Lesson 24. Three Ways to Express Plural Nouns in Chinese

Unlike English which adds ‘s/-es’ or Indonesian which reduplicate the nouns, Chinese does not modify the nouns to express plural nouns in Chinese. So, how do Chinese turn a noun from singular into a plural? Let’s find out the answer here!

Use the number along with the counters

In Chinese, we use counters between the number and a noun to do the counting. We could say both ‘three cakes’ and ‘three pieces of cakes’ in English. However, we can only use 三块蛋糕 (sān kuài dàngāo) [literally meaning: three pieces of cake] in Chinese. We have to use the cake counter, 块 (kuài). In fact, these counters are very specific to what is being counted. One of the most commonly used counters in Chinese is 个 (ge).

Structure: Number + Counter + Noun

Examples:

兩本小說。

两本小说。

Liǎng běn xiǎoshuō.

Two (volumes of) novel.

 

Note： we use 兩 (两) [liǎng] instead of 二 (èr) for counting.

 

三杯橙汁。

三杯橙汁。

Sān bēi chéngzhī.

Three (glasses of) orange juice.

 

十輛跑車。

十辆跑车。

Shí liàng pǎochē.

Ten (pieces of) sports car.

 

Note: 輛 (辆) [liàng] is a specific counter for wheeled vehicles.

 

Using quantifiers

Besides, we can also use ambiguous noun quantifier to express plurality, such as 一點 (一点) [yī diǎn] – a little, 一些 (yī xiē) – a few/some, 幾 [几] (jǐ) – several, and so on.

Structure: Quantifier + Noun

Examples:

這是我的一點心意。

这是我的一点心意。

Zhè shì wǒ de yīdiǎn xīnyì.

This is a little token for you.

 

我有一些想法要告訴你。

我有一些想法要告诉你。

Wǒ yǒu yīxiē xiǎngfǎ yào gàosù nǐ.

I have a few ideas to tell you.

 

老師請幾個學生去他家裡吃晚飯。

老师请几个学生去他家里吃晚饭。

Lǎoshī qǐng jǐ gè xuéshēng qù tā jiālǐ chī wǎnfàn.

The teacher invited several students to go to his house for dinner.

 

The Ultimate 們 [们] (men)

Remember how to construct plural pronouns in Chinese? Attach the word 們 [们] (men)! We can also add the suffix 們 [们] (men) behind the noun, as in 人們 [人们] (rén men) – people, 學生們 [学生们] (xué shēng men) – students, 朋友們 [朋友们] (péng yǒu men) – friends, etc. Examples:

她受到了人們的稱讚。

她受到了人们的称赞。

Tā shòudàole rénmen de chēngzàn.

She has been praised by people.

 

這是學生們最期待的暑假。

这是学生们最期待的暑假。

Zhè shì xuéshēngmen zuì qídài de shǔjià.

This is the summer vacation that students are most looking forward to.

 

他特別喜歡和朋友們一起去郊遊。

他特别喜欢和朋友们一起去郊游。

Tā tèbié xǐhuān hé péngyǒumen yīqǐ qù jiāoyóu.

He really likes to go for outing with his friends.

 

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