个, 只, 张, 杯 — the 20 Mandarin measure words that cover 90% of everyday speech, with usage examples.
The general-purpose default. Use it when you're not sure — it works for most nouns, including people in informal contexts.
Polite measure for people — teachers, guests, clients, elders. Use 位 instead of 个 to show respect.
Most animals (dogs, cats, birds, mice), and one of a pair (one hand, one ear, one shoe).
Flat things — paper, tickets, photos, maps, tables, beds, faces.
Long, thin, often flexible things — roads, rivers, fish, pants, snakes, ties, towels.
Bound printed things — books, magazines, notebooks, dictionaries.
Upper-body clothing (shirts, jackets, sweaters), pieces of luggage, abstract matters (events, news).
Pairs — shoes, chopsticks, gloves, eyes. Use when the two go together as a set.
Sets — suits, sets of furniture, apartments (the whole flat as one unit).
Cups or glasses of liquid — water, coffee, beer, milk.
Bottles — water, wine, beer, soda, soy sauce.
Bowls of food — rice, soup, noodles.
Lumps, chunks, blocks — cake, soap, stone. Also the colloquial measure for yuan (money).
Packs, packets, bags — cigarettes, chips, tissues, anything pre-packaged.
Wheeled vehicles — cars, bikes, buses, motorcycles.
Things with a handle or grip — knives, umbrellas, keys, chairs, scissors.
Flowers and clouds — anything that blooms or puffs.
Plants rooted in the ground — trees, grass, vegetables in a garden.
Livestock and large animals — cows, pigs, donkeys. Also garlic bulbs (one bulb).
Occurrences, times something happens — not a noun-counter so much as an action-counter.
Reading a measure word is one thing — using it in real speech without pausing to think is another. Kango drills these into roleplays so you don't have to fish for the right one mid-sentence.
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