One of the most máfan 麻烦 things about learning Chinese is all the “measure words” (“liàng cí 量词”). As one of my students said once, “But they tell the shape of the thing you’re talking about.” I said, “I don’t need an extra word to do that when I’m about to say the THING itself!” But they’re in the language so we have to learn ’em if we want to speak good Chinese. You especially need to know the right measure word if you’re asking a “how much/many?” question using “jǐ 几.” For example,

• jīntiān nǐ yǒu jǐ jié kè? 今天你有几节课？= How many {measure word for one hour class periods} classes do you have today?

NOTE: jǐ 几+ {measure word} can also mean “several.” For example, “jǐ jié kè 几节课” can mean “several classes” depending on context.

The back of Chubby lists about 90 different measure words for things as diverse as “terms of office” and “garlic bulbs.” So the real question is:

Which measure words are worth learning if you’re not majoring in Chinese history and literature?

The answer has two parts:

1. For speaking, I’ve compiled a list (in order of frequency) of the top 10 measure words I use on a daily basis. These are measure words that are important to be fluent with because if I just used the default “gè 个,” people would either look at me like I’d said “he” when I meant “she” OR (as has happened) they might actually correct my measure word.
2. For listening, because I get stumped pretty easily when listening, I’ve found it’s best to know as many as possible.
   See: Which measure words do they really use?

The default

• gè 个 > when it doubt, use this one. Except for the following cases (and when talking about animals–all the animals have their own measure words) using gè is usually fine, even if it’s not technically correct.

Top 10 measure words to know

Besides “gè 个,” there are the ones I use most frequently in my daily life (I’m a teacher):

1. jié 节 > for 1 hour class periods
2. běn 本 > for bound stuff (books, magazines)
3. zhāng 张 > flat stuff (pieces of paper, tables, CDs)
4. fèn 份 > for bundles/batches (servings of food, multi-page documents)
5. wèi 位 > for people (polite)
6. zhī 只 > 1 of a pair (1 chopstick, 1 shoe, 1 eye)
   zhī 支 > stick-like things (pen)
7. shuāng 双 > pairs (2 chopsticks, 2 shoes, 2 eyes)
8. liàng 辆 > vehicles with wheels (but not trains)
9. shǒu 首 > songs, poems
10. tiáo 条 > for roads, long pieces of clothing (pants)

Some good news

Even though you’re supposed to swap out the “ge 个” in “zhè̀ge 这个” and “nàge 那个” when saying “this” and “that,” respectively, they often seem to just keep the old “ge 个” in there. I’ve heard “zhè̀ge chē 这个车” (instead of “zhè̀liàng chē 这辆车“) and “zhè̀ge CD 这个CD” (instead of zhè̀zhāng CD 这张CD). But, unfortunately, when counting real stuff, and especially those “jǐ 几” questions they absolutely use the measure words…so we gotta know ’em.

Money

I guess I lied. These two are probably the most common ones in my life. But, even though these are the first words everyone in China learns, I thought I’d list them hear to show that they really are measure words.

1. kuài 块 > for “big” money (Chinese yuán 元, US dollars, British pounds)
2. máo 毛 > for 1/10 of the “big” money (Chinese jiǎo 角, US dimes)

NOTE: “1 kuài qián 一块钱” is oral Chinese. It would be expressed as “1 yuán qián 一元钱“ in formal or written Chinese.

Number Markers

These aren’t necessarily measure words because you don’t have to count these things, but you add them after numbers just the same, and they follow “jǐ 几” in questions that require a number for an answer. So I think of them in the same category. These are also super frequent words in my daily vocabulary, so I thought I’d list them with the context I most often hear them in.

1. dòng 栋 > building
2. dānyuán 单元 > staircase, unit
3. lóu 楼 > floor
4. hào 号 > number, date of the year
5. lù 路 > bus route

• wǒ zhù zài shísì lóu, èr dānyuán, sān líng yāo (hào). 我住在十四楼，二单元，三零一（号）
  = I live in building 14, 2nd staircase/unit, (number) 301.
• dào shìzhōngxīn wǒ yào zuò jǐ lù chē? 到市中心我要坐几路车?
  = To go to the city center I need to take which {bus route number} bus?

Times

Ok, so I fudged a little on the title of this post. There is also this special category of measure words for “times” which have slightly different nuances. These are the only ones I’ve heard used in daily life:

1. cì 次 > times (generic)
   
   • zhè shì wǒ dì èr cì lái zhōngguó 这是我第二次来中国
     = this is my second time to come to China [this is my 2nd time come China]
     *often “wǒ 我” = “wǒ de 我的” = “my”
2. biàn 遍 > times (start to finish)
   
   • qǐng zài shuō yí biàn 请再说一遍
     = please say that again (one time) [please again say one time]
     *meaning the whole sentence
     
3. xià 下 > short periods of time (a moment, a sec)
   
   • děng yí xià 等一下
     = just a second [wait one time]
4. huìr 会儿 > short periods of time (a while, longer than xià 下)
   
   • děng yí huìr 等一会儿
     = just a minute [wait one time]

Words that ARE their own measure words

Since I’m on a roll here, I just thought I’d mention there are some words that don’t need a measure word because they are, in a sense, their own measure word.

1. bēi 杯 = cup*
   
   • yì bēi shuǐ 一杯水
     = 1 cup of water
2. tiān 天 = day
   
   • liǎng tiān yǐqián 两天以前
     = 2 days ago
3. nián 年 = year
   
   • wǒ dāi le sān nián 我待了三年
     = I’ve stayed/been (here) for 3 years

Strangely enough, “yuè 月” (month) is the exception to the rule. Look:

• yī yuè 一月 = January
• yí ge yuè 一个月 = 1 month

*NOTE: the same rules apply to any of the container words like “tǒng 桶” (barrel/bucket), “wǎn 碗” (bowl), “pán 盘” (plate/tray), etc.