that pesky, divergent “ràng” 让 can be translated into a bunch of words, it means where you put your “bu” is important.  The other thing to point out here is that for imperatives (“You! Do something!”), actually we’re talking about negative imperatives (“You! Don’t do something!”) they like that “yào” 要 in there.

The company hopes you don’t leave =

Getting away from gàosu 告诉 for a moment, don’t translate the above as:

• (*WRONG*) gōngsī xīwàng nǐ bù líkāi 公司不希望你离开 [company hope you not leave]

Rather, you’ve got to say:

• gōngsī bù xīwàng nǐ líkāi 公司不希望你离开 [company not hope you leave]

I don’t think so =

Here’s a situation where both ways are correct:

1. wǒ bú rènwéi shì zhè yàng 我不认为是这样 [I not think is this way]

2. wǒ rènwéi bú shì zhè yàng 我认为不是这样 [I think not is this way]

It helped a lot when I found out both are ok.  But generally a Chinese person would say number 1.

I don’t think he’s polite =

1. wǒ juéde tā bù lǐmào 我觉得他不礼貌 [I think he not polite]

2. wǒ bù juéde tā lǐmào 我不觉得他礼貌 [I not think he polite]

Apparently, both of these are correct as well, but the second one feels like the answer to a question (nǐ juéde tā lǐmào ma?)

What did you learn today?

To summarize what’s going on in these examples, here are some of my own observations:

1. Usually you negate the first verb in a phrase, especially verbs that are modals in English (can, should, will, etc.).

2. When negating an imperative, be sure to make it “bú yào” 不要 do something, (or you could use “bié” 别 do something).

Anyone else have any tips about this?

• Stump the Laowai: shuǎlài 耍赖
• Why Is Nǎlǐ 哪里 Written Wrong?
• My One Friend
• Doubt: Harder Than You’d Suspect
• The Quest for “Anyway”

So where did these measure words come from? I have three theories.

Theory 1

Maybe the cave men were sitting around and they had a conversation like this:

Zhang Thor: Hey look! Big animal coming!

Li Ugg: What’s it called?

Thor: Me not know.

Ugg: Is it “long thin” kind?

Thor: No it’s “big sharp” kind.

Ugg: Oh. We should kill. Eat. Good.

Thor: Dui dui dui. Give me weapon.

Ugg: Which one?

Thor: Me not care.

Ugg: You want “small round” or “long pointy?”

Thor: “Long pointy.”

Maybe that’s where they came from: “When categories ruled the language.”

Theory 2

Another idea I’ve had is that aristocrats and scholars wanted to show off their knowledge and created these measure words for their own entertainment and promotion. Then it may have become a status symbol to show off how many of these esoteric words someone knew.

Theory 3

Or perhaps homonyms are to blame (just as I blame them in my post about the “zi” 子 suffix). For example, if people disagreed on the right tone (as many dialects do), or maybe before there were tones, the measure words might have come in handy to differentiate stuff.

A: Hey I’m in the market for a new “ma.”

B: What?! What’s wrong with your current mother?

A: No not “yi ge ma,” stupid. “yi PI ma.”

B: Oh, why didn’t you say so! We’ve got these measure words, everyone’s life would be better if you’d just USE them.

A: Maybe if we add tones to our language. That would help too…

But who knows how these measure words came into being? If you do, leave a comment and tell me.

By the way,

if anyone tries to tell you “Hey! English has measure words too!” you can feel free to admit that, yes, it does indeed have one. I only know of one (maybe two).

It’s not fair to call the “partitives” (like “a cup of water,” and “a sheet of paper”) measure words because they actually tell you how much of something you are talking about. We say “a loaf of bread” because we don’t want to talk about “a slice of bread.” Chinese measure words do that sometimes too with container words (bēi 杯 = cup) and talking about paper (yì zhāng 一张 = 1 sheet, yí fèn 一份 = 1 batch/stack)

But more often then not, the Chinese measure words are saying things like “1 small-round-thing peanut” (yí lì huāshēng 一粒花生 ). Well in English we just say “1 peanut.” If it’s a peanut, it’s a peanut, and we don’t have to add that extra word before we can count them. We say “a grain of sand” because we don’t mean “a bucket of sand.”

I guess you COULD say that “piece” is a measure word in English because “give me a chalk” doesn’t sound right and “give me a piece of chalk” does (because chalk is uncountable for some reason–maybe because it was originally powder…?). But for all countable nouns, the “piece” tells how much you want and could be omitted (“a piece of candy” = “a candy”) or is just wrong (“a piece of shirt“).

So besides “piece,” the only real measure word I know of in English, that serves no purpose whatsoever, is “10 head of cattle.” Interestingly it’s the same word in Chinese. But in English there is no reason at all for that “head” to be in there. I don’t want to talk about the actual head or the beast. It would four times the work to count cattle by the “hoof.” So yes, you can admit that a “head count” is a sort of measure word in English.

English learners have to deal with countable and uncountable nouns…but that’s nowhere near the hassle of the Chinese measure words. I’m done.

