888
A quick Chinese lesson (lemmy.world)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/memes@lemmy.world
143 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 21 points 5 months ago (6 children)

No one has mentioned special 2, 两! It’s only for counting certain things.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 10 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    I mean... in English we also use different words, such as "pair" and "dozen", for some specific numbers.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    But those are just words for "a group of a special size"

    Some eastern languages have totally different counting words depending on WHAT you're counting. One set of number-words for flat things, another set for long things, another set for printed/bound things, another set for things with handles...

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

    Huh. I learnt that 两 is for counting everything. Er is only used if you spell out a number. Like you can't say "erge ren", must be "liangge ren". Maybe you're confusing it with another liang character, the measure for cars?

    Sorry, I might be wrong, my Chinese isn't the best.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent