Chinese Measure Words (Part 5): Pairs, Groups, Collections

Pairs

pairs

双

(雙)

 shuāng pair of identical objects 一双眼睛 (yī shuāng yǎnjīng) “pair of eyes”

一双鞋子 (yī shuāng xiézi) “pair of shoes”
副 fù pair of complementary objects 一副碗筷 (yī fù wǎn kuài) “bowl and chopsticks”

一副刀叉 (yī fù dāo chā) “fork and knife”

一副眼镜 (yī fù yǎnjìng) “a pair of glasses”

对

(對)

 duì man-woman pair 一对夫妻 (yī duì fūqī) “a married couple”, literally “one pair husband wife”

一对情人 (yī duì qíngrén) “pair of lovers”

Groups and Collections

groups

些 xiē a few 一些東西 (yī xiē dōngxī) “a few things”
种

(種)

 zhǒng a kind 一种动物 (yī zhǒng dòngwù) “a type of animal”
群 qún group, flock 一群人 (yī qún rén)  “a group of people”

一群羊 (yī qún yáng) “a flock of sheep”

The character’s right side is the symbol for sheep.

众

(眾)

 zhòng a crowd 一众人 (yī zhòng rén) “a crowd of people”

组

(組)

 zǔ an organization 一组用戶 (yī zǔ yòng hù) “consumers’ organization”

一组数据 (yī zǔ shùjù) “a set of data)
帮
(幫)		 bāng a group or a band 一帮贼 (yī bāng zéi) “a group of thieves”
班 bān a class 一班学生 (yī bān xuéshēng) “a class of students”
排 pái a row, queue 一排电杆 (yī pái diàn gān) “a row of electrical posts”

队

(隊)

 duì a team, battalion 一队军人 (yī duì jūnrén) “a battalion of soldiers”
列 liè a chain, exhibited items 一列火车 (yī liè huǒchē) “a train”, literally “a chain of cars”

项

(項)

 xiàng item in a list, headline 一项标题 (yī xiàng biāotí) “a headline”
串 chuàn skewer 一串肉 (yī chuàn ròu) “a skewer of meat”
打 dá dozen 一打鸡蛋 (yī dá jīdàn) “a dozen eggs”

叠

(疊)

 dié stack 一叠箱 (yī dié xiāng) “a stack of boxes/containers”

一叠钱 ( yī dié qián) “a stack of money”

Joe Varadi lived and studied in Shanghai and Taiwan, in a simpler time before blogs and smartphones got big. He is the creator of Trasee! for Chinese Trasee, a mobile app for Chinese reading and handwriting that incorporates many of the techniques he developed while learning Mandarin.

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