Chinese classifier

See also:

simplified

traditional

General classifier g (in Mandarin, go in Cantonese), the most common

Chinese classifier
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The modern Chinese varieties make frequent use of what are
called classifiers or measure words. One of the basic uses of classifiers is
in phrases in which a nounis qualified by a numeral. When a phrase such as
"one person" or "three books" is translated into Chinese, it is normally
necessary to insert an appropriate classifier between the numeral and the
noun. For example, in Standard Mandarin,[note 1] the first of these phrases
would be y ge rn, where y means "one",rn means "person",
and ge is the required classifier. There are also other grammatical contexts
in which classifiers are used, including after the demonstratives
() zh ("this") and n ("that"); however, when a noun stands alone
without any such qualifier, no classifier is needed. There are also various
other uses of classifiers: for example, when placed after a noun rather than
before it, or when repeated, a classifier signifies a plural or indefinite
quantity.
The terms "classifier" and "measure word" are frequently used
interchangeably (as equivalent to the Chinese term () lingc, which
literally means "measure word"). Sometimes, however, the two are
distinguished, with classifier denoting a particle without any particular
meaning of its own, as in the example above, and measure word denoting a
word for a particular quantity or measurement of something, such as "drop",
"cupful", or "liter". The latter type also includes certain words denoting
lengths of time, units of currency, etc. These two types are alternatively

called count-classifier and mass-classifier, since the first type can only
meaningfully be used with count nouns, while the second is used
particularly with mass nouns. However, the grammatical behavior of words
of the two types is largely identical.
Most nouns have one or more particular classifiers associated with them,
often depending on the nature of the things they denote. For example, many
nouns denoting flat objects such as tables, papers, beds, and benches use
the classifier () zhng, whereas many long and thin objects
use () tio. The total number of classifiers in Chinese may be put at
anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred, depending on how they are
counted. The classifier (), pronounced g or ge in Mandarin, apart from
being the standard classifier for many nouns, also serves as a general
classifier, which may often (but not always) be used in place of other
classifiers; in informal and spoken language, native speakers tend to use
this classifier far more than any other, even though they know which
classifier is "correct" when asked. Mass-classifiers might be used with all
sorts of nouns with which they make sense: for example, h ("box") may
be used to denote boxes of objects, such as lightbulbs or books, even
though those nouns would be used with their own appropriate countclassifiers if being counted as individual objects. Researchers have differing
views as to how classifiernoun pairings arise: some regard them as being
based on innate semantic features of the noun (for example, all nouns
denoting "long" objects take a certain classifier because of their inherent
longness), while others see them as motivated more by analogy
to prototypical pairings (for example, "dictionary" comes to take the same
classifier as the more common word "book"). There is some variation in the
pairings used, with speakers of different dialects often using different
classifiers for the same item. Some linguists have proposed that the use of
classifier phrases may be guided less by grammar and more by stylistic
or pragmatic concerns on the part of a speaker who may be trying
to foreground new or important information.
Many other languages of the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area exhibit
similar classifier systems, leading to speculation about the origins of the
Chinese system. Ancient classifier-like constructions, which used a repeated
noun rather than a special classifier, are attested in Old Chinese as early as
1400 BCE, but true classifiers did not appear in these phrases until much
later. Originally, classifiers and numbers came after the noun rather than
before, and probably moved before the noun sometime after 500 BCE. The
use of classifiers did not become a mandatory part of Chinese [which?] grammar
until around 1100 CE. Some nouns became associated with specific
classifiers earlier than others, the earliest probably being nouns that
signified culturally valued items such as horses and poems. Many words that
are classifiers today started out as full nouns; in some cases their meanings
have been gradually bleached away so that they are now used only as
classifiers.

Usage[edit]
In Chinese, a numeral cannot usually quantify a noun by itself; instead, the
language relies on classifiers, commonly also referred to as measure words.
[note 2]
When a noun is preceded by a number, a demonstrativesuch
as this or that, or certain quantifiers such as every, a classifier must
normally be inserted before the noun.[1] Thus, while English speakers say
"one person" or "this person", Mandarin Chinese speakers say
(y ge rn, one-CL person) or (zh ge rn, this-CL person),
respectively . If a noun is preceded by both a demonstrative and a number,
the demonstrative comes first.[2] (This is just as in English, e.g. "these three
cats".) If an adjective modifies the noun, it typically comes after the
classifier and before the noun. The general structure of a classifier phrase is
demonstrative number classifier adjective noun
The tables below give examples of common types of classifier phrases.
[3]
While most English nouns do not require classifiers or measure words
(except in rare cases like "five head of cattle"), nearly all Chinese nouns do;
thus, in the first table, phrases that have no classifier in English have one in
Chinese.
demonstra numb classi adject nou
tive
er
fier
ive
n
NUM
-CLN
DEM
-CLthis
N
NUM
-CL
NUM
-CLADJN
DEM
NUM
-CL- this
ADJN

three CL

CL

cat

"three
cats"

cat

"this
cat"
"three
(of
them)"*

three CL

three CL

three CL

English
equival
ent

black

black

cat

cat

"three
black
cats"

"these
three
black
cats"

NUM
-CLADJ

"three
black
ones"*

**
black

three CL

* When "cats" is already evident from the context, as in "How many cats do
you have?" "I have three."/"Three."
** When an adjective in Chinese appears by itself, with no noun after it, is
added to identify it as an adjective because many nouns can be used as
verbs, adjectives and/or adverbs (e.g. "unite" can be used as verb,
adjective and adverb; "black" can be used as noun (as the color), verb
(transferred meanings, "defame" and "hack into"; but cannot be used as "to
make something black"), adjective and adverb). The use of in this
example is not related to the presence of classifiers.
demonstra numb classifi adjecti nou
tive
er
er
ve
n
NUMCL-N
DEMCL-N

five

this

NUMCL
NUMCL-ADJN
DEMNUMCL-ADJ- this
N
NUMCL-ADJ

five

five

five

five

CL

cattl
e

CL

cattl
e

"five head of
cattle"
"this head of
cattle"
"five head"*

CL

big

cattl
e

CL

big

cattl
e

CL

**
big

CL

English
equivalent

"five head of
big cattle"
"these five
head of big
cattle"
"five head of
big ones"*

* When "cattle" is already evident from the context, as in "How many cattle
do you have?" "I have five head."
** When an adjective in Chinese appears by itself, with no noun after it, is
added. The use of in this example is not related to the presence of
classifiers.
On the other hand, when a noun is not counted or introduced with a
demonstrative, a classifier is not necessary: for example, there is a classifier
in (sn ling ch, three-CL car, "three cars") but not in (w-de
ch, me-possessive car, "my car").[4] Furthermore, numbers and

demonstratives are often not required in Chinese, so speakers may choose

not to use oneand thus not to use a classifier. For example, to say
"Zhangsan turned into a tree", both (Zhngsn binchng
-le y k sh, Zhangsan become PAST one CL tree) and
(Zhngsn binchng -le sh, Zhangsan become PAST tree) are
acceptable.[5] The use of classifiers after demonstratives is in fact optional.
[6]
Likewise, in colloquial speech and in certain idioms, classifiers are
sometimes not used even in numeral phrases. [citation needed]
It is also possible for a classifier alone to qualify a noun, the numeral ("one")
being omitted, as in mi p m "buy CL horse", i.e. "buy a horse".[7]
Specialized uses
The phrase (ch-ling, car-CL) has the classifier after the noun. It could
refer, for example, to "the cars on the road".
In addition to their uses with numbers and demonstratives, classifiers have
some other functions. A classifier placed after a noun expresses a plural or
indefinite quantity of it. For example, (sh-bn, book-CL) means "the
books" (e.g. on a shelf, or in a library), whereas the standard pre-nominal
construction (y bn sh, one-CL book) means "one book".[8]
Many classifiers may be reduplicated to mean "every". For example,
(g-ge rn, CL-CL person) signifies "every person".[9]
Finally, a classifier used along with (y, "one") and after a noun conveys a
meaning close to "all of" or "the entire" or "a ___ful of". [10] The sentence
(tinkng ypin yn, sky one-CL cloud), meaning "the sky was full of
clouds", uses the classifier (pin, slice), which refers to the sky, not the
clouds.[note 3]
Types[edit]
The vast majority of classifiers are those that count or classify nouns
(nominal classifiers, as in all the examples given so far, as opposed
to verbal classifiers).[11] These are further subdivided into countclassifiers and mass-classifiers, described below. In everyday speech, people
often use the term "measure word", or its literal Chinese equivalent
lingc, to cover all Chinese count-classifiers and mass-classifiers, [12] but
the types of words grouped under this term are not all the same.
Specifically, the various types of classifiers exhibit numerous differences in
meaning, in the kinds of words they attach to, and in syntactic behavior.
Chinese has a large number of nominal classifiers; estimates of the number
in Mandarin range from "several dozen" [13] or "about 50",[14] to over 900.
[15]
The range is so large because some of these estimates include all types
of classifiers while others include only count-classifiers, [note 4] and because
the idea of what constitutes a "classifier" has changed over time. Today,

regular dictionaries include 120 to 150 classifiers; [16] the 8822-word Syllabus
of Graded Words and Characters for Chinese Proficiency [note 5] (Chinese:
; pinyin: Hny Shupng Chu y Hnzi Dngj
Dgng) lists 81;[17] and a 2009 list compiled by Gao Ming and Barbara Malt
includes 126.[18] The number of classifiers that are in everyday, informal use,
however, may be lower: linguist Mary Erbaugh has claimed that about two
dozen "core classifiers" account for most classifier use. [19] As a whole,
though, the classifier system is so complex that specialized classifier
dictionaries have been published.[18][note 6]
Count-classifiers and mass-classifiers[edit]
A classifier categorizes a class of nouns by picking out
somesalient perceptual properties...which are permanently associated with
entities named by the class of nouns; ameasure word does not categorize
but denotes the quantity of the entity named by a noun.
Tai (1994, p. 2), emphasis added
Within the set of nominal classifiers, linguists generally draw a distinction
between "count-classifiers" and "mass-classifiers". True count-classifiers[note
7]
are used for naming or counting a single count noun,[15] and have no direct
translation in English; for example, (y bn sh, one-CL book) can only
be translated in English as "one book" or "a book". [20] Furthermore, countclassifiers cannot be used with mass nouns: just as an English speaker
cannot ordinarily say *"five muds", a Chinese speaker cannot say *
(w ge n, five-CL mud). For such mass nouns, one must use massclassifiers.[15][note 8]
Mass-classifiers (true measure words) do not pick out inherent properties of
an individual noun like count-classifiers do; rather, they lump nouns into
countable units. Thus, mass-classifiers can generally be used with multiple
types of nouns; for example, while the mass-classifier (h, box) can be
used to count boxes of lightbulbs ( y h dngpo, "one box of
lightbulbs") or of books ( y h jioci, "one box of textbooks"), each
of these nouns must use a different count-classifier when being counted by
itself ( y zhn dngpo "one lightbulb"; vs.
y bn jioci "one textbook"). While count-classifiers have no direct
English translation, mass-classifiers often do: phrases with count-classifiers
such as (y ge rn, one-CL person) can only be translated as "one
person" or "a person", whereas those with mass-classifiers such as
(y qn rn, one-crowd-person) can be translated as "a crowd of people".
All languages, including English, have mass-classifiers, but count-classifiers
are unique to certain "classifier languages", and are not a part of English
grammar apart from a few exceptional cases such as head of livestock. [21]
Within the range of mass-classifiers, authors have proposed subdivisions
based on the manner in which a mass-classifier organizes the noun into

countable units. One of these is measurement units (also called "standard

measures"),[22] which all languages must have in order to measure items;
this category includes units such as kilometers, liters, or pounds [23] (see list).
Like other classifiers, these can also stand without a noun; thus, for
example, (bng, pound) may appear as both (sn bng ru,
"three pounds of meat") or just (sn bng, "three pounds", never *
sn ge bng).[24] Units of currency behave similarly: for example,
(sh yun, "ten yuan"), which is short for (for example)
(sh yun rnmnb, "ten units of renminbi"). Other proposed types of massclassifiers include "collective"[25][note 9] mass-classifiers, such as
(y qn rn, "a crowd of people"), which group things less precisely; and
"container"[26] mass-classifiers which group things by containers they come
in, as in (y wn zhu, "a bowl of porridge") or (y bo tng,
"a bag of sugar").
The difference between count-classifiers and mass-classifiers can be
described as one of quantifying versus categorizing: in other words, massclassifiers create a unit by which to measure something (i.e. boxes, groups,
chunks, pieces, etc.), whereas count-classifiers simply name an existing
item.[27] Most words can appear with both count-classifiers and massclassifiers; for example, pizza can be described as both
(y zhng bs, "one pizza", literally "one pie of pizza"), using a countclassifier, and as (y kui bs, "one piece of pizza"), using a massclassifier. In addition to these semantic differences, there are differences in
the grammatical behaviors of count-classifiers and mass-classifiers; [28] for
example, mass-classifiers may be modified by a small set of adjectives (as
in y d qn rn, "a big crowd of people"), whereas count-classifiers
usually may not (for example, * y d ge rn is never said for "a big
person"; instead the adjective must modify the noun: y ge d rn).
[29]
Another difference is that count-classifiers may often be replaced by a
"general" classifier (), g with no apparent change in meaning, whereas
mass-classifiers may not.[30] Syntacticians Lisa Cheng and Rint Sybesma
propose that count-classifiers and mass-classifiers have different underlying
syntactic structures, with count-classifiers forming "classifier phrases", [note
10]
and mass-classifiers being a sort of relative clause that only looks like a
classifier phrase.[31] The distinction between count-classifiers and massclassifiers is often unclear, however, and other linguists have suggested that
count-classifiers and mass-classifiers may not be fundamentally different.
They posit that "count-classifier" and "mass-classifier" are the extremes of a
continuum, with most classifiers falling somewhere in between. [32]
Verbal classifiers[edit]
There is a set of "verbal classifiers" used specifically for counting the
number of times an action occurs, rather than counting a number of items;
this set includes c, bin, hu, and xi, which all roughly translate

to "times".[33] For example, (w q-guo sn c Bijng, I goPAST three-CL Beijing, "I have been to Beijing three times").[34] These words
can also form compound classifiers with certain nouns, as in rn
c "person-time", which can be used to count (for example) visitors to a
museum in a year (where visits by the same person on different occasions
are counted separately).
Another type of verbal classifier indicates the tool or implement used to
perform the action. An example is found in the sentence t t le
w y jio "he kicked me", or more literally "he kicked me one foot". The
word jio, which usually serves as a simple noun meaning "foot", here
functions as a verbal classifier reflecting the tool (namely the foot) used to
perform the kicking action.
Relation to nouns[edit]

y
"fish"

kzi
"(pair of) pants"

h
"river"

dngzi
"long bench"

The above nouns denoting long or flexible objects may all appear with the
classifier () tio in certain dialects such as Mandarin.[35] In Mandarin,
means "a CL bench", and if people want to say "a chair", / or /
is used because is only used for referring to relatively long things. In other
dialects such as Cantonese, cannot be used to refer to . Instead, is
used.
Different classifiers often correspond to different particular nouns. For
example, books generally take the classifier bn, flat objects take
() zhng, animals take () zh, machines take ti, large buildings
and mountains take zu, etc. Within these categories are further
subdivisionswhile most animals take () zh, domestic animals
take () tu, long and flexible animals take () tio, and horses take
p. Likewise, while long things that are flexible (such as ropes) often
take () tio, long things that are rigid (such as sticks) take gn, unless
they are also round (like pens or cigarettes), in which case in some dialects
they take zh.[36] Classifiers also vary in how specific they are; some (such
as du for flowers) are generally only used with one item, whereas others
(such as () tio for long and flexible things, one-dimensional things, or
abstract items like news reports)[note 11] are much less restricted.
[37]
Furthermore, there is not a one-to-one relationship between nouns and
classifiers: the same noun may be paired with different classifiers in
different situations.[38] The specific factors that govern which classifiers are
paired with which nouns have been a subject of debate among linguists.
Categories and prototypes[edit]
While mass-classifiers do not necessarily bear any semantic relationship to
the noun with which they are used (e.g. box and book are not related in
meaning, but one can still say "a box of books"), count-classifiers do. [31] The
precise nature of that relationship, however, is not certain, since there is so
much variability in how objects may be organized and categorized by
classifiers. Accounts of the semantic relationship may be grouped loosely
into categorical theories, which propose that count-classifiers are matched
to objects solely on the basis of inherent features of those objects (such as
length or size), and prototypical theories, which propose that people learn to
match a count-classifier to a specific prototypical object and to other objects
that are like that prototype.[39]
The categorical, "classical"[40] view of classifiers was that each classifier
represents a category with a set of conditions; for example, the
classifier () tio would represent a category defined as all objects that
meet the conditions of being long, thin, and one-dimensionaland nouns
using that classifier must fit all the conditions with which the category is
associated. Some common semantic categories into which count-classifiers
have been claimed to organize nouns include the categories of shape (long,
flat, or round), size (large or small), consistency (soft or

hard), animacy (human, animal, or object),[41] and function (tools, vehicles,

machines, etc.).[42]

A mule
, luzi

A donkey
, lzi
James Tai and Wang Lianqing found that the horse classifier p is
sometimes used for mules andcamels, but rarely for the less "horselike" donkeys, suggesting that the choice of classifiers is influenced by
prototypal closeness.[43]
On the other hand, proponents of prototype theory propose that countclassifiers may not have innate definitions, but are associated with a noun
that is prototypical of that category, and nouns that have a "family
resemblance" with the prototype noun will want to use the same classifier.
[note 12]
For example, horse in Chinese uses the classifier p, as in
(sn p m, "three horses")in modern Chinese the word has no
meaning. Nevertheless, nouns denoting animals that look like horses will
often also use this same classifier, and native speakers have been found to
be more likely to use the classifier the closer an animal looks to a horse.
[43]
Furthermore, words that do not meet the "criteria" of a semantic
category may still use that category because of their association with a
prototype. For example, the classifier () k is used for small round
items, as in (y k zdn, "one bullet"); when words like
(yunzdn, "atomic bomb") were later introduced into the language they
also used this classifier, even though they are not small and round
therefore, their classifier must have been assigned because of the words'
association with the word for bullet, which acted as a "prototype". [44] This is
an example of "generalization" from prototypes: Erbaugh has proposed that
when children learn count-classifiers, they go through stages, first learning a
classifier-noun pair only (such as tio y,CL-fish), then using that
classifier with multiple nouns that are similar to the prototype (such as other

types of fish), then finally using that set of nouns to generalize a semantic
feature associated with the classifier (such as length and flexibility) so that
the classifier can then be used with new words that the person encounters.
[45]

Some classifier-noun pairings are arbitrary, or at least appear to modern

speakers to have no semantic motivation. [46] For instance, the
classifier b may be used for movies and novels, but also for cars [47] and
telephones.[48] Some of this arbitrariness may be due to what linguist James
Tai refers to as "fossilization", whereby a count-classifier loses its meaning
through historical changes but remains paired with some nouns. For
example, the classifier p used for horses is meaningless today, but
in Classical Chinese may have referred to a "team of two horses",[49] a pair of
horse skeletons,[50] or the pairing between man and horse.[51][note
13]
Arbitrariness may also arise when a classifier is borrowed, along with its
noun, from a dialect in which it has a clear meaning to one in which it does
not.[52] In both these cases, the use of the classifier is remembered more by
association with certain "prototypical" nouns (such as horse) rather than by
understanding of semantic categories, and thus arbitrariness has been used
as an argument in favor of the prototype theory of classifiers. [52] Gao and
Malt propose that both the category and prototype theories are correct: in
their conception, some classifiers constitute "well-defined categories",
others make "prototype categories", and still others are relatively arbitrary.
[53]

Neutralization[edit]
In addition to the numerous "specific" count-classifiers described above, [note
14]
Chinese has a "general" classifier (), pronounced g in Mandarin.[note
15]
This classifier is used for people, some abstract concepts, and other
words that do not have special classifiers (such as
hnbobo "hamburger"),[54] and may also be used as a replacement for a
specific classifier such as () zhng or () tio, especially in informal
speech. In Mandarin Chinese, it has been noted as early as the 1940s that
the use of is increasing and that there is a general tendency towards
replacing specific classifiers with it.[55] Numerous studies have reported that
both adults and children tend to use when they do not know the
appropriate count-classifier, and even when they do but are speaking
quickly or informally.[56] The replacement of a specific classifier with the
general is known as classifier neutralization[57] ("" in Chinese,
literally "classifier -ization"[58]). This occurs especially often among
children[59] and aphasics (individuals with damage to language-relevant
areas of the brain),[60][61] although normal speakers also neutralize frequently.
It has been reported that most speakers know the appropriate classifiers for
the words they are using and believe, when asked, that those classifiers are
obligatory, but nevertheless use without even realizing it in actual

speech.[62] As a result, in everyday spoken Mandarin the general classifier is

"hundreds of times more frequent"[63] than the specialized ones.
Nevertheless, has not completely replaced other count-classifiers, and
there are still many situations in which it would be inappropriate to
substitute it for the required specific classifier. [55] There may be specific
patterns behind which classifier-noun pairs may be "neutralized" to use the
general classifier, and which may not. Specifically, words that are most
prototypical for their categories, such as paper for the category of nouns
taking the "flat/square" classifier () zhng, may be less likely to be said
with a general classifier.[64]
Variation in usage[edit]

