Dear Susan
Maybe you an excerpt some of this passage from the Gowell Level One
Chinese course.
Dear Network Members
Feel free to critique these if you think this explanation can be improved.
Best wishes
Linda
---
Measure Words: Concept and Usage
Measure words are classifiers, which are words that make quantitative
information more clear. These clarifying words are commonly used in
the Chinese language, although these words also exist in English. For
example, in English, we have 'five cups of water,' 'a school of fish'
and 'two piles of dirt,' where the words, 'cups,' 'school' and 'piles'
are all functioning as measure words.
In Chinese, the use of measure words is more consistent ¨C every noun,
when specified with a quantity or specific number, requires a measure
word. Also, when there is a specific reference to something ¨C the
equivalent in English would be when 'the' or a similar word is used ¨C
a measure word will also be needed.
For example, in English, one would also say, 'a cup,' 'two roads' and
'a child.' In Chinese, the equivalent would be 'a unit of cup,' 'two
strips of roads,' and 'a person of child.' Also, 'one month' and 'this
month' would need measure words as well. There are many different
measure words in Chinese, depending on the object being quantified. In
this course, we will introduce the most frequently used measure words
and annotate them as they appear. The most frequently used measure
word is 'g¨¨ ', which appeared in Entry Level with phrases such as
(zh¨¨ge yu¨¨ / this month) and (xi¨¤ge x¨©ngq¨© / next week). 'g¨¨ ,' as
with all measure words, is used for quantifying or counting, such as
with:
a. fruits (except for grapes and bananas, which use the measure word
(chu¨¤n / bundle, skewer))
b. people, such as 'five people' or 'two colleagues' (although the
polite form is 'w¨¨i ')
c. places such as offices, meeting rooms and parks
d. objects such as cups, plates and bags As a rule of thumb, if you do
not know the measure word for a particular object, using 'g¨¨ 'would be
the best option. Even if 'g¨¨ 'is not the correct measure word,
listeners will understand what you are trying to say.
---
On 11/14/07, Susan Fitzhenry <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues:
>
> I am going to teach my non-native students to say "one pear" in Mandarin (
>
>
> "y¨© g¨¨ l¨ª"). I don't know how to explain the measuring word "g¨¨" clearly
> to my students.
>
>
>
> Can anybody help me?
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
>
>
> Susan
>
>
> ________________________________
> Do you know a place like the back of your hand? Share local knowledge with
> BackOfMyHand.com
|