Chinese For Dummies (14 page)

Abstract nouns for such things as
zhèngzhì
政治
(juhng-jir) (
politics
) or
wénhuà
文化
(one-hwah) (
culture
)

Pronouns

Pronouns are easy to make plural in Chinese. Just add the plural suffix
-men
to the three basic pronouns:

Wǒ
我
(waw) (
I/me
) becomes
wǒmen
我们
(
我們
) (waw-mun) (
we/us
).

Nǐ
ä½ 
(nee) (
you
) becomes
nǐmen
你们
(
你們
) (nee-mun) (
you [plural]
).

Tā
他
/
她
/
它
(tah) (
he/him, she/her, it
) becomes
tāmen
他们
/
她们
/
它们
(
他們
/
她們
/
它們
) (tah-mun) (
they/them
).

Sometimes you hear the term
zánmen
咱们
(
咱們
) (dzah-mun) for
us
rather than the term
wǒmen. Zánmen
is used in very familiar settings when the speaker wants to include the listener in an action, like when you say
Zánmen zǒu ba.
咱们
走吧
. (
咱們走吧
.) (dzah-mun dzoe bah.) (
Let's go.
).

When you're speaking to an elder or someone you don't know too well and the person is someone to whom you should show respect, you need to use the pronoun
nín
您
(neen) rather than the more informal
nǐ
ä½ 
(nee). On the other hand, if you're speaking to several people who fit that description, the plural remains
nǐmen
你们
(
你們
) (nee-men).

Classifiers

Classifiers
are sometimes called
measure words,
even though they don't really measure anything. They actually help classify particular nouns. For example, the classifier
běn
本
(bun) can refer to books, magazines, dictionaries, and just about anything else that's printed and bound like a book. You may hear
Wǒ yào yìběn shū.
我要一本书
. (
我要一本書
.) (waw yaow ee-bun shoo.) (
I want a book.
) just as easily as you hear
Wǒ yào kàn yìběn zázhì.
我要看一本杂志
. (
我要看一本雜志
.) (waw yaow kahn ee-bun dzah-jir.) (
I want to read a magazine.
).

Classifiers are found between a number (or a demonstrative pronoun such as
this
or
that
) and a noun. They're similar to English words such as
herd
(of elephants) or
school
(of fish). Although English doesn't use classifiers too often, in Chinese you find them wherever a number is followed by a noun, or at least an implied noun (such as
I'll have another one,
referring to a cup of coffee).

Because you have so many potential classifiers to choose from in Chinese, here's the general rule of thumb: When in doubt, use
ge
个
(
個
) (guh). It's the all-purpose classifier and the one used the most in the Chinese language. You usually can't go wrong by using
ge.
If you're tempted to leave a classifier out altogether because you're not sure which one is the right one, don't give in! You may not be understood at all.

Chinese has lots of different classifiers because they're each used to refer to different types of things. For example,
Table 3-1
lists classifiers for natural objects. Here are some other examples:

gēn
æ ¹
(gun): Used for anything that looks like a stick, such as a string or even a blade of grass

zhāng
å¼ 
(
å¼µ
)
(jahng): Used for anything with a flat surface, such as a newspaper, table, or bed

kē
颗
(
顆
) (kuh): Used for anything round and tiny, such as a pearl