<p>近代汉语的量词确实有习惯搭配。而且在表示“数”+“量”的概念下，量词几乎是不可省略的。如果要类比，语言中的量词我以为有些接近物理中的单位。不同的单位表示不同基础的个体，而有时不同的单位也代指不同的类别。</p>

<p>譬如以每一个整体作为单元，“个”确实是很常用的量词。但更多的情况下，量词决定了描述者的认识意向，也影响了接受者的感觉。以水为例。用容器作为量词描述的很多见，一口水（a mouthful of water），一碗水，一杯水，一瓶水，一罐水，一桶水，一车水（水车承载）等等；也有直接使用物理单位来描述的，一升水，一吨水，一公斤水；抑或以形态或其他形式描述的具体的水，比如一滴水。</p>

<p>诚然有些描述会出现自造或混用，但清晰表达作为首要目标，才是选择和使用合适的量词的标准。特别地，习惯搭配的使用，从细节上可以表现出语言使用者是否熟悉固定的用法。</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-15T18:03:08.117Z
2018-08-15T18:03:08.117Z
adosdeci
<p>I think this is one of the things that trouble many people who are learning Chinese.</p>

<p>There is no single rule about the usage of 个. Sometimes, you do need to use it. Sometimes, you are actually forbidden to use it. @songyuanyao already gives you an excellent answer. I am going to give you some examples to illustrate the point <em>abuse of 个 as measure word is not acceptable for Chinese learner, especially who want to master natural Chinese</em>.</p>

<p>The examples are about time units, namely, days, months and years.</p>

<p>In English, you say three days, three months and three years. No need to have measure word.</p>

<p>In Chinese, you say 三天 (three days),  三个月 (three months) and 三年 (three years).</p>

<p>You don’t say 三个天,  三月 and 三个年.</p>

<p>In fact, Chinese would think you mean March when you say 三月.</p>

<p>It’s just the convention. I really don’t know any rules about this.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-30T09:14:40.973Z
2018-05-30T09:14:40.973Z
Nobody
<p>Reply to @lly
Your example(three head of cattle) is not appropriate,  because English and Chinese are belong to different language families. For example, if I say tense is useless, since I can say 我昨天回答了. Why do I need to change the form of verbs? Obviously my predicate does not make sense. I should not use a language to judge another language.</p>

<p>You given another topic to discuss, what OP asks is Can we use 个 as global classifier, yours is that the classifier is redundant(only for being knowledgable)</p>

<p><strong>1. Is the classifier redundant?</strong></p>

<p>Linguists have found that a language won't have plural forms and classifiers at the same time. That is a interesting fact.</p>

<p>English does not have quantitative relation forms for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_category" rel="nofollow noreferrer">syntactic category</a>, so it does not have classifiers only measures.</p>

<p><strong>Classifiers are related to gender of noun, it classify the noun.</strong></p>

<p><strong>2. Is the 个 acceptable for all nouns?</strong></p>

<p>Check below, 个 is common word, but in some special scenario, in my story I don't know the form of the object, 个 does not give me enough information, I don't know how many I need ( I think it is small). It is the least functional classifier.</p>

<p>================= original answer</p>

<p>No, but somebody does, which makes you confused.</p>

<p>A true story:</p>

<p>Once I went to a drug store for kalium permanganicum(disinfectant), after I said what I need, the saleswomen asked me "你要几个?", cause I had never bought it before, I didn't know what does it looks like, I replied: 可能需要几个. (Maybe several)</p>

<p>Then she found some little box, I said: 一盒就够了... 这论个吗?(one box is enough, is this classified by 个?). </p>