PS: This is the first post using hanzi characters. I’ve added them because several people have requested hanzi be incorporated. Please let me know through either a comment or email if you had any trouble displaying the hanzi or pinyin. Thanks!

• Which measure words do they really use?
• Unnecessary Measure Words
• Top 10 measure words to know
• A Simple Song
• Stuff you might be hearing – Shopping

As a friend who recently arrived in China said, “Yes but do they really USE all of those measure words?” I don’t know about all. But yes, unfortunately, they do use a great deal of them.

These are all the measure words I have heard in natural conversation. Maybe not worth memorizing, but as one learns to speak Chinese, and especially for listening, they’re certainly worth being able to recognize (I can get stumped pretty easily when I hear a seemingly out of place word). ll also give the context I heard the word used in.

If you want to know what other things that measure word applies to, I suggest consulting the back of Chubby or some other measure word reference.

Measure word > for what kind of thing

1. bǎ 把 > stuff with handles (knives), chairs
   • qǐng lái sān bǎ sháozi 请来三把勺子= please bring 3 spoons
2. bān 班 > scheduled transportation
   • zhè bānxiào chē shì bú shì zuì hòu yì bān? 这班校车是不是最后一班？= Is this the last school bus?
3. běn 本 > bound stuff (books, magazines)
   • wǒ yǒu sān běn cídiǎn 我有三本辞典= I have 3 dictionaries
4. bǐ 笔 > sums of money
   • wǒ bìxū huā yì bǐ qián 我必须花一笔钱= I have to pay a sum of money
5. bù 部 > cell phones, sequels of a book/movie
   • nǐ wèishénme yǒu liǎng bù shǒujī? 你为什么有两部手机？= Why do you have 2 cell phones?
6. duàn 段 > sections of long stuff, parts of songs
   • yí duàn fěnbǐ 一段粉笔= a piece of chalk
7. duǒ 朵 > flowers
   • I can’t remember the sentence, but it was definitely about flowers.
8. fèn 份 > bundles/batches (servings of food, multi-page documents)
   • yào jǐ fèn? 要几份= How many servings (do you) want?
9. jiā 家 > stores
   • zhège chéngshì yǒu jǐ jiā wòěrmǎ? 这个城市有几家沃尔玛？= How many Walmarts does this city have?
10. jiān 间 > rooms, houses (one room)
    • zhège xuéxiào de sùshè jǐ gè rén yì jiān? 这个学校的宿舍几个人一间 = How many people are there in one dorm room at this school?
11. jiàn 件 > shirts
    • yí cì zuì duō zhǐ néng ná sān jiàn 一次最多只能拿三件= the most you can take at one time is 3 (shirts)
      *what the girl at the fitting rooms said
12. jiǎng 讲 > long (usually 2 hour) class periods that may include a break (as opposed to “jié”)
    • jīntiān nǐ yǒu jǐ jiǎng kè 今天你有几讲课？= How many classes do you have today?
13. jié 节 > 1 hour class periods
    • jīntiān nǐ yǒu jǐ jié kè？今天你有几节课？= How many hours of class do you have today?
14. jù 句 > sentences
    • wǒ zhǐ huì shuō yí jù Kūnmíng huà 我只会说一句昆明话= I can only say one sentence of the Kunming dialect
15. kē 棵 > trees
    • jīntiān wǒmen zhòng le èrshí kē shū 今天我们种了二十棵树= today we planted 20 trees
16. kǒu 口 > people, family members
    • nǐ de jiā yǒu jǐ kǒu rén 你的家有几口人？= How many people are there in your family?
      *you could also use “ge 个”
17. kuài 块 > chunks of tofu/yuan money
    • ná yí kuài dòufu 拿一块豆腐= I’ll take one piece of tofu
18. lèi 类 > kinds of people
    • wǒmen shì yí lèi rén 我们是一类人= we are (the same) one kind of person
19. lì 粒 > small round stuff
    • wǒ shènzhì bù néng chī yí lì huāshēng 我甚至不能吃一粒花生= I can’t even eat one peanut
20. liàng 辆 > vehicles with wheels (but not trains)
    • wǒ yǒu liǎng liàng zìxíngchē 我有两辆自行车= I have 2 bicycles
21. mén 门 > subjects (academic)
    • nàge kǎoshì yǒu sān mén 那个考试有三门= that test has 3 subjects
      *e.g. math, English, history
22. miàn 面 > mirrors
    • wǒ xiǎng mǎi yí miàn xiǎo jìngzi 我想买一面小镜子= I want to by a small mirror
23. pái 排 > rows of seats, lines of people
    • zhàn chéng yì pái! 站成一排！= line up! [stand become 1 line]
24. pǐ 匹 > horses
    • yì pǐ mǎ gòulái le 一匹马过来了= a horse came over
      *from a children’s story
25. piàn 片 > slices, expanses (like clouds, beaches)
    • yí piàn ròu 一片肉= a slice of meat
26. shēng 声 > utterances, sounds
    • wǒ yào xiān duì nǐ shuō yì shēng “xièxie” 我要先对你说一声“谢谢”= I want to say “thanks” in advance
27. shǒu 首 > songs, poems
    • zhè shǒu gē shì shéi de? 这首歌是谁的？= Who’s song is this?
      *this is how I ask about the music blasting over the speakers on campus
28. shuāng 双 > pairs (chopsticks, shoes, eyes)
    • wǒ yào mǎi sān shuāng tuōxié 我要买三双拖鞋= I want to buy 3 pairs of slippers.
29. tái 台 > big electric stuff, pianos
    • wǒ yǒu yì tái xǐyījī 我有一台洗衣机= I have a washing machine
30. tào 套 > apartments, houses (multiple rooms)
    • nàbian de fángzi yào duōshao qián yí tào? 那边的房子要多少钱一套？= Those houses cost how much per house?
31. tiáo 条 > roads, long stuff (rivers, snakes, pants)
    • zhè tiáo lù jiào shénme míngzi 这条路叫什么名字？= What’s this road called?
32. tóu 头 > pigs, cows
    • yì tóu máoniú 一头牦牛= one yak
33. wèi 位 > people (polite)
    • jǐ wèi 几位= How many people?
      *in your party at a restaurant
34. zhāng 张 > flat stuff (pieces of paper, tables, CDs)
    • ná shí zhāng kòngbái de CD 拿十张空白的CD= I’ll take 10 blank CDs
35. zhī 只 > cats, birds
    • “liǎng zhī lǎohǔ 两只老虎” = “2 tigers” (sung to the tune of “Frere Jacques”)
36. zhī 只 > one of a pair
    • bā zhī yǎnjing 八只眼睛= 8 Eyes
      *the name of a 4 person singing group
37. zhī 支 > stick-like stuff (pen, chopstick, shoe, eye)
    • yì zhī bǐ bú gòu 一支筷子不够= 1 pen isn’t enough
38. zhǒng 种 > types of stuff
    • yǒu liǎng zhǒng júzi 有两种桔子= there are 2 kinds of oranges
39. zuò 座 > mountains
    • zhōngguó zuì yǒumíng de sān zuò shān 中国最有名的三座山= China’s 3 most famous mountains

