Learn how to say have and don't have in Chinese. Be able to use the Measure Word Ge and ask and answer quantities in Chinese.
ge 个 the most commonly used Measure Word
Having Measure Words is one of the characteristics of Chinese language. When naming the quantity of something, we say:
There are many different measure words for different kinds of objects. And the Measure Word Ge in Chinese is the most commonly used one. It is for anything that doesn't have a special Measure Word. (Also it can be used as a casual universal measure word in colloquial language.)
Generally, if you are not sure about which Measure Word to use, using 个 is good enough for people to understand you. Even though they can tell right away that you're not a native speaker.
Below are examples of Measure Word Ge in Chinese.
yǒu 有 to have (something) | méiyǒu 没有 to not have (something)
When we have, possess, or own something, we use the verb 有. And if we don't have, possess, or own something, we use the verb 没有. So have and don't have in Chinese are expressed by 有 or 没有.
In English we can say "I don't have an apple" or "I don't have a teacher". But in Chinese, when using 没有, no number is used after 没有.
We learned in Lesson 14.1 that to say 2 o'clock we must say 两点, instead of *二点. When saying the quantity of objects / things, we also need to use 两 instead of 二.
When asking about the quantity of something, we need the Question Word 几 again, and here's the structure we use:
Q: nǐ yǒu jǐge píngguǒ
你有几个苹果?
how many "ge" apples do you have
A: wǒ yǒu liǎngge píngguǒ
我有两个苹果。
I have two "ge" apples
Q: nǐ yǒu jǐge jiějie
你有几个姐姐?
how many "ge" big sisters do you have
A: wǒ yǒu liǎngge jiějie
我有两个姐姐。
I have two "ge" big sisters
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