In Chinese, measure words or classifiers are used along with numerals to define the quantity of a given object or objects, or with "this"/"that" to identify specific objects.
In Chinese, a simple numeral cannot quantify a noun by itself; instead, Chinese relies on measure words. There are two types of such classifiers, nominal and verbal; verbal classifiers are used in quantifying verbs and the amount of time they take (we won't go into verbal classifiers right now, but note this as you explore Chinese in a range of contexts). If you speak Spanish or French, you know that nouns have different genders. So, for example, in Spanish, you say: "un libro" (a book) but "una manzana" (an apple). Chinese does not have gender designations for nouns, but instead nouns fall into certain groups designated roughly by what type of item it is. So it would be like having "una" (in Spanish) refer to long flexible items, not which "gender" it falls under. You have already seen this in stories you have learned: yizuo ta, yizuo shan, yige gushi.
Here are some very common measure words in Mandarin. Remember there are a lot more out there, but you needn't worry about them all at once. The best way to acquire measure words is through associating measure words with the names of objects, that is, through meaningful learning in contexts.
In the following lessons, we'll introduce you to more measure words gradually. For now, please just be mindful that there are different measure words, and try to get a sense for how to use some of these most common measure words in Mandarin.
Gè -- (e.g., yige, liangge) is a generic and the most frequently used measure word.individual things, people — general, catch-all measure word (usage of this classifier in conjunction with any noun is generally accepted if the person does not know the proper classifier). Although it often carries a fourth tone, combined with other words, the tone usually goes silent.
Tiáo-- (e.g., yitiao, liangtiao) long, narrow, flexible objects (fish, trousers, etc.)
Zhī--- (e.g., yizhi, liangzhi) one of a pair (hands), animals (birds, cats, etc.)
Zuò-- (e.g., yizuo, liangzuo) large structures/buildings, mountains,bridges,etc.
Also, please keep in mind that there are some conventional pairings that might seem to go against these basic designations. So, for example, in Chinese we say "yitiao" for dog, even though a dog might appear to fit better with the animals under "zhi".
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In this activity, you will learn to recognize (by sight and by sound) and pronounce different tones in Chinese. When prompted, listen to the embedded audio file that will demonstrate the different tones.
Perhaps the single most signficant difference between English and Chinese pronunciation is in the Chinese use of tones. Though we use different tones in English to communicate different nuances of a particular word (for example, compare the difference between how you might say: "Hey!" versus how you might ask: "Hey?" in Chinese, tones are part and parcel of most every word, and differences in tone between two words that otherwise are identical can mean differences in what the word is referring to (it would be like saying "Chicken!"--and referring to a bird that lays eggs, versus "Chicken?" and referring to an apple tree, for example).
Most syllables that form Chinese words are pronounced in a "tone envelope." Chinese has four tones in "heavy" (or stressed) syllables, and a "neutral" tone in "light" (or unstressed) syllables. In learning to read and write in pinyin, you need to learn which tone is required for each syllable in each word, and also when the tone of a syllable is neutral. If a word is pronounced with a wrong tone, there is a possibility it may not be understood. Fortunately, the overall context of the sentence helps to understand the meaning of the word even if it is mispronounced.
The syllable "ma" is an example of a syllable that can be carried by four different tone envelopes, each tone envelope giving the word a different meaning. Also, the syllable "ma" can be pronounced without a tone envelope to give a fifth meaning--the yes or no question marker as you have already learned.
Description and Meaning:
Listen to the embedded audio file, then read through this brief overview of Chinese tones so you can better complete the activities that will follow. Here are the spellings of the different syllables you will hear on the audio file: ma, wo, ke, yi, and wu. Notice that the American speaker follows what you might guess those sounds make judging from the spellings, but the Chinese model demonstrates the correct pronunciation which at times is considerably different from the American approximation. Don't think of the American as a model, but as "what you might correctly or wrongly guess" judging solely from the spelling.
Chinese Syllable Description Meaning
(First tone) a tone envelope that is high
and level in pitch
to wipe or rub
(Second tone) a tone envelope that
slides up from mid-pitch to high pitch
numb (with cold)
(Third tone) a tone envelope that
starts low, dips lower, then rises
a bit - sometimes called "dip-tone"
horse
(Fourth tone) a tone envelope that
falls from high pitch to low pitch
to scold
(Neutral tone) unstressed syllables
are toneless, or have reduced tone
that is affected by the tone of the
syllable just before it
(a syllable that marks
a yes-or-no question)
Chinese characters (hanzi) do not mark the tones. The reader of Chinese must know what tone envelope carries each syllable. Chinese written in Pinyin can indicate the tone envelope in two ways: (1) by a number following the syllable: first tone (high-level), second tone (rising), third tone (low-dipping), fourth tone (falling).
ma1 ma2 ma3 ma4
lou1 lou2 lou3 lou4
tui1 tui2 tui3 tui4
or (2) by placing a tone-mark over the vowel, or the most prominent vowel (the following is identical in sound and meaning to the previous number-referenced tones).
Take a few minutes and review the different accent marks and how they correspond to the numbered tones. As you can see, the tone (accent) mark over the vowel has the shape of the tone envelope that carries the word. When tone marks are used, you will see them over the vowels.
The differences between the tones should already be somewhat familiar to you as you have already been exposed to the different tones in the activities you have completed up to now. But now that you can see this more analytic explanation, you should be more attentive to different tones and anticipate the sounds of words when you see them spelled out in pinyin.
To solidify what you have learned, listen again to the embedded audio file, and see how well you can recognize the different tones.
After you have listened to the audio file and feel confident that you recognize, and can approximate the different tones yourself, practice saying the following English words with pinyin tones:
hey1
far2
doe3
duh4
huh
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