Mandarin · Chapter 1 · Lesson 4 · Grammar primer
Classifiers
Prescribed by the AQA specification.
The short version
Demonstratives need a classifier too, not just numbers
Everyone learns 一本书 (yì běn shū). The bit English speakers skip is that 这 (zhè) and 那 (nà) cannot sit against a noun either: 这本书 (zhè běn shū), 那只猫 (nà zhī māo), 那张纸 (nà zhāng zhǐ), using the same classifier the noun takes when counted. Forget which one and default to 个 (gè), because a wrong measure word beats no measure word.
这本书 zhè běn shū
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One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end.
Lesson 4 of 13 in this chapter