A painting may be referred to with the classifiers () zhng and f;

both phrases have the same meaning, but convey different stylistic effects.
[66]

Depending on the classifier used, the noun lu could be used to refer to

either this building, as in (y zu lu"one building"), or the floors of the
building, as in (rsh cng lu, "twenty floors").[65]
It is not the case that every noun is only associated with one classifier.
Across dialects and speakers there is great variability in the way classifiers
are used for the same words, and speakers often do not agree which
classifier is best.[67] For example, for cars some people use b, others

use ti, and still others use () ling; Cantonese uses gaa3. Even
within a single dialect or a single speaker, the same noun may take different
measure words depending on the style in which the person is speaking, or
on different nuances the person wants to convey (for instance, measure
words can reflect the speaker's judgment of or opinion about the object [68]).
An example of this is the word for person, rn, which uses the measure
word () g normally, but uses the measure kuwhen counting number
of people in a household, and wi when being particularly polite or
honorific, and mng in formal, written contexts;[69] likewise, a group of
people may be referred to by massifiers as (y qn rn, "a group of
people") or (y bng rn, "a gang/crowd of people"): the first is
neutral, whereas the second implies that the people are unruly or otherwise
being judged poorly.[70]
Some count-classifiers may also be used with nouns that they are not
normally related to, for metaphorical effect, as in (y du fnno,
"a pile of worries/troubles").[71] Finally, a single word may have multiple
count-classifiers that convey different meanings altogetherin fact, the
choice of a classifier can even influence the meaning of a noun. By way of
illustration, sn ji k means "three class periods" (as in "I have three
classes today"), whereas sn mn k means "three courses" (as in "I
signed up for three courses this semester"), even though the noun in each
sentence is the same.[65]
Purpose[edit]
In research on classifier systems, and Chinese classifiers in particular, it has
been asked why count-classifiers (as opposed to mass-classifiers) exist at
all. Mass-classifiers are present in all languages since they are the only way
to "count" mass nouns that are not naturally divided into units (as, for
example, "threesplotches of mud" in English; *"three muds" is
ungrammatical). On the other hand, count-classifiers are not inherently
mandatory, and are absent from most languages. [21][note 16] Furthermore,
count-classifiers are used with an "unexpectedly low frequency"; [72] in many
settings, speakers avoid specific classifiers by just using a bare noun
(without a number or demonstrative) or using the general classifier g.
[73]
Linguists and typologists such as Joseph Greenberg have suggested that
specific count-classifiers are semantically "redundant", repeating
information present within the noun.[74] Count-classifiers can be used
stylistically, though,[69] and can also be used to clarify or limit a speaker's
intended meaning when using a vague or ambiguous noun; for example, the
noun k "class" can refer to courses in a semester or specific class
periods during a day, depending on whether the
classifier () mn or () ji is used.[75]
One proposed explanation for the existence of count-classifiers is that they
serve more of a cognitive purpose than a practical one: in other words, they

provide a linguistic way for speakers to organize or categorize real objects.

[76]
An alternative account is that they serve more of
a discursive and pragmatic function (a communicative function when people
interact) rather than an abstract function within the mind. [73] Specifically, it
has been proposed that count-classifiers might be used to mark new or
unfamiliar objects within a discourse,[76] to introduce major characters or
items in a story or conversation,[77] or to foreground important information
and objects by making them bigger and more salient.[78] In this way, countclassifiers might not serve an abstract grammatical or cognitive function,
but may help in communication by making important information more
noticeable and drawing attention to it.
History[edit]
Classifier phrases[edit]

Replica of an oracle bone inscription from the Shng Dynasty. Such

inscriptions provide some of the earliest examples of the number phrases
that may have eventually spawned Chinese classifiers.
Historical linguists have found that phrases consisting of nouns and
numbers went through several structural changes in Old Chinese and Middle
Chinese before classifiers appeared in them. The earliest forms may have
been Number Noun, like English (i.e. "five horses"), and the less
common Noun Number ("horses five"), both of which are attested in
the oracle bone scripts of Pre-Archaic Chinese (circa 1400 BCE to 1000 BCE).
[79]
The first constructions resembling classifier constructions
were Noun Number Noun constructions, which were also extant in PreArchaic Chinese but less common than Number Noun. In these
constructions, sometimes the first and second nouns were identical

(N1 Number N1, as in "horses five horses") and other times the second
noun was different, but semantically related (N1 Number N2). According
to some historical linguists, the N2 in these constructions can be considered
an early form of count-classifier and has even been called an "echo
classifier"; this speculation is not universally agreed on, though. [80] Although
true count-classifiers had not appeared yet, mass-classifiers were common
in this time, with constructions such as "wine six yu" (the
word yu represented a wine container) meaning "six yu of wine".
[80]
Examples such as this suggest that mass-classifiers predate countclassifiers by several centuries, although they did not appear in the same
word order as they do today.[81]
It is from this type of structure that count-classifiers may have arisen,
originally replacing the second noun (in structures where there was a noun
rather than a mass-classifier) to yield Noun Number Classifier. That is to
say, constructions like "horses five horses" may have been replaced by ones
like "horses five CL", possibly for stylistic reasons such as avoiding
repetition.[82] Another reason for the appearance of count-classifiers may
have been to avoid confusion or ambiguity that could have arisen from
counting items using only mass-classifiersi.e. to clarify when one is
referring to a single item and when one is referring to a measure of items. [83]
Historians agree that at some point in history the order of words in this
construction shifted, putting the noun at the end rather than beginning, like
in the present-day construction Number Classifier Noun.[84] According to
historical linguist Alain Peyraube, the earliest occurrences of this
construction (albeit with mass-classifiers, rather than count-classifiers)
appear in the late portion of Old Chinese (500 BCE to 200 BCE). At this time,
the Number Mass-classifier portion of the Noun Number Massclassifierconstruction was sometimes shifted in front of the noun. Peyraube
speculates that this may have occurred because it was gradually reanalyzed
as a modifier (like an adjective) for the head noun, as opposed to a simple
repetition as it originally was. Since Chinese generally places modifiers
before modified, as does English, the shift may have been prompted by this
reanalysis. By the early part of the Common Era, the nouns appearing in
"classifier position" were beginning to lose their meaning and become true
classifiers. Estimates of when classifiers underwent the most development
vary: Wang Li claims their period of major development was during the Han
Dynasty (206 BCE 220 CE),[85] whereas Liu Shiru estimates that it was
the Southern and Northern Dynasties period (420 589 CE),[86] and Peyraube
chooses the Tang Dynasty (618 907 CE).[87]Regardless of when they
developed, Wang Lianqing claims that they did not become grammatically
mandatory until sometime around the 11th century. [88]
Classifier systems in many nearby languages and language groups (such
as Vietnamese and the Tai languages) are very similar to the Chinese
classifier system in both grammatical structure and the parameters along
which some objects are grouped together. Thus, there has been some

debate over which language family first developed classifiers and which
ones then borrowed themor whether classifier systems were native to all
these languages and developed more through repeated language
contact throughout history.[89]
Classifier words[edit]
Most modern count-classifiers are derived from words that originally were
free-standing nouns in older varieties of Chinese, and have since
been grammaticalized to become bound morphemes.[90] In other words,
count-classifiers tend to come from words that once had specific meaning
but lost it (a process known as semantic bleaching).[91] Many, however, still
have related forms that work as nouns all by themselves, such as the
classifier () di for long, ribbon-like objects: the modern word
dizi means "ribbon".[71] In fact, the majority of classifiers can also be
used as other parts of speech, such as nouns. [92] Mass-classifiers, on the
other hand, are more transparent in meaning than count-classifiers; while
the latter have some historical meaning, the former are still full-fledged
nouns. For example, (bi, cup), is both a classifier as in (y bi ch,
"a cup of tea") and the word for a cup as in (jibi, "wine glass").[93]
Where do these classifiers come from? Each classifier has its own history.
Peyraube (1991, p. 116)
It was not always the case that every noun required a count-classifier. In
many historical varieties of Chinese, use of classifiers was not mandatory,
and classifiers are rare in writings that have survived. [94] Some nouns
acquired classifiers earlier than others; some of the first documented uses of
classifiers were for inventorying items, both in mercantile business and in
storytelling.[95] Thus, the first nouns to have count-classifiers paired with
them may have been nouns that represent "culturally valued" items such as
horses, scrolls, and intellectuals. [96] The special status of such items is still
apparent today: many of the classifiers that can only be paired with one or
two nouns, such as p for horses[note 17] and shu for songs or poems, are
the classifiers for these same "valued" items. Such classifiers make up as
much as one-third of the commonly used classifiers today. [19]
Classifiers did not gain official recognition as a lexical category (part of
speech) until the 20th century. The earliest modern text to discuss classifiers
and their use was Ma Jianzhong's 1898 Ma's Basic Principles for Writing
Clearly ().[97] From then until the 1940s, linguists such as Ma, Wang
Li, and Li Jinxi treated classifiers as just a type of noun that "expresses a
quantity".[85] L Shuxiang was the first to treat them as a separate category,
calling them "unit words" ( dnwic) in his 1940s Outline of Chinese
Grammar () and finally "measure words" ( lingc)
in Grammar Studies (). He made this separation based on the fact
that classifiers were semantically bleached, and that they can be used

directly with a number, whereas true nouns need to have a measure word
added before they can be used with a number. [98] After this time, other
names were also proposed for classifiers: Gao Mingkai called them "noun
helper words" ( zhmngc), Lu Wangdao "counting markers" (
jbio), and Japanese linguist Miyawaki Kennosuke called them
"accompanying words" ( pibnc).[99] In the Draft Plan for a System of
Teaching Chinese Grammar () adopted by the People's
Republic of China in 1954, L's "measure words" ( lingc) was adopted
as the official name for classifiers in China. [100] This remains the most
common term in use today.[12]
General classifiers[edit]
Historically, g was not always the general classifier. Some believe it was
originally a noun referring to bamboo stalks, and gradually expanded in use
to become a classifier for many things with "vertical, individual, [or] upright
qualit[ies]",[101] eventually becoming a general classifier because it was used
so frequently with common nouns.[102] The classifier g is actually associated
with three different homophonous characters:, (used today as
the traditional-character equivalent of ), and . Historical linguist Lianqing
Wang has argued that these characters actually originated from different
words, and that only had the original meaning of "bamboo stalk".[103] ,
she claims, was used as a general classifier early on, and may have been
derived from the orthographically similar ji, one of the earliest general
classifiers.[104] later merged with because they were similar in
pronunciation and meaning (both used as general classifiers). [103] Likewise,
she claims that was also a separate word (with a meaning having to do
with "partiality" or "being a single part"), and merged with for the same
reasons as did; she also argues that was "created", as early as the Han
Dynasty, to supersede .[105]
Nor was the only general classifier in the history of Chinese. The
aforementioned ji was being used as a general classifier before the Qin
Dynasty (221 BCE); it was originally a noun referring to individual items out
of a string of connected shells or clothes, and eventually came to be used as
a classifier for "individual" objects (as opposed to pairs or groups of objects)
before becoming a general classifier. [106] Another general classifier
was mi, which originally referred to small twigs. Since twigs were used
for counting items, became a counter word: any items, including people,
could be counted as "one , two ", etc. was the most common classifier
in use during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period (420589 CE),
[107]
but today is no longer a general classifier, and is only used rarely, as a
specialized classifier for items such as pins and badges. [108] Kathleen Ahrens
has claimed that (zh in Mandarin and jia in Taiwanese), the classifier for
animals in Mandarin, is another general classifier in Taiwanese and may be
becoming one in the Mandarin spoken in Taiwan. [109]

