Measure word problem

[Hally04]

This has bugged me for quite some time now; I'm not entirely sure when to use or avoid measure words. E.g.:

 

我没有手机 Why isn't it 我没有一个手机?

Another example: 你有女友吗 why not 你有一个女友吗?

 

As a side question, I'm just wandering whether these have different meanings or whether it's merely politeness:

我看过

我曾经看过

 

Thanks a lot

[tooironic]

In English, when you use a countable noun you have to use an article with it, or use the plural noun. For example, it is acceptable to say "I like furniture", but not acceptable to say "I like table" - you must say "I like tables" for it to be grammatically correct. This is because the former term is uncountable, while the latter term is countable. Chinese does not have this rule, and many Chinese when they speak English overlook it.

[Guest123]

1) Measure words are needed in two cases: when you want to indicate quantity and so use numbers, or when you want to indicate a precise object and use 那、这 pronouns. And of course, with corresponding question words: 几 (for numbers) or 哪.

 

In other cases there is no need to use measure words.

 

 我没有手机 is a general statement that you don't have any phone, you are not indicating quantity. By the way, with negatives measure word are used rather seldom, because it's not really possible to count something that doesn't exist

 

If you say 我一个手机都没有, it means: no one at all; it's the way to stress that you really don't have any phone, not even one.

 

你有女友吗？ is a general question. The speaker just wants to know if you have a girlfriend or not, he doesn't care about the quantity.

你有一个女友吗？would mean: Do you have one girlfriend? (this may suppose: maybe you have two or three)

 

2) 我看过 : I have watched (or looked), I did watch. This means simply that you did the action, but you do not precise the time when it happened, maybe this morning or even a few minutes ago:

For ex.: 你想雇那个人吗？-- 我看过他的简历，觉得他挺好 。

 

我曾经看过 indicates that it happened some time ago, like saying: I once watched. 

For ex.: 我曾经看过那本书，可是都忘了。

[Hally04]

I believe I understand now. Thank you both a lot!