NOTE: There are a few other measure words for “times” and “money” that I left off this list but have been included in my previous post.

• Top 10 measure words to know
• Stuff you might be hearing – Restaurants
• Unnecessary Measure Words
• Why does Chinese have measure words?
• Stuff you might be hearing – Shopping

This is only my theory, but I think because the Chinese language is a homonym minefield that has so few possible syllables, they needed a way to distinguish nouns from other words. So, when a noun appears in its isolated form, they seem to like to add a “zi 子” as a sort of noun-making suffix. This seems to only be done to one-syllable words because, I imagine, the very presence of a second syllable (like in “píngguǒ 苹果= “apple”) gives the necessary context for people to know it’s a noun.

For example:

1. zhuōzi 桌子= table
   
2. shuāzi 刷子= brush
   
3. chēzi 车子= vehicle

(it’s just a coincidence that my 3 examples are all first tone words)

But, you’ll notice when it’s put in a compound word, the “zi” drops off:

1. pīngpāngzhuō 乒乓桌= ping-pong table
   
2. yáshuā 牙刷= toothbrush
   
3. zìxíngchē 自行车= bicycle
   

Often, if I leave off “zi 子” when I’m supposed to say it, or if I say it when I don’t need it, it doesn’t really cause a problem. But for now, my working hypothesis is: The Chinese language is one-syllable-noun-a-phobic.

• Cognate Coincidences
• Doubt: Harder Than You’d Suspect
• Unnecessary Measure Words
• A Bit about Bù 不
• Top 10 measure words to know

• A and e trump all other vowels and always take the tone mark. There are no Mandarin syllables in Hanyu Pinyin that contain both a and e.
• In the combination ou, o takes the mark.
• In all other cases, the final vowel takes the mark.

But I noticed the craziest little pattern. If you want to remember only one rule and one exception think of it like this:

• Alphabetical order dictates which letter gets the tone mark. (if it’s “biāo” then the “a” is alphabetically first, so give it the tone mark)
• The only exception I’ve found is the “iu” combination. In this case the “u” gets the mark even though it’s alphabetically after “i”
• Oh wait, there is another rather rare exception and that’s “io” combination (“o” get’s the mark”)

So here’s the way I remember it:

• “duì 对” in Chinese means “correct,” so the alphabetical rule is correct for that word
• “diū 丢” in Chinese means “to lose,” so the alphabetical rule has lost it’s integrity (and face) for that word
• Since “io” is also an exception (xiōngdì 兄弟), “I owe” everyone an apology for saying there was only one exception

Still, since the “io” combo is very rare, and the “ui” and “iu” combos are easy to watch for, I’ve found the alphabetical rule to be the easiest to remember and use.

• Tone Changes
• How to type pinyin (pīnyīn) with tone markings
• Better Mandarin Tones Diagram
• Why Is Nǎlǐ 哪里 Written Wrong?
• Colored Tones on MDBG