Variety[edit]
Northern dialects tend to have fewer classifiers than southern ones. (ge)
is the only classifier found in the Dungan language. All nouns could have
just one classifier in some dialects, such as Shanghainese, Standard
Mandarin Shanxi dialect, Shandong dialects. Some dialects such as Northern
Min, certain Xiang dialects, Hakka Chinese, and some Yue Chinese use for
the noun referring to people, rather than (ge).[110]
See also[edit]
Chinese grammar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article concerns Standard Chinese. For the grammars of other forms of
Chinese, see their respective articles via links on Chinese
language and varieties of Chinese.

The phrase / zhngwn yf, meaning "Chinese grammar",

written vertically in simplified (left) andtraditional (right) Chinese characters.
This article
contains ruby annotation.Without
proper rendering support, you may see
transcriptions in parentheses after the
character instead of ruby glosses.
The grammar of Standard Chinese shares many features with other varieties
of Chinese. The language almost entirely lacks inflection, so that words
typically have only one grammatical form. Categories such
as number (singular or plural) and verb tense are frequently not expressed

by any grammatical means, although there are several particles that serve
to express verbal aspect, and to some extent mood.
The basic word order is subjectverbobject (SVO). Otherwise, Chinese is
chiefly a head-last language, meaning that modifiers precede the words
they modify in a noun phrase, for example, the head noun comes last, and
all modifiers, including relative clauses, come in front of it. (This
phenomenon is more typically found in SOV languages like Turkish and
Japanese.)
Chinese frequently uses serial verb constructions, which involve two or more
verbs or verb phrases in sequence. Chinese prepositions behave similarly to
serialized verbs in some respects (several of the common prepositions can
also be used as full verbs), and they are often referred to as coverbs. There
are also location markers, placed after a noun, and hence often
called postpositions; these are often used in combination with a
coverb. Predicate adjectives are normally used without a copular verb ("to
be"), and can thus be regarded as a type of verb.
As in many east Asian languages, classifiers or measure words are required
when using numerals (and sometimes other words such as demonstratives)
with nouns. There are many different classifiers in the language, and each
countable noun generally has a particular classifier associated with it.
Informally, however, it is often acceptable to use the general classifier
[] ge in place of other specific classifiers.
Examples given in this article use simplified Chinese characters (with
the traditional characters following in brackets if they differ) and
standard pinyin Romanization.
Contents
[hide]

1Word formation
o

1.1Reduplication

2Sentence structure
o

2.1Objects

3Plurals

4Noun phrases

4.1Relative clauses

4.2Classifiers

5Numerals

6Pronouns

7Adjectives

8Adverbs and adverbials

o

8.1Locative phrases

9Comparatives and superlatives

10Copula

11Aspects

12Passive

13Negation

14Questions

15Imperatives

16Serial verb constructions

o

16.1Auxiliaries

16.2Verbal complements

16.2.1Complement of result

16.2.2Complement of direction

16.3Coverbs

16.4Other cases

17Particles

18Cleft sentences

19Conjunctions

20See also

21Notes

22References

23Further reading

24External links

Word formation[edit]

In Chinese, the concept of words and the boundaries between them is not
always transparent,[1] and the Chinese script does not use spaces between
words. Grammatically, some strings of characters behave as single words in
some contexts, but are separable in others. Many English intransitive
verbs are translated by verb+noun compounds, such as tiow ("to
dance", literally "to jump a dance"); such items may be regarded as single
lexical words, although the two parts can become separated by (for
example) aspect markers, and in fact they generally behave grammatically
as a verb plus an object. Sometimes the behavior of such compounds is
anomalous, however; for instance [] gunxn ("to be concerned
about") behaves as an inseparable word when the perfective particle le is
attached, although it is separable in the phrase [] gun
shnme xn ("to be concerned about what").[2]
Chinese morphemes (minimum units of meaning) are mostly monosyllabic.
Syllables (and thus morphemes in most cases) are represented as a rule by
single characters. Some words consist of single syllables, but many words
are formed by compounding two (or sometimes more) monosyllabic
morphemes (which may be either free or bound that is, they may or may
not also be able to stand independently). Most two-syllable
compound nouns have the head on the right, while in compound verbs the
head is usually on the left.[3] There are also some words (including many
phonetic loans from other languages) that cannot be broken down into
separate morphemes, although they are generally written with characters
that otherwise represent particular morphemes (homophonic with the
respective syllables of the word in question).
Many monosyllabic words have alternative disyllabic forms with virtually the
same meaning, such as dsun ("garlic", literally "big garlic") for
sun ("garlic"). Many disyllabic nouns are produced by adding the suffix
zi (original meaning: "child") to a monosyllabic word or morpheme. There
is a strong tendency for monosyllables to be avoided in certain positions (for
example, a disyllabic verb will not normally be followed by a monosyllabic
object) this may be connected with the preferred metrical structure of the
language.
Reduplication[edit]
A common feature in Chinese is reduplication, where a syllable or word is
repeated to produce a modified meaning. This can happen with:

classifiers, to produce a phrase meaning "all", for example, y

zu-zu shn "all the mountains" (where ordinarily zu is the classifier
used in a phrase denoting a specific number of mountains);

syllables in some informal words denoting family relations, for

example [] mma "mother", ddi "younger brother";

some adjectives, to add emphasis, for example, hng-hng "so

red" (from hng "red"). This is most common with monosyllabic
adjectives, but can also occur with some disyllabic ones, in some
cases on the pattern sh-shu-f-fu (from
shfu "comfortable"), and in others on the pattern [
] bngling-bngling (from [] bngling "ice-cool")(
[] is also commonly used);

many verbs, to mark the delimitative aspect ("to do something for a

little bit") or for general emphasis see under Aspects, below;

certain other single-syllable words and morphemes, as in

xngxng "(distant) star, speck" (from xng "star"),
chngchng "often".

Sentence structure[edit]
Chinese (like English) is classified as an SVO (subjectverbobject) language,
because transitive verbs precede their objects in typical simple clauses,
while the subject precedes the verb. For example:[4]

He drink alcohol. (He drinks alcohol.)

Chinese can also be considered a topic-prominent language:[5] there is a

strong preference for sentences that begin with the theme (often "given", or
"old", information) and end with the rheme ("new" information). Certain
modifications of the basic subjectverbobject order are permissible and
may serve to achieve topic-prominence. In particular, a direct (or sometimes
indirect) object may be moved to the start of the clause (topicalization). It is
also possible for an object to be moved to a position in front of the verb, for
emphasis.[6]
Another type of sentence is what has been called an ergative structure,
[7]
where the apparent subject of the verb can move to object position; the
empty subject position is then often occupied by an expression of
location (compare locative inversion in English). This structure is typical of
the verb yu (meaning "there is/are"; in other contexts the same verb
means "have"), but it can also be used with many other verbs, generally
denoting position, appearance or disappearance. An example:

[()]
Courtyard-in park one [CLASSIFIER] vehicle. (In the courtyard is
parked a vehicle.)

Chinese is also to some degree a pro-drop or null-subject language, meaning

that the subject can be omitted from a clause if it can be inferred from the
context.[8] In the following example, the subject of the verbs for "hike" and
"camp" is left to be inferred (it may be "we", "I", "you", "she", etc.)

[]
Today climb mountain, tomorrow outdoors camp. (Today hike up
mountains, tomorrow camp outdoors.)

In the next example the subject is omitted and the object is topicalized by
being moved into subject position, to form a passive-type sentence. (For
passive sentences with a marker such as bi, see Passivebelow.)

[]
Food make complete LE. (The food has been made, i.e. the food is
ready.)

Adverbs and adverbial phrases that modify the verb typically come after the
subject but before the verb, although other positions are sometimes
possible; see Adverbs and adverbials. For constructions that involve more
than one verb or verb phrase in sequence, see Serial verb constructions. For
sentences consisting of more than one clause, see Conjunctions.
Objects[edit]
Some verbs can take both an indirect object and a direct object. Indirect
normally precedes direct, as in English:

[]
I gave her six books.

With many verbs, however, the indirect object may alternatively be

preceded by prepositional [] gi; in that case it may either precede or
follow the direct object. (Compare the similar use of to or for in English.)
In certain situations a direct object may be preceded by the accusative
marker b.[9] This generally denotes an action that results in a change of
state in the object. For further details of this, see b construction. Such
a b phrase no longer occupies the normal direct object position, but moves
in front of the verb. Compare:

[]
I broke a plate.

[]
I BA-plate broke.

The meanings of the above two sentences are similar, but the second one
(with b) may be considered to place more emphasis on what happened to
the object; it may also indicate definiteness ("the plate" rather than "a
plate"). Certain other markers can be used in a similar way to b, such as
[] jing (in formal language) and n (colloquial).
Some verbs can apparently take two direct objects, which may be called an
"inner" and an "outer" object. [10] These cannot both follow the verb

typically the outer object will be placed at the start of the sentence
(topicalized) or introduced via the b construction. For example:

[]
I BA-tangerine peeled skin ("I peeled the tangerine.")

Here p ("skin") is the inner object, and jzi ("tangerine") is introduced via
the b construction as the outer object. [11] (A more common way to express
this, however, would be w b jzi p b le "I BA tangerine's skin peeled",
or w b le jzi p "I peeled tangerine's skin".) Another possibility is for a
passive sentence with bi (see below) to be constructed, with the outer
object becoming the subject, and the inner object remaining in place. In this
case the combination of verb and inner object need not be an idiomatic or
fixed combination:

[]
I by bandit killed father ("My father was killed by bandits.")

