Tone of 个

[fkj]

I'm very new at learning chinese (mandarin), and at first I belived the measure word 个 to have the pinyin: ge4, from Rosetta Stone - and UniHan confirmed this by listing the possible tones to be: ge4 and ge3.

All other sources I've come across uses the neutral tone (ge5). I even found a list of measure words where the pinyin is listed as: "ge5 (ge4)".

What is the right pinyin for 个, ge4 or ge5? Is it a question of dialect?

[Xiao Kui]

when 个 comes after a number and is used as measure word ( like 三个） it is ge5 and when it is in a word like 个人 (individual) it is ge4, so it depends on the situation. Maybe some other people can give more and/or better examples. I hate words with more than one tone and light tones. I say pick a tone and go with it! I have a bunch of questions I'm gonna ask about tones especially straightening out when certain location and directional words use regular tones light tones instead such as 上，下，近，出，来，去 . One of these days I'm gonna get it straight but that's another thread for another day.

Stupefied (stupidified?) for now, XK

[fkj]

I understand. The reason why both ge4 and ge5 is found in literature, is that some authors change the pinyin to reflect the change from g4 to g5, when 个 is used as a measure word, and some authors always show the original/basic pronunciation.

A question about: 个人:

Is 个 repeated in:

一个个人 [yi2(1) ge5(4) ge4 ren2] an individual

or is there a way to avoid the repetition, or is it "okay" because the pronunciation of the two 个's differs?

I know, for instance [PCG p.61], the measure word 本 (measure word for books) is not used for notebooks: 本子, to avoid the repetition: 一本本子. Instead 个 is used: 一个本子. But there is no default measure word to use when the default measure word is the cause of the repetition!?

[HashiriKata]

一个个人 [yi2(1) ge5(4) ge4 ren2] an individual

I don't think it's likely that there's this combination 一个个人 in Chinese. Also, "an individual" often turns out to mean something else in context (= in translation). Anyway, as I can't be sure, I bring this up for other individuals to comment (or to correct me. )

[eddiewouldgo]

I think you are mistaken about 一个个人. It's boken down to (一个个)人 not (一个)(个人)

(一个个)人 means 一个又个人，one person following one person.

e.g. 一个个人站起来。 One by one stand up please.

[jumbo_cards]

you don't say an individual / a person as 一个个人 (it's actually wrong)... 一个人 is enough...

Also... to say or write 一个个人站起来 is very awkward... or at least I don't think I have ever said "everyone stand up one by one" in chinese like that before...

一个个 do mean one by one... however if you were to say stand up one by one.. in chinese I would say “你们一个个的站起来” or in third person "他们一个个的站起来了“ or "人们一个个的站起来了“。

[anonymoose]

一个人 means an individual/a person

个人 is an adjective meaning individual