<p>That is the first moment I realized the purpose of classifier, I still remember the scene even several years passed.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-30T04:03:23.427Z
Thank you for the story, but it illustrates the opposite of what you intended. The pharmacist gave you exactly what you wanted (one box), just like a nurse would (one pill), without skipping a beat. Using the 'proper' measure word wouldn't've helped any and using the *wrong* one (e.g. if you'd assumed it came in bottles) would've created actual confusion.
lly
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-30T04:08:54.407Z
Saying 'three head of cattle' will sound more knowledgable to an old fieldhand than 'three cows' but the latter doesn't cause confusion unless you're pointing at some goats.
lly
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-30T05:30:13.277Z
@lly, since the length, I replied in answer area.
sfy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-30T06:34:47.507Z
Thank you for the reply but (a) I wasn't really arguing that Chinese measure words should be entirely ignored. I meant 'three cows' to be analogous to using 三个牛 rather than 三头牛. (b) Your post shouldn't really **focus** on replying to me, but to the main question, and (c) I think you buried the lede: the correct answer and focus should be "It is the least functional classifier..." but often works based on context.
lly
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-30T06:37:29.703Z
It'd be helpful to have examples where it *can't* be understood instead of (or alongside) your story where it *was* easily understood. That later is going to be most CFL's experience, and we should try to show them where it *won't work at all*, rather than where it will just *sound less educated*.
lly
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-30T07:44:31.710Z
@lly Language is just a conventional tool to communicate. You can choose whatever word you like, it may work or may not depending on the listener. And different word has different emotion, 一个花 vs 一朵花, I like the latter.
sfy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-27T12:04:42.143Z
2018-05-30T05:31:27.747Z
2018-05-30T05:31:27.747Z
sfy
<p>My Chinese teacher says she doesn't care. But for future reference, is 个 acceptable as a measure word for all nouns?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-27T08:57:41.277Z
Saying 个 is acceptable as a measure word for all nouns is like saying a lump of ship or a lump of  book is acceptable
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-27T11:48:50.003Z
I asked exactly the same question in the past - https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/26247/is-it-permissible-to-use-%E4%B8%AA-in-any-nouns-as-a-measure-word
Blaszard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-28T10:24:53.843Z
When your teacher says "I don't care", he / she may just tired of answering your questions like "is 个 a proper measure word here?". In fact, native speakers do understand what are you trying to say even if you use a wrong measure word. But you should try your best to use the correct word since you don't want to be treated as a stupid people, don't you?
thinwa
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-30T03:54:33.267Z
@TangHo No, it's like saying "a thing of ~" or "an instance of ~", if every English noun were uncountable the same way their Chinese counterparts are. It's not elegant speech at all, but it can be and is easily understood in most contexts... much more so than asking for "a lump of ship".
lly
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-31T00:56:45.897Z
At least you cannot say "一個水”, ^_^.
Daniel Yang
<grammar><word-choice><mandarin><measure-word>
Is 个 acceptable for all nouns?
# Is 个 acceptable for all nouns?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-05-27)

My Chinese teacher says she doesn't care. But for future reference, is 个 acceptable as a measure word for all nouns?

**Tags:** grammar, word-choice, mandarin, measure-word

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Saying 个 is acceptable as a measure word for all nouns is like saying a lump of ship or a lump of  book is acceptable  
> **username_2**: I asked exactly the same question in the past - https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/26247/is-it-permissible-to-use-%E4%B8%AA-in-any-nouns-as-a-measure-word  
> **username_3**: When your teacher says "I don't care", he / she may just tired of answering your questions like "is 个 a proper measure word here?". In fact, native speakers do understand what are you trying to say even if you use a wrong measure word. But you should try your best to use the correct word since you don't want to be treated as a stupid people, don't you?  
> **username_4**: @username_1 No, it's like saying "a thing of ~" or "an instance of ~", if every English noun were uncountable the same way their Chinese counterparts are. It's not elegant speech at all, but it can be and is easily understood in most contexts... much more so than asking for "a lump of ship".  
> **username_5**: At least you cannot say "一個水”, ^_^.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2018-08-15. Score: 2

近代汉语的量词确实有习惯搭配。而且在表示“数”+“量”的概念下，量词几乎是不可省略的。如果要类比，语言中的量词我以为有些接近物理中的单位。不同的单位表示不同基础的个体，而有时不同的单位也代指不同的类别。

譬如以每一个整体作为单元，“个”确实是很常用的量词。但更多的情况下，量词决定了描述者的认识意向，也影响了接受者的感觉。以水为例。用容器作为量词描述的很多见，一口水（a mouthful of water），一碗水，一杯水，一瓶水，一罐水，一桶水，一车水（水车承载）等等；也有直接使用物理单位来描述的，一升水，一吨水，一公斤水；抑或以形态或其他形式描述的具体的水，比如一滴水。

诚然有些描述会出现自造或混用，但清晰表达作为首要目标，才是选择和使用合适的量词的标准。特别地，习惯搭配的使用，从细节上可以表现出语言使用者是否熟悉固定的用法。


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2018-05-30. Score: 2

I think this is one of the things that trouble many people who are learning Chinese.