[]
Bandits killed my father. (The most correct order.)

Here the emphasis is on the fact of my being affected by the bandits' killing
my father.[12]
Plurals[edit]
Chinese nouns and other parts of speech are not generally marked
for number, meaning that plural forms are mostly the same as the singular.
However, there is a plural marker [] men, which has limited usage. It is
used with personal pronouns, as in [] wmen, meaning "we" or "us"
(from w, "I, me"), and can be used with nouns representing humans,
most commonly those with two syllables, like in [
] pngyoumn "friends" (from pngyou "friend"). Its use in such cases
is optional.[13] It is never used when the noun has indefinite reference, or
when it is qualified by a numeral. [14]
The demonstrative pronouns [] zh "this" and n "that" may be
optionally pluralized by the addition of xi, making [
] zhxi "these" and nxi "those".
Noun phrases[edit]
The head noun of a noun phrase comes at the end of the phrase; this means
everything that modifies the noun comes before it. This includes
attributive adjectives, determiners, quantifiers, possessives, and relative
clauses.
Chinese does not have articles as such; a noun may stand alone to
represent what in English would be expressed as "the ..." or "a(n) ...".
However the word y "one", followed by the appropriate classifier, may be

used in some cases where English would have "a(n)". It is also possible, with
many classifiers, to omit the y and leave the classifier on its own at the
start of the noun phrase.
The demonstratives are [] zh "this", and n "that". When used
before a noun, these are often followed by an appropriate classifier (for
discussion of classifiers, see Classifiers below and the article Chinese
classifiers). However this use of classifiers is optional. [15] When a noun is
preceded by a numeral (or a demonstrative followed by a numeral), the use
of a classifier or measure word is in most cases considered mandatory. (This
does not apply to nouns that function as measure words themselves; this
includes many units of measurement and currency.)
The plural marker xi ("some, several"; also used to pluralize the
demonstratives) is used without a classifier. However j "some, several,
how many" takes a classifier.[16]
For adjectives in noun phrases, see Adjectives below. For noun phrases with
pronouns rather than nouns as the head, see Pronouns below.
Possessives are formed by adding de (the same particle that is used after
relative clauses and sometimes after adjectives) after the noun, noun
phrase or pronoun that denotes the possessor.
Relative clauses[edit]
Chinese relative clauses, like other noun modifiers, precede the noun they
modify. Like possessives and some adjectives, they are marked with the final
particle de. A free relative clause is produced if the modified noun
following the de is omitted. A relative clause usually comes after any
determiner phrase (such as a numeral and classifier), although for emphasis
it may come before.[17]
There is usually no relative pronoun in the relative clause. Instead, a gap is
left in subject or object position, as appropriate. If there are two gaps (the
additional gap being created by pro-dropping), ambiguity may arise. For
example, ch de may mean "(those) who eat" or "(that) which is eaten"
(when used alone it usually means "things to eat").
If the relative item is governed by a preposition in the relative clause, then it
is denoted by a pronoun (e.g. t t "for him", to mean "for whom"), or
else the whole prepositional phrase is omitted, the preposition then being
implicitly understood.
For example sentences, see Relative clause Mandarin.
Classifiers[edit]
Main article: Chinese classifier. See also List of Chinese classifiers.

Chinese nouns require classifiers (also termed measure words, in Chinese

[] lingc) in order to be counted. That is, when specifying the amount
of a countable noun, a classifier must be inserted, and the classifier has to
agree with the noun. Hence one must say [] ling tu ni "two
head of cattle" for "two cows", with tu being the unit of measurement, or
measure word. (This phenomenon is common inEast Asian languages. In
English, some words, as in the cited example of "cattle", are often paired
with a noun used much like the Chinese measure word. Bottle in "two
bottles of wine" or piece in "three pieces of paper" are further examples.)
However, certain nouns (representing units of measurement, time or
currency) are themselves classifiers, and can therefore be counted directly.
Classifiers are generally associated with certain groups of nouns related by
meaning, such as [] tio for long, thin objects or animals (e.g. ropes,
snakes or fish), b for objects with handles (e.g. knives, umbrellas),
[] zhng for flat objects that can be counted as sheets in English
(photographs, fur, etc.). While there are dozens, if not hundreds, of
classifiers that exist, which must be memorized individually for each noun, a
majority of words use the general classifier [] g. Many nouns that are
associated with other classifiers can also use g if the speaker chooses. The
classifiers for many nouns appear arbitrary. The noun zhuzi "table" is
a zhng noun probably because a table-top is sheet-like, while
yzi "chair" is a b noun probably a chair is moved by lifting something
like a handle, although another word for chair or stool, dngzi, is
a g noun.
Classifiers are also used (optionally) after demonstratives, and in certain
other situations. See Noun phrases above, and the article Chinese classifier.
Numerals[edit]
Main article: Chinese numerals
Pronouns[edit]
Main article: Chinese pronouns
The Chinese personal pronouns are w "I, me", n "you", and //
t "he (him)/she (her)/it". Plurals are formed by adding [] men:
[] wmen "we, us", [] nmen "you", // [//
] tmen "they, them". There is also a formal, polite word for singular
"you": nn. The alternative "inclusive" word for "we/us", zn or [
] z(n)men, referring specifically to the two people "you and I", is not
widely used. The third-person pronouns are not often used for inanimates
(instead, demonstratives are preferred).
Possessives are formed with de, as with nouns ( wde "my, mine",
[] wmende "our(s)", etc.). The de may be omitted in phrases

denoting inalienable possession, such as [] w mma "my

mom".
The demonstrative pronouns are [] zh "this" and n "that" (with
alternative colloquial pronunciations zhi and ni). They are optionally
pluralized by the addition of xi. There is a reflexive pronoun
zjmeaning "oneself, myself, etc.", which can stand alone as an object or
a possessive, or may follow a personal pronoun for emphasis. The reciprocal
pronoun "each other" can be translated by bc, usually in adverb
position (where an alternative is hxing "mutually").
Adjectives[edit]
Main article: Chinese adjectives
Adjectives can be used attributively, before a noun. The relative marker
de (also used after possessives and relative clauses) may be added after
the adjective, but this is not always required; "black horse" may be either
[] hi m or [] hi de m. When multiple adjectives are
used, the order "quality/size shape color" is followed, although this is not
necessary when each adjective is made into a separate phrase with the
addition of de.[18]
Gradable adjectives can be modified by words meaning "very", etc.; such
modifying adverbs normally precede the adjective, although some, such as
[] jle "extremely", come after it.
When adjectives co-occur with classifiers, they normally follow the classifier.
However, with most common classifiers, when the number is "one", it is also
possible to place adjectives like "big" and "small" before the classifier, for
emphasis: [] y-d-ge xgu "one big [CLASSIFIER]
watermelon".[16]
Adjectives can also be used predicatively. In this case they behave more like
verbs; there is no need for a copular verb in sentences like "he is happy" in
Chinese; one may say simply [] t goxng, literally "he happy",
where the adjective may be interpreted as a verb meaning "is happy". In
such sentences it is common for the adjective to be modified by a word
meaning "very" or the like; in fact the word hn("very") is often used in
such cases (with gradable adjectives) even without carrying the meaning of
"very".
It is nonetheless possible for a copula to be used in such sentences, to
emphasize the adjective: [] t sh goxng le, "he is now
truly happy" (here sh is the copula meaning "is", and le is the inceptive
marker discussed below).[19] This is similar to the cleft sentence construction.
Sentences can also be formed in which an adjective followed by de stands
as the complement of the copula.

Adverbs and adverbials[edit]

Adverbs and adverbial phrases normally come in a position before the verb,
but after the subject of the verb. In sentences with auxiliary verbs, the
adverb usually precedes the auxiliary verb as well as the main verb. Some
adverbs of time and attitude ("every day", "perhaps", etc.) may be moved to
the start of the clause, to modify the clause as a whole. However, some
adverbs cannot be moved in this way (these include chng,
chngchng or [] jngchng "often", du "all", ji "then",
yu "again").[20]
Adverbs of manner can be formed from adjectives using the clitic de (not
the same character as the de used to mark possessives and relative
clauses). It is generally possible to move these adverbs to the start of the
clause, although in some cases this may sound awkward, unless there is a
qualifier such as hn ("very") and a pause after the adverb.
Some verbs take a prepositional phrase following the verb (and its direct
object). These are generally obligatory constituents, such that the sentence
would not make sense if they were omitted. For example, [
] fng bn sh zi zhuzi shng "put a book on the table".[21]
There are also certain adverbial "stative complements" which follow the
verb, such as d +adjective (meaning "-ly"; note that this is a different
character again from the two types of de previously mentioned), or ho
le ("complete"). It is not generally possible for a single verb to be followed
by both an object and an adverbial complement of this type (although there
are exceptions in cases where the complement expresses duration,
frequency or goal).[22] To express both, the verb may be repeated (in a
special kind of serial verb construction), the first instance taking an object,
the second taking the complement. Aspect markers can then appear only on
the second instance of the verb.
The typical Chinese word order "XVO", where an oblique complement such
as a locative prepositional phrase precedes the verb, while a direct object
comes after the verb, is very rare cross-linguistically; in fact, it is only in
varieties of Chinese that this is attested as the typical ordering. [23]
Locative phrases[edit]
Expressions of location in Chinese may include a preposition (before the
noun), a postposition (after the noun), both, or neither. (Chinese
prepositions are commonly known as coverbs see further below.) The
postpositions, which include shng "up, on", xi "down, under",
[] l "in, within", ni "inside" and wi "outside", may also be
called locative particles.[24]
In the following examples locative phrases are formed from a noun plus a
locative particle:

[]
"table-on" = on the table

[]
"house-in" = in the house

The most common preposition of location is zi "at, on, in". With certain
nouns that inherently denote a specific location, including nearly all place
names, a locative phrase can be formed with zi together with the noun:

[]
"in America"

However other types of noun still require a locative particle (postposition) in

addition to zi:

