Mandarin Chinese Measure Words

Measure words are familiar to English-speakers as the type of object being discussed, as in a “loaf” of bread, or a “stick” of gum.

Mandarin Chinese also uses measure words for types of objects, but there are many other measure words that refer to the shape of the object or the type of container it comes in. Some measure words are arbitrary.

The main difference between English (and other Western languages) and Mandarin Chinese is that Mandarin Chinese requires a measure word for every noun. In English we can say, “three cars,” but in Mandarin Chinese, we need to say “three (measure word) cars.”

There are more than a hundred Mandarin Chinese measure words, and the only way to learn them is by memorizing them. Whenever you learn a new noun, you should also learn its measure word.

Generic Measure Word

There is one “generic” measure word which can be used when the actual measure word is not known. The measure word 個 (gè) is a measure word for people, but it is frequently used for many types of things (such as apples, bread, and light bulbs) even when there are other, more appropriate measure words for these objects.

Common Measure Words

Here are some of the most common measure words encountered by students of Mandarin Chinese.

Class	Measure Word (pinyin)	Measure word (traditional Chinese Characters)	Measure word (simplified Chinese Characters)
People	gè or wèi	個 or 位	个 or 位
Books	běn	本	本
Vehicles	liàng	輛	辆
Portions	fèn	份	份
flat objects (tables, paper)	zhāng	張	张
Long round objects (pens, pencils)	zhī	支	支
Letters and Mail	fēng	封	封
Rooms	jiān	間	间
Clothing	Jiàn or tào	件 or 套	件 or 套
Written Sentences	jù	句	句
Trees	kē	棵	棵
Bottles	píng	瓶	瓶
periodicals	qī	期	期
Doors and windows	shàn	扇	扇
Buildings	dòng	棟	栋
Heavy objects (machines and appliances)	tái	台	台