[Updated] An annotated list of all measure words, if you want it!

[Marceau]

EDIT: I've put an updated version here with a few corrections.

Hi all,

As many of you probably know, the HSK is going to take place again two days from now. I'm one of the ones currently cramming in the hopes of doing a little better than I should be (given my overall level).

In the runup to this test, I kind of figured that measure words are an important part of the test. There are sure to be a few questions about it.

I thought, therefore, that it'd be a good idea to have a nice long list of all the measure words and examples of words they are used with.

I tried to find such a thing (for free, online) but was unsuccessful. The closest I came was with Wikipedia. Though hard to access from within China (where I live), I managed to save the list they host.

Then I set out to tailor it to my own needs: away with all the traditional characters (I live in simplified territory), clean up everything a little, and most importantly, add usage examples.

I made the list with the help of two of my tutors, Chinese students in these here parts.

I'm uploading it here for your convenience, and in the hopes that you might have some suggestions to add to the list and/or corrections.

Thanks and enjoy!

measure_words_anno.pdf

[Senzhi]

Happy man here !!! 谢谢你！

[Marceau]

You are in Shantou? What do you do there? I once knew someone there...

[c_redman]

This is a good list to have--thanks for doing this. YellowBridge also has a list at http://www.yellowbridge.com/language/partsearch.php?part=m. But it is web-based, so not as convenient for reference.

[xiaojiang216]

哇，真了不起！

I have a question. In the 班 column, you have two examples: 一班火车 and 一般飞机.

Is the 飞机 example supposed to have 般 there instead of 班？

谢谢！

[Senzhi]

Marceau,

I teach business English in companies, and part time to business students in an academy.

And of course, I also try to get my Chinese skills up to the next level.

[Marceau]

I'm not sure about the 般... I'll be sure to ask my tutor (he majors in Chinese at Shandong 大学) but I think he's the one who told me about this use of 班 (as in, the service provided by, rather than the physical object).

Also, I want to point out again that much of this comes from Wikipedia (that is, the characters, the pinyin as well as -parts of- the descriptions in the top of each cell). The rest was made in collaboration with my tutors here.

I want to point out that there's one mistake still in there.

character du (都) is wrong... that should be 堵. I'll be sure to fix that in the next update (which I'm already working on).

[Marceau]

Senzhi, funny thing is, we come from the same place, more or less! I'm from Brugge, actually, what about you?

[roddy]

So good someone hit the icon and recommended it for inclusion in the next newsletter.

Might be worth making a word (or other format) version available for people who want to make their own changes.

Thanks for making it available.

[Shadowdh]

Many thanks for this list...

[Senzhi]

Marceau,

Ik ben van dezelfde stad als Arno, 15 minuutjes rijden richting zee.

Als je me nu nog kunt vertellen dat je Brugse Tripel hebt meegenomen naar Shandong ... dan sta ik morgen aan je voordeur !!!

[david1978]

Marceau, my thanks and respect for creating and sharing this list! This is extremely useful. A suggestion... it would be great to see a sample sentence in pinyin, simplified characters, and English, next to every word. I think it would be very helpful for newbies and intermediate level learners.

Thanks again!

[Luobot]

Marceau, This is beautifully formatted. Thanks much.

[Marceau]

Thank you all for the thank yous, they mean a lot.

I will be posting a .doc version one of these days, after I brush up everything a little.

Meanwhile, any suggestions or corrections are more than welcome. Other/new examples are also more than welcome.

Senzhi... daar wonen mijn grootouders, ik ging er graag, toen ik nog in België was.

Brugse Tripel heb ik niet, slechts 'tgeen ze hier verkopen. Duvel, Leffe en de andere gebruikelijken.

[Marceau]

To xiaojiang216:

I saw the mistake you were talking about, and I corrected it. I also added some information and changed another mistake.

I'm putting up the new version right now.

See the first post for the newer version.

[imron]

You might also consider changing all pinyin in the examples to use tone marks instead of tone numbers. There are several tools on the web that will convert text automatically, or you could use something like pinyinput (see the link in my sig).

[cdn_in_bj]

This is a bit late, but thank you for putting together this list. It's very useful reference material.

It also helped to confirm something that I had observed, that 厘米 is used here instead of 公分 for centimeter.

[xxj2422042]

here are somethings:

1:“一班飞机” are correct! and“一般飞机” refers to the common plane.

2:we donnt use"一班火车“ quiet often.but usually use"一趟火车”

[zozzen]

Marceau's list is so great. Could any learners here share how they remember all these measure words?

[ABCinChina]

This is great! Can someone please tell me how to get the boxes in this word version to line up right? Some of them are cut-off and I can't seem to get it look nice.

Measure Words.zip