Chinese Measure Words 2

份 (fèn)

This is a measure word you may need when ordering food. In the context of food, it refers to a portion or serving of food. It can also be used to refer to multi-page documents.

一份A餐　Yí fèn A cān
One combo A

一份表格　Yí fèn biǎogé
A form

兩两份炸雞炸鸡　Liǎng fèn zhàjīzhájī
Two orders of fried chicken

張/张 (zhāng)

張张 is an measure word for flat objects like a ticket, a piece of paper, a table, or a bed, and so on. 

一張张紙纸 Yì zhāng zhǐ
A piece of paper

兩張张桌子　Liǎng zhāng zhuōzi
Two tables

三張张票　Sān zhāng piào
Three tickets

輛/辆 (liàng)

The measure word 輛辆 liàng is commonly used for vehicles with wheels. You can use it to talk about cars, buses, bikes, scooters, and so on. Two exceptions to this are trains 列 liè and plane 架 jià.

一輛辆汽車车　Yí liàng qìchē
A car

兩輛辆公車公交车　Liǎng liàng gōngchēgōngjiāochē
Two buses

👁‍🗨 If you visit Taiwan, you will see many  輛辆 liàng orange Ubike

隻/只(zhī)

This measure word 隻只 zhī  is used for most animals and insects whether they are big or small. We also use this MW when talking about one item in a pair (like one shoe, one hand, one chopstick, etc.). For example, if you have chopsticks and you want to mention that one chopstick is broken, you can say, “1 zhī kuàizi.” But if you are talking about a pair of chopsticks, don’t use “zhi.” You have to say 1 shuāng kuàizi.

一隻只雞鸡　Yì zhī jī
A chicken

四隻只蚊子　Sì zhī wénzi
Four mosquitoes

一隻只手　Yì zhī shǒu
A hand

件(jiàn)

The measure word 件 jiàn goes with top clothing. It’s also used for some other things like matters, problems or luggage.

三件衣服　Sān jiàn yīfúyīfu
Three tops.

一件事　Yí jiàn shì
A thing

一件行李　Yí jiàn xínglǐxíngli
A piece of luggage

📖 Conversation at the airport

條/条 (tiáo)

條条 tiáo is the measure word for things with a long, narrow shape and usually not straight, such as fish, snakes, pants, necklaces, ties, rivers, roads, and so on.

一條条魚鱼　Yì tiáo yú
A fish

一條条河　Yì tiáo hé
A river

四條条褲裤子　Sì tiáo kùzi
Four pants

雙/双 (shuāng)

This measure word is used for items in pairs. The character, as you can probably guess from its structure, means “double” originally. And if you look at the traditional character 雙双 shuāng and 隻只 zhī, it’s not hard to tell why 隻只 zhī can also be used when talking about one item in a pair.

一雙双鞋　Yì shuāng xié
A pair of shoes

一雙双眼睛　Yì shuāng yǎnjīng
A pair of eyes

一隻只眼睛　Yì zhī yǎnjīng
One eye

種/种 (zhǒng)

This measur word is used for kinds, sorts, types. You can use it to count everything.  

這这種种人　Zhè zhǒng rén 
This kind of person 

五種种花　Wǔ zhǒng huā 
Five kinds of flowers 

一種种現现象　Yì zhǒng xiànxiàng
A phenomenon