[]
"in newspaper-on" = in the newspaper

If a noun is modified so as to denote a specific location (as in "this ..."), then

it may form locative phrases without any locative particle. Also, some
nouns, like ji home and [] xuxio "school", which can be
understood to refer to a specific place, may optionally omit the locative
particle. Words like shngmin "top" can function as specific-location
nouns (like in zi shngmin "on top"), but can also take the role of
locative particle, not necessarily with analogous meaning (one can say
[] zi bozh shngmin "in newspaper-top", meaning "in
the newspaper" or "on the newspaper"). [25]
In certain circumstances zi can be omitted from the locative expression.
Grammatically, a noun or noun phrase followed by a locative particle is still
a noun phrase (since, for instance, zhuzi shng can be regarded as short
for zhuzi shngmin, meaning something like "the table's top").
Consequently, the locative expression without zi can be used in places
where a noun phrase would be expected for instance, as a modifier of
another noun (using de; see above), or as the object of a different
preposition, such as cng "from". The version with zi, on the other hand,
plays an adverbial role. However, zi is usually omitted when the locative
expression begins a sentence with the ergative structure (see above), where
the expression, though having an adverbial function, can be seen as filling
the subject (noun) slot in the sentence.
The word zi, like certain other prepositions (coverbs), can also be used
as a verb. A locative expression can therefore appear as a predicate without
the need for any additional copula. For example, [] t zi
xuxio "he at school", i.e. "he is at school".
Comparatives and superlatives[edit]

Comparative sentences are commonly expressed simply by inserting the

standard of comparison, preceded by b "than". The adjective itself is not
modified. The b phrase is an adverbial, and has a fixed position before the
verb. (See also Negation.)
If there is no standard of comparison (than phrase), then the adjective can
be marked as comparative by a preceding adverb [] bjio (or just
[] jio), meaning "more". Similarly, superlatives can be expressed using
the adverb zu "most", which precedes a predicate (verb or adjective).
Adverbial phrases meaning "like (someone/something)" or "as
(someone/something)" can be formed using gn, tng or
xing before the noun phrase, and [] yyng or [
] nyng after it.[26]
The construction ...... yu ... yu ... can be used to translate statements
of the type "the more ..., the more ...".
Copula[edit]
Further information: Chinese copula
The Chinese copular verb (the equivalent of English "to be" and all its forms
"am", "is", "are", "was", etc.) is sh. However, it is normally only used
when its complement is a noun or noun phrase. As noted above, predicate
adjectives function as verbs themselves, as does the locative preposition
zi, so in sentences where the predicate is an adjectival or locative
phrase, sh is not required.
For another use of sh (the sh ... (de) construction) see the section on cleft
sentences. The English existential phrase "there is" ("there are", etc.) is
translated using the verb yu, which is otherwise used to mean "have"
(denoting possession).
Aspects[edit]
Chinese does not have grammatical markers of tense. The time at which
action is conceived as taking place (past, present, future) can be indicated
by expressions of time ("yesterday", "now", etc.) or may simply be inferred
from the context. However, Chinese does have markers of aspect, which is a
feature of grammar that gives information about the temporal flow of
events. There are two aspect markers that are especially commonly used
with past events: the perfective le and the experiential [] guo. (Some
authors, however, do not regard guo, or the zhe described below, as
markers of aspect.[27]) Both le and guo immediately follow the verb. (There is
also a sentence-final particle le, which serves a somewhat different purpose
see Particles.)

The perfective le presents the viewpoint of "an event in its entirety". [28] It is
sometimes considered to be a past tense marker, although it can also be
used with future events, given appropriate context.

[]
I became a soldier (and I still am; note that this is subjected to the
context. One could say [] "at that time, I
became a soldier" and this sentence would not necessarily indicate
that the speaker is still a soldier now).

[]
I am becoming a soldier. (Compared to the above, this is a strong
highlight about his status. Also, the above is just describing an event.)

[]
He watched three ballgames (and he has probably watched many
during his lifetime; often used in a time-delimited context such as
"today" or "last week").

[]
He watched three ballgames. (Same as above, but the focus is on the
number of three. He may continue or he may not.)

The experiential guo "ascribes to a subject the property of having

experienced the event".[29]

[]
I was/used to be a soldier before (but no longer am).

[]
He has watched three ballgames (and that is the sum of all the
ballgames he has ever watched; in the context of actions like "watch"
or "take part," which can easily be repeated, this does not have the
same connotation of the first usage, but merely denotes that the
action was in the past and describes the state of affairs up to now).

There are also two imperfective aspect markers, zhngzi (or just
zi), and [] zhe, which denote ongoing actions or states. The first of
these precedes the verb, and is usually used for ongoing actions or dynamic
events it may be translated as "(be) in the process of (-ing)" or "(be) in the
middle of (-ing)". The second follows the verb, and is used mostly for static
situations.

() [()]
I'm hanging pictures up.

[]
A picture's hanging on the wall.

Both markers may occur in the same clause, however, e.g. ()

[()] t zhngzai d (zhe) dinhu "He is in the middle of
telephoning someone".[30]
The delimitative aspect denotes an action that goes on only for some time,
"doing something 'a little bit'".[31] This can be expressed by reduplication of a
monosyllabic verb, like the verb zu ("walk") in the following sentence:

[]
I to park walk-walk, i.e. "I'm going for a walk in the park."

An alternative construction is reduplication with insertion of y ("one"):

zu yi zu (which might be translated as "walk a little walk"). A further
possibility is reduplication followed by kn ("to see"); this emphasizes the
"testing" nature of the action. (If the verb has an object, this kn follows the
object.)
Some compound verbs (restrictive-resultative and coordinate compounds)
can also be reduplicated, on the pattern [] toln-toln,
from the verb [] toln ("discuss"). Other compounds may be
reduplicated, but for general emphasis rather than delimitative aspect. In
compounds that are in fact verbobject combinations, like tio
w "dance", delimitative aspect can be marked by reduplicating the first
syllable: tio-tio w (and kn may be added after this).
Passive[edit]
As mentioned above, the fact that a verb is intended to be understood in
the passive voice is not always marked in Chinese. It may be marked,
however, using the passive marker bi, followed by the agent (like the
English "by"), although bi may appear alone, if the agent is not to be
specified. Certain causative markers can replace bi, such
as gi, jio and rng (see Other cases in the serial verb section), although of
these, only gi can appear alone without a specified agent. The construction
with a passive marker is normally used only when there is a sense of
misfortune or adversity.[32] The passive marker (and agent) occupy the
typical adverbial position before the verb. (See also Negation.) Some
examples:

[]
We by him scolded (We were scolded by him).

[]
He by me beaten (up) (He was beaten up by me).

Negation[edit]
The most commonly used negating element is b (pronounced with
second tone when followed by a fourth tone). This can be placed before a

verb, preposition or adverb to negate it. For example: w b ch

j (literally: I not eat chicken), "I don't eat chicken." (For the double-verb
negative construction with b, see Complement of result, below.) However,
the verb yu, which can mean either "have" (denotingpossession) or
"there is/are" in existential clauses, is negated using mi, to produce
miyu.
For negation of a verb intended to denote a completed event, mi or
miyu is used instead of b (and the aspect marker le is then
omitted). Also, mi(yu) is used to negate verbs that take the aspect marker
[] guo; in this case the aspect marker is not omitted. [33]
In coverb constructions, the negator may come before the coverb
(preposition) or before the full verb, the latter being more emphatic. In
constructions with a passive marker, the negator precedes that marker;
similarly, in comparative constructions, the negator precedes the b phrase
(unless the verb is further qualified by gng "even more", in which case
the negator may follow the gng to produce the meaning "even less").[34]
The negator bi precedes the verb in negative commands and negative
requests ("don't ...", "please don't ...").
Other items used as negating elements in certain compound words include
[] w and fi.
A double negative makes a positive, as in sentences like [
] w b sh b xhun t "It's not that I don't like her." (For this use
of sh, see Cleft sentences below.)
Questions[edit]
In wh-questions in Chinese, the question word is not fronted, that is, it stays
in the position in the sentence that would be occupied by the item being
asked about. For example, ? [] n shu sh(n)me ("What
did you say?"), literally "you say what" the word shnme ("what, which")
remains here in the object position after the verb. Other interrogative words
include [] shu, shi ("who"), ni("which"; used with a classifier and
noun or with xi and noun to mean "which ones" the noun may be
omitted if understood), dusho ("how much/many") (also [] j "how
many", used when the number is quite small, and followed by a classifier),
[] nr or [] nl ("where"), [] shnme
shhu ("when"), () [()] znme(yang) ("how"), and [
] wish(n)me or [] gnm ("why"). An informal term for [
] shnme is sh.
Disjunctive questions can be made using the word [] hish between
the options, like English "or" (this differs from the word for "or" in
statements, which is huzh).

Yes-no questions can be formed using the sentence-final particle

[] ma (the word order is otherwise the same as in a statement). For
example, ? [] n ch j ma? (you eat chicken MA) "Do you
eat chicken?"
An alternative is the A-not-A construction, using phrases like ch bu
ch ("eat or not eat") (either the verb or the whole verb phrase may be
repeated after the negator b; it is also possible to place b after the verb
phrase and omit the repetition entirely). With two-syllable verbs, sometimes
only the first syllable is repeated: [] x-bu-xhun ("like or
not like"), from [] xhun ("like"). It is also possible to use the A-notA construction with prepositions (coverbs) and phrases headed by them, as
with full verbs.
The negator [] mi can be used rather than b in the A-not-A
construction when referring to a completed event, but if it occurs at the end
of the sentence (i.e. the repetition is omitted) the full form [
]miyu must appear.[35]
For answering yes-no questions, Chinese has words that may be used like
the English "yes" and "no" [] du or sh de for "yes"; b for "no"
but these are not often used for this purpose; it is more common to repeat
the verb or verb phrase (or entire sentence), negating it if applicable.
Imperatives[edit]
Second-person imperative sentences are formed in the same way as
statements, but like in English, the subject ("you") is often omitted.
Orders may be softened by preceding them with an element such as
qng ("to ask", in this use equivalent to English "please"). See
also Particles below. The sentence-final particle ba can be used to form
first-person imperatives ("let's ...").
Serial verb constructions[edit]
Chinese makes frequent use of serial verb constructions, or verb stacking,
where two or more verbs or verb phrases are concatenated together. This
frequently involves either verbal complements appearing after the main
verb, or coverb phrases appearing before the main verb, but other
variations of the construction occur as well.
Auxiliaries[edit]
A main verb may be preceded by an auxiliary verb, as in English. Chinese
auxiliaries include nng and [] nnggu ("can"), [] hu ("know
how to"), ky ("may"), gn ("dare"), kn ("be willing to"), [
] ynggi ("should"), [] bx ("must"), etc. The auxiliary normally
follows an adverb, if present. In shortened sentences an auxiliary may be
used without a main verb, analogously to English sentences such as "I can."

Verbal complements[edit]
The active verb of a sentence may be suffixed with a second verb, which
usually indicates either the result of the first action, or the direction in which
it took the subject. When such information is applicable, it is generally
considered mandatory. The phenomenon is sometimes called double verbs.
Complement of result[edit]
A complement of result, or resultative complement ( [
] jigu by) is a verbal suffix which indicates the outcome, or possible
outcome, of the action indicated by the main verb. In the following
examples, the main verb is [] tng ("to listen"), and the complement of
result is dng ("to understand", "to know").

[]
Hear-understand, i.e. to understand (something you hear)

Since they indicate an absolute result, such double verbs necessarily

represent a completed action, and are thus negated using [] mi:

[]
To have not understood (something you hear)

The infix de is placed between the double verbs to indicate possibility or

ability. (This is not possible with "restrictive" resultative compounds such as
jishng "reduce-save", i.e. "to save, economize".[36])

[]
To be able to understand (something you hear)
This is equivalent in meaning to [] nng tng dng, using
the auxiliary nng, equivalent to "may" or "can" (but not in the
sense of "know how to" or "have the skill to").

To negate the above construction, de is replaced by b:

[]
To be unable to understand (something you hear)

With some verbs, the above construction (addition of b and a particular

complement of result) is the standard method of negation. In many cases
the complement is lio (represented by the same character, , as the
perfective or modal particle le). This verb means "to finish", but when used
as a complement for negation purposes it may merely indicate inability. For
example: shu-b-lio ("to be unable to tolerate").
The complement of result is a highly productive and frequently used
construction. Sometimes it develops into idiomatic phrases, as in [
] s le (literally: hungry-till-die already, meaning "(to be) starving") and
[] q s le (literally: mad-till-die already, meaning "(to be)

extremely angry"). The phrases , [], and [] all

use q ("to rise up") as a complement of result, but their meanings (to
look down upon, to apologize, and to be unable to afford, respectively) are
not obviously related to that meaning. This is partially the result of
metaphorical construction, where literally means "to be unable to look
up to" (i.e. look down on), and [] "to be unable to face
(someone)".
Some more examples of resultative complements, used in complete
sentences:

[]
literal: he OBJ-plate hit-break-PF.
He hit/dropped the plate, and it broke.
(double-verb where the second verb, "break", is a suffix to the first,
and indicates what happens to the object as a result of the action.)

[]
literal: This movie I look-no-understand.
I can't understand this movie (even though I watched it.)
(double-verb as well, where the second verb, "understand", suffixes
the first and clarifies the possibility and success of the relevant
action.)

Complement of direction[edit]
A complement of direction, or directional complement ( [
] qxing by) indicates the direction of an action involving movement.
The simplest directional complements are q ("to go") and []li ("to
come"), which may be added after a verb to indicate movement away from
or towards the speaker, respectively. These may form compounds with other
verbs that further specify the direction, such as shng q ("to go up"),
[] go li ("to come over"), which may then be added to another
verb, such as zu ("to walk"), as in [] zu go q ("to walk
over"). Another example, in a whole sentence:

[]
literal: he walk-up-come-PF.
He walked up (towards me).
(directional suffixes indicating "up" and "towards".)

If the preceding verb has an object, the object may be placed either before
or after the directional complement(s), or even between two directional
complements (provided the second of these is not q).[37]
The structure with inserted de or b (described above) is not normally used
with this type of double verb, although there are exceptions, such as
[] or ("to be unable to get out of bed").
Coverbs[edit]

Chinese has a class of words, called coverbs, which in some respects

resemble both verbs and prepositions. They appear with a
following object (or complement), and generally denote relationships that
would be expressed by prepositions (or postpositions) in other languages.
However, they are often considered to be lexically verbs, and some of them
can also function as full verbs. When a coverb phrase appears in a sentence
together with a main verb phrase, the result is essentially a type of serial
verb construction. The coverb phrase, being an adverbial, precedes the
main verb in most cases. For instance:
[]
literally: I help you find him
I will find him for you.
Here the main verb is zho ("find"), and the word bng is a coverb, which
here corresponds to the English preposition "for", even though in other
contexts it might be used as a full verb meaning "help".
[]
literally: I sit airplane from Shanghai arrive Beijing go.
I'll go from Shanghai to Beijing by plane.
Here there are three coverbs: zu ("by"), cng ("from"), and do ("to"). The
words zu and do can also be verbs, meaning "sit" and "arrive (at)"
respectively. However, cng, like certain other coverbs, is not normally used
as a full verb.
A very common coverb that can also be used as a main verb is zi, as
described in the Locative phrases section above. Another example is gi,
which as a verb means "give", but as a preposition may mean "for", or "to"
when marking an indirect object or in certain other expressions, such as
[] w gi n d dinhu (I to you strike telephone) "I'll
give you a telephone call."
Because coverbs essentially function as prepositions, they can also be
referred to simply as prepositions. In Chinese they are called [] ji
c, a term which generally corresponds to "preposition" (or more generally,
"adposition"). The situation is complicated somewhat by the fact that the
location markers discussed above, which also have meanings similar to
those of certain English prepositions (although in grammatical behavior they
are more like nouns), are often called "postpositions".
Coverbs normally cannot take aspect markers, although some of them form
fixed compounds together with such markers, such as gnzhe "with"
(gn "with" plus aspect marker zhe), nzhe "according to",
ynzhe "along", and wile "for".[38]
Other cases[edit]

Serial verb constructions can also consist of two consecutive verb phrases
with parallel meaning, such as [] h kfi kn bo "drink
coffee read paper", i.e. "drink coffee and read the paper". Each verb may
independently be negated or given the le aspect marker.[39] If both verbs
would have the same object, it is omitted the second time.
Consecutive verb phrases may also be used to indicate consecutive events.
Use of the le aspect marker with the first verb may imply that this is the
main verb of the sentence, the second verb phrase merely indicating the
purpose. Use of this le with the second verb changes this emphasis, and
may require a sentence-final le particle in addition. (On the other hand, the
progressive aspect marker zi may be applied to the first verb, but not
normally the second alone.) The word q or [] li (verbs normally
meaning "go" and "come") may be inserted between the two verb phrases,
meaning "in order to".
For constructions with consecutive verb phrases containing the same verb,
see under Adverbs. For immediate repetition of a verb,
see Reduplication and Aspects.
Another case is the causative or pivotal construction. [40] Here the object of
one verb also serves as the subject of the following verb. The first verb may
be something like gi "allow" (meaning "give" in other contexts),
[] rng "let", jio or sh "make, compel" (jio also means "call"),
[] qng "invite", or lng "command". Some of these (lng, rng, sh)
cannot take an aspect marker such as le when used in this construction.
Sentences of this type often parallel the equivalent English pattern (except
that English may insert the infinitive marker "to"). In the following example
the construction is used twice:

[]
He want me invite him drink beer, i.e. He wants me to treat him beer.

Particles[edit]
See also: Chinese particles and Chinese exclamative particles
Chinese has a number of sentence-final particles these are weak syllables,
spoken with neutral tone, and placed at the end of the sentence to which
they refer. They are often called modal particles ( [] yq
zhc), as they serve chiefly to express grammatical mood, or how the
sentence relates to reality and/or intent. They include: [41]

[] ma, which changes a statement into a yes-no question

ne, which expresses surprise, or produces a question "with

expectation"

ba, which serves as a tag question ("don't you think so?"),

produces a suggestion ("let's"), or lessens certainty of a decision.

a (also ya, wa, etc. depending on the preceding sound), which

reduces forcefulness, particularly of an order or question. It can also
be used to add positive connotation to certain phrases or inject
uncertainty when responding to a question.

[] ou, which signals a friendly warning

[] zhe, which marks inchoative aspect (need for change of state)

in imperative sentences (compare the imperfective aspect
marker zhe in the section above)

le, which marks a "currently relevant state"; see below. This

precedes any other sentence-final particles, and can combine with
a to produce la, and with [] ou to produce [] lou.

This sentence-final le should be distinguished from the verb suffix

le discussed in above. The latter is described as a marker of perfective
aspect, whereas the sentence-final particle is sometimes described as
an inceptive or as a marker of perfect aspect.[42] An example of its use:

[]
I have no money, now. (I've gone broke.)

The two uses of le may in fact be traced back to two entirely different words.
[43][44]
The fact that they are now written the same way in Mandarin can
cause ambiguity, particularly when the verb is not followed by an object.
Consider the following sentence:

[]

This le might be interpreted as either the suffixal perfective marker or the

sentence-final perfect marker. In the former case it might mean "mother has
come" (she has just arrived at the door, for example), while in the latter it
might mean "mother is coming after all" (where she had previously said she
would not be coming, but has just changed her decision). It is even possible
for the two kinds of le to co-occur:[45]

[]
He has eaten. (Without the first le, the sentence could again mean
"he has eaten", or it could mean "he wants to eat now". Without the
final le the sentence would be ungrammatical unless the context
permits, as perfective le cannot appear in a semantically unbounded
sentence.)

Cleft sentences[edit]
There is a construction in Chinese known as the sh ... (de) construction,
which produces what may be called cleft sentences.[46] The copula sh is
placed before the element of the sentence which is to be emphasized, and

the possessive particle de is placed at the end of the sentence (although

this can be omitted). For example:

[]
He SHI yesterday buy food (DE), i.e. It was yesterday that he bought
food.

If an object, following the verb, is to be emphasized in this construction,

the sh precedes the object, and the de comes after the verb, before the sh.
Sentences with similar meaning can be produced using relative
clauses (these may be called pseudo-cleft sentences), for example: zutin
sh t mi ci de shjin "yesterday is he buy food DE time", i.e. "yesterday
was the time he bought food".[47]
Conjunctions[edit]
Chinese has various conjunctions such as h "and", dnsh "but",
huzh "or", etc. However Chinese quite often uses no conjunction where
English would have "and".[48]
Certain adverbs are often used as correlative conjunctions, where
correlating words appear in each of the linked clauses, such as ...
bdn ... rqi "not only ... (but) also", ... [...] surn ...
hish "although ... still", ... [...] ynwi ... suy "because ...
therefore". Such connectors may appear at the start of a clause or before
the verb phrase.[49]
Similarly, words like jrn "since/in response to", rgu or
jir "if", zhyo "provided that" correlate with an adverb
ji ("then") or y (literally "also") in the main clause, to form conditional
sentences.
In some cases, the same word may be repeated when connecting items;
these include ...... yu ... yu ... ("both ... and ..."), ...... ybin ...
ybin ... ("... while ..."), and ...... yu ... yu ... ("the more ..., the
more ...").
Conjunctions of time such as "when" may be translated with a construction
that corresponds to something like "at the time (+relative clause)", where as
usual, the Chinese relative clause comes before the noun ("time" in this
case). For example:[50]

[...]
At I-return-home-DE time, i.e. "When I return(ed) home..."

