Measure Words

By Ling-Ling Lisa Shih
From Ling-LingChinese.com

Here are some quizlets you can use to master the measure words:

yì zhī qīng wā yì zhāng zuǐ
一只青蛙，一张嘴，

liǎng gè yǎn jing sì tiáo tuǐ
两个眼睛，四条腿，

pū tōng pū tōng tiào xià shuǐ
扑通扑通跳下水。

[In Simplifed Chinese]

一只青蛙，一张嘴，
两个眼睛，四条腿，
扑通扑通跳下水。

[In Tradition Chinese]

一隻青蛙，一張嘴，
兩個眼睛，四條腿，
撲通撲通跳下水。

ID	Chinese	Trad.	Pinyin	English Definition
ID	Chinese	Trad.	Pinyin	English Definition
1	一		yī	one; 1; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; “one” radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
2	只	隻	zhī	classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc
3	青蛙		qīng wā	frog; Classifiers: 只 ; (slang) ugly guy
4	张	張	zhāng	surname Zhang; to open up; to spread; sheet of paper; classifier for flat objects, sheet; classifier for votes
5	嘴		zuǐ	mouth; beak; nozzle; spout (of teapot etc); Classifiers: 张
6	两	兩	liǎng	two; both; some; a few; tael, unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern) or 1⁄16 of a catty 斤 (old)
7	个	個, 箇	gè	individual; this; that; size; classifier for people or objects in general; variant of 个
8	眼睛		yǎn jing	eye; Classifiers: 只
9	四		sì	four; 4
10	条	條	tiáo	strip; item; article; clause (of law or treaty); classifier for long thin things (ribbon, river, road, trousers etc)
11	腿	骽	tuǐ	leg; Classifiers: 条 ; hip bone; old variant of 腿
12	扑通	撲通	pū tōng	(onom.) sound of object falling into water; plop
13	跳		tiào	to jump; to hop; to skip over; to bounce; to palpitate
14	下水		xià shuǐ	downstream; to go into the water; to put into water; to launch (a ship); fig. to fall into bad ways; to lead astray; to go to pot