Number-Measure Phrases

Chinese grammar · HSK 1 · 数量短语 · By Carson 木林森

In Chinese, you cannot put a number directly before a noun. You need a measure word (量词) between them.

Pattern: Number + Measure Word + Noun

Common HSK 1 measure words:
- 个 (gè) — people, generic objects
- 本 (běn) — books
- 杯 (bēi) — cups/glasses
- 张 (zhāng) — flat things (paper, tickets, tables)
- 岁 (suì) — years of age
- 块 (kuài) — money (yuan)
- 件 (jiàn) — clothing items

❌ 三书 (wrong — no measure word)
✅ 三本书 (correct: three books)

Worked examples

Chinese	Pinyin	English	What it shows
我有两本书。	Wǒ yǒu liǎng běn shū.	I have two books.	两 + 本 (measure for books) + 书
请给我一杯水。	Qǐng gěi wǒ yī bēi shuǐ.	Please give me a cup of water.	一 + 杯 (measure for cups) + 水
她有三个好朋友。	Tā yǒu sān gè hǎo péng yǒu.	She has three good friends.	三 + 个 (generic measure) + 朋友

Produce this pattern without stopping to think about it. GraphChinese drills Number-Measure Phrases across 12 exercises and schedules the review that keeps it.

What this opens up

These patterns list Number-Measure Phrases among their own prerequisites, so they become readable once this one holds.

Number-Measure Phrases is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.

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