Beginner Lesson 16.1 – Have Vs. Don’t Have
Have And Don't Have In Chinese | Measure Word Ge In Chinese
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.
VOCABULARY
GRAMMAR
Grammar 1: 个 Measure Word Ge in Chinese · HSK 1
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:
Number + Measure Word + Noun
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.
- yíge lǎoshī
一个老师
one teacher - sānge gēge / jiějie / dìdi / mèimei
三个哥哥 / 姐姐 / 弟弟 / 妹妹
three big brothers / big sisters / little brothers / little sisters - sìge Zhōngguórén
四个中国人
four Chinese people - wǔge péngyou
五个朋友
five friends - yíge 'érzi / nǚ'ér
一个儿子 / 女儿
a son / a daughter - yíge míngzi
一个名字
a name
Grammar 2: Have and Don't Have in Chinese · HSK 1
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.
- wǒ yǒu yíge píngguǒ
我有一个苹果。
I have one "ge" apple - wǒ méiyǒu gēge
我没有哥哥。
I don't have big brother
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.
- wǒ méiyǒu píngguǒ
我没有苹果。
I don't have apple wǒ méiyǒu yíge píngguǒ
我没有一个苹果。
I don't have an apple
Grammar 3: The Number Two in Chinese 二 VS. 两 (II) · HSK 1
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.
- liǎngge píngguǒ
两个苹果
two apples èrge píngguǒ
二个苹果
two apples
Grammar 4: Ask and Answer Quantities in Chinese· HSK 1
When asking about the quantity of something, we need the Question Word 几 again, and here's the structure we use:
几 + Measure Word + the Object
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
Lili 老师，您好！谢谢您 Thank you for another amazing lesson! I’ve yet to come across another website or app as simple, yet comprehensive as yours. I’ve never had any fun learning a language until here.
I just have a question I’m hoping you can answer as I haven’t found anything online. When we use 有 to to say “don’t have”… Instead of saying, for example, 我没有, can we use the negative character bu and say 我不有？
Please kindly see in Grammar 2, that the negation word for 有 in Chinese is 没. And we don’t use 不.
谢谢您！In HSK1 Lesson 8 I learned more on 没. Now it all makes much more sense!
Hello Lili.
In this lesson we learnt how to ask how many brothers/sisters someone has, but is also correct to say 你有哥哥吗？ 你有弟弟吗?.
By the way, does exist a Chinese word for “siblings” or we can find the same case as in 爸爸妈妈？
I really appreciate your course but occasionally there are some mistakes in the English. Usually the kind that people coming from languages not as obsessed as English with articles make. Like “I don’t have little sister”. That’s the kind of mistake that speakers of Slavic or of Chinese languages typically make. That sentence sound really weird to native speakers. It’s “I don’t have a little sister”. You really need to put that article in there. Or did you do this on purpose? In which case I apologise for assuming it’s a mistake, but it still sounds weird…
Thanks for your comment. If it’s the translation of a Chinese example sentences, those “errors” are meant to be like that. We try to use literal translations as much as possible because it helps the students to get a better idea of how the Chinese sentences are put together. That’s why “missing article” and “incorrect word order” can be commonly seen. We don’t use liberal translation because once the word by word translation is given, students can already figure out the meanings of these sentences.
Hi Lili, thanks for this clarification, I understand.
But I was not only referring to translations of sample sentences. The instruction text of one exercise I recently did (Beginner Practice 16.2 – Character Writing), for example, reads: “Zhōu Tiānmíng 周天明 has a big family. He has one little sister, two big sister, three big brothers. He is Chinese, 21 years old and have had four English Teachers.” That