All patterns
Quantities & Measures
Counting in Chinese: measure words, approximations and fractions.
Quantities & Measures 3
Chinese has two words for “two”. 二 (èr) is the digit — counting, phone numbers, ordinals (第二, 二月). 两 (liǎng) means “two of something” and pairs with a measure word (两个, 两点).
Chinese numbers are wonderfully logical: build any number from the digits 一-九 plus the place words 十 (10), 百 (100), 千 (1000). The only tricky bits are 零 (middle zeros) and 二 vs 两.
To count nouns in Chinese you need a measure word between the number and the noun: Number + 个 + Noun (三个人 = “three people”). 个 (gè) is the all-purpose one that works for almost anything.
Reading about grammar is not the same as using it.
The Merry Mandarin app turns every pattern here into spaced-repetition practice, native audio and graded stories — until it becomes instinct.