Variants include ... [...] dng ... yqin ("before ...") and ...
[...] dng ... yhu ("after ...") (these do not use the relative
marker de). In all of these cases the initial dng may be replaced by zi,
or may be omitted. There are also similar constructions for

conditionals: rgu/jir/zhyo ... de hu ("if ...") (where hu [] literally

means "narrative, story").
Clasificadores en chino

simplificado

tradicional
g es el clasificador ms general del mandarn
Los clasificadores chinos (chino tradicional: ; chino simplificado:
; pinyin: lingc; cantons (Yale): leung4 chi4) son aquellas palabras
o clasificadoresque se usan junto a los numerales para definir la unidad de
medida de un sustantivo, estos clasificadores dividen a los nombres en
clases semnticas. En otros idiomas tambin existen clasificadores, por
ejemplo en espaol se dice: "un vaso de agua" o "tres litros de agua" o "un
puado de dlares", en donde "vaso", "litro" y "puado" estn funcionando
como clasificadores.
En el idioma chino todos los sustantivos son incontables y los sustantivos no
cambian morfolgicamente para distinguir singular de plural, por lo que la
utilizacin del clasificador se hace obligatoria gramaticalmente, de tal
manera que el uso de este tipo de partculas est muy desarrollado y
normalmente tienen una presencia sealada en gramticas y diccionarios.
Se pueden distinguir dos tipos de clasificadores, los nominales y los
verbales. Los verbales se utilizan para cuantificar verbos y la cantidad de
tiempo que tiene prioridad.
La eleccin de uno u otro clasificador depende del sustantivo con el que va
asociado, pero tambin de las preferencias y la cultura del hablante. Por
ejemplo, para decir "tres coches", algunas personas prefieren decir

(), mientras que otras dicen (). Otras incluso, dicen

(), y, finalmente, en cantons es (), y, excluyendo el
conflicto entre los dialectos chinos, los tres clasificadores se utilizan para
decir lo mismo.
Algunos clasificadores son unidades de medida que todas las lenguas
tienen, como, por ejemplo, la palabra kilmetro, pero en muchas ocasiones,
dado el gran desarrollo de este tipo de partculas en el idioma chino, no hay
traduccin literal posible.
La primera columna muestra la versin tradicional del carcter; la segunda,
la versin simplificada, si es diferente a la tradicional; la tercera muestra la
pronunciacin en pinyin y la cuarta, la pronunciacincantonesa en Yale; la
quinta, los usos principales del clasificador; y, finalmente, la palabra entre
comillas muestra el significado literal del clasificador, explicando su uso en
caso necesario.
ndice
[ocultar]

1Clasificadores nominales
o

1.1Unidades reales

1.2Otros calificadores nominales

2Clasificadores verbales

3Clasificadores coloquiales

4Ejemplos

5Vase tambin

Clasificadores nominales[editar]
Unidades reales[editar]
Trad.

Simp.

Pinyin

Cantons

Usos principales

mio

miu5

segundo

fn

fan1

minuto

hak1
haak1

cuarto de hora, 15 minutos

(sobre todo en dialectos
como el shanghains, y en

Tiempo

traducciones)

xiosh

siu2 si4

hora

zhng

jung1

hora (Al sur de la China)

shchn

si4 san4

2 horas (arcaico)

tin

tin1

da

yat6

da

nin

nin4

ao

zi

joi2 joi3

ao

shj

sai3 gei2

siglo

ke4

hak1
haak1

gramo

jn

gan1

libra, medio kilo

gngjn

gung1
gan1

kilogramo

qink

chin1
hak1/haak
1

kilogramo

dn

deun1

tonelada

Peso/masa

Longitud/distancia

gngfn

gung1 fan1 centmetro

lm

lei4 mai5

centmetro (de uso muy

raro)

cn

chyun3

pulgada china

cn

chyun3

pulgada britnica

ch

che2/chek3 pie chino

ch

chek3

pie britnico

yngch

ying1
chek3

pie britnico

gngch

gung1
chek3

metro

mai5

metro (tcnico)

lei5

"l", un tercio de milla aprox.

le1/lei5/li1

milla britnica

yngl

ying1 lei5

milla britnica

gngl

gung1 lei5

kilmetro

tinwndn
wi

tin1 man4
"unidad astronmica"
daan1 wai2

gungnin

gwong1
nin4

ao luz

miochj

miu5 cha1
geui6

pasos

Moneda

yun

yun4

yun, "" (divisa principal)

(se pueden utilizar ambas
formas)

kui

faai3

yun, "" (una palabra de

argot, como ahora "pasta")
jio, moneda de diez
cntimos
(se pueden utilizar las dos
formas en un texto
tradicional)

jio

gok3/luk6

mo

hou4

jio, moneda de diez

cntimos (argot)
(se pueden utilizar las dos
formas en un texto

tradicional)

fn

fan1/fan6

fn, cntimos

Otros calificadores nominales[editar]

Trad Sim
.
p.

Pinyi
n

Usos principales

"puado" objetos que se pueden coger.

bn

Servicios programados (trenes, etc.)

bo

paquetes, fajo

bi

copa bebidas

bn

volumen relacionado con material impreso (libros,

etc.)

grandes cantidades de dinero

novelas, pelculas

volmenes de libros

cng

piso, capa edificios, etc.

chn
g

espectculos pblicos, juegos

chu
ng

cama mantas, lminas

tiempo oportunidades, accidentes

di

todo aquello que tenga forma de bolsa o bolsillo y que

est lleno

do

proyecciones lineales (rayos de luz, etc.), rdenes

dadas por una autoridad

agua, sangre y todo tipo de fluidos

din

ideas, sugerencias

dng

objetos que sobresalen (sombreros, etc.)

dng

pilar, utilizado para edificios

muros y herramientas que envuelven a un profesional

dun

tramo contiguo cables, calzadas, etc.

du

pareja gente

dn

gapes

du

flores, nubes

fn

porciones

fng

cartas, correo

obras de arte (pinturas, etc.)

dosis medicina (china)

objetos que normalmente vienen en parejas (guantes,

zapatos, etc.)

ge
(g)

objetos individuales, personas se usa este

calificador con cualquier nombre, si se desconoce el
calificador adecuado.

gn

objetos finos y/o alargados (agujas, pilares, etc.)

flujos (de aire, etc.)

hng

objetos que forman lneas (palabras, etc.)

caja pequea cassettes, etc.

familias

hu

clasificador despectivo para bandas de delincuentes

ji

reunin de gente (familias, empresas, etc.)

ji

aviones, pianos

jin

habitaciones

jin

materias, ropa, etc.

ji

seccin de bamb, etc.

ji

reuniones o sesiones programadas regularmente

lneas, frases, etc.

rboles y flora similar

objetos pequeos (corazones, perlas, dientes, etc.) y

objetos que parecen pequeos (planetas distantes,
estrellas, etc.))

ku

gente de pueblo, miembros de una familia

kui

trozo, pieza tierra, piedras, etc.; pasteles, pan (pero

no rebanadas), etc.

li

objetos del mismo tipo

cereales

ling

coches, bicicletas, etc.

li

trenes

mi

medallas

mn

objectos o hechos correspondientes a la universidad

(cursos, etc.)

min

objetos planos y lisos (espejos, banderas, etc.)

mng

personas de alta graduacin o calificacin (doctores,

abogados, polticos, realeza, etc.)

pi

objetos ordenados en filas (sillas, etc.)

pn

objetos planos (videocassettes, etc.)

personas, bienes, etc.

caballos y otros animales de montura, rollos de ropa

pin

diarios, artculos, etc.

pin

rebanada objetos planos, tarjetas, rebanadas de

pan, etc.

png

botella bebidas

revistas

qn

grupo, montn

shn

puertas, ventanas

shu

canciones, poemas, msica, etc.

sh

ramos

shu
ng

objetos que se venden en parejas (guantes, zapatos,

etc.)

su

naves

su

edificios

ti

objetos pesados (televisores, ordenadores, etc.) y

funciones (teatro, etc.)

tng

periodos de clases, muebles

tng

servicios de transporte programados (autobs, metro,

etc.)

to

coleccin libros, revistas, coleccionables, etc.

Clasificador de preguntas

tio

objetos largos y estrechos

tu

cabeza algunos animales (cerdos, vacas, etc.),

cabello

tun

pelota

wi

Clasificador educado de persona ("Honorable seor"?)

xing proyectos

yng

artculos de atributos divergentes

zh

bote, jarrn bebidas como la cerveza, soda, zumo,

etc. (Se considera informal y propio del argot)

zhn

aparatos elctricos, bote de t, etc.

zhn
g

lmina objetos planos (papel, mesas, etc.), caras,

arcos, pinturas, billetes, constelaciones

zhn

rfaga, explosin hechos de corta duracin

(tempestades de relmpagos, rfagas de viento)

zh

objetos parecidos a un palo (bolgrafos, palillos chinos,

etc.)

zh

uno de una pareja, algunos animales (pjaros, gatos,

etc.)

zh

forma alternativa de , puede ser usado para rifles y

rosas

zhn
g

tipos o clases de objetos

colecciones, filas, series, pilas

zu

grandes estructuras o montaas

Clasificadores verbales[editar]
Tra
d.

Sim
p.

bin

Piny Canton
Usos principales
in
s

bin3 pin3

el nmero de veces que se ha completado

una accin

chn
cheung4
g

la duracin de un hecho que ocurre hasta

otro

chi3

veces (a diferencia de , se refiere al

nmero de veces, se haya completado o no)

dn

deun6

acciones sin repeticin

hu

wui4

hechos (uso coloquial)

shn seng1/si
g
ng1

llantos, gritos, etc.

tng

tong3

viajes, visitas, etc.

xi

ha5/ha6

acciones breves y normalmente inesperadas

Clasificadores coloquiales[editar]
En el habla coloquial de algunos dialectos, (li) se usa, normalmente, en
vez de (ling ge); de esta forma adquiere la identidad de un clasificador
que quiere decir "dos de (etc.)". Lo mismo pasa con (s), que quiere decir
"tres de (objeto)".
Ejemplos[editar]
Cdigo de colores
Los clasificadores aparecen en verde y los nombres en violeta.

El ao pasado mont un caballo.

Este televisor se rompi tras encenderlo una vez.

He reservado (dos billetes para) estos dos autobuses.

Solo despus de que haya pasado esta lluvia escalar aquella montaa.

Un pelo, un pelo de cabello.

()

Cinco minutos (periodo)

()

Diez das (periodo)

Cien toros, cien cabezas de ganado.

Una manzana.

Una libra de manzanas.

Algunas manzanas, un grupo de manzanas.

j