There is no single rule about the usage of 个. Sometimes, you do need to use it. Sometimes, you are actually forbidden to use it. @songyuanyao already gives you an excellent answer. I am going to give you some examples to illustrate the point *abuse of 个 as measure word is not acceptable for Chinese learner, especially who want to master natural Chinese*.

The examples are about time units, namely, days, months and years.

In English, you say three days, three months and three years. No need to have measure word.

In Chinese, you say 三天 (three days), 三个月 (three months) and 三年 (three years).

You don’t say 三个天, 三月 and 三个年.

In fact, Chinese would think you mean March when you say 三月.

It’s just the convention. I really don’t know any rules about this.


---

### Answer by username_8 on 2018-05-27. Score: 2

Reply to @username_4
Your example(three head of cattle) is not appropriate, because English and Chinese are belong to different language families. For example, if I say tense is useless, since I can say 我昨天回答了. Why do I need to change the form of verbs? Obviously my predicate does not make sense. I should not use a language to judge another language.

You given another topic to discuss, what OP asks is Can we use 个 as global classifier, yours is that the classifier is redundant(only for being knowledgable)

**1. Is the classifier redundant?**

Linguists have found that a language won't have plural forms and classifiers at the same time. That is a interesting fact.

English does not have quantitative relation forms for [syntactic category](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_category), so it does not have classifiers only measures.

**Classifiers are related to gender of noun, it classify the noun.**

**2. Is the 个 acceptable for all nouns?**

Check below, 个 is common word, but in some special scenario, in my story I don't know the form of the object, 个 does not give me enough information, I don't know how many I need ( I think it is small). It is the least functional classifier.

================= original answer

No, but somebody does, which makes you confused.

A true story:

Once I went to a drug store for kalium permanganicum(disinfectant), after I said what I need, the saleswomen asked me "你要几个?", cause I had never bought it before, I didn't know what does it looks like, I replied: 可能需要几个. (Maybe several)

Then she found some little box, I said: 一盒就够了... 这论个吗?(one box is enough, is this classified by 个?).

That is the first moment I realized the purpose of classifier, I still remember the scene even several years passed.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Thank you for the story, but it illustrates the opposite of what you intended. The pharmacist gave you exactly what you wanted (one box), just like a nurse would (one pill), without skipping a beat. Using the 'proper' measure word wouldn't've helped any and using the *wrong* one (e.g. if you'd assumed it came in bottles) would've created actual confusion.  
> **username_4**: Saying 'three head of cattle' will sound more knowledgable to an old fieldhand than 'three cows' but the latter doesn't cause confusion unless you're pointing at some goats.  
> **username_8**: @username_4, since the length, I replied in answer area.  
> **username_4**: Thank you for the reply but (a) I wasn't really arguing that Chinese measure words should be entirely ignored. I meant 'three cows' to be analogous to using 三个牛 rather than 三头牛. (b) Your post shouldn't really **focus** on replying to me, but to the main question, and (c) I think you buried the lede: the correct answer and focus should be "It is the least functional classifier..." but often works based on context.  
> **username_4**: It'd be helpful to have examples where it *can't* be understood instead of (or alongside) your story where it *was* easily understood. That later is going to be most CFL's experience, and we should try to show them where it *won't work at all*, rather than where it will just *sound less educated*.  
> **username_8**: @username_4 Language is just a conventional tool to communicate. You can choose whatever word you like, it may work or may not depending on the listener. And different word has different emotion, 一个花 vs 一朵花, I like the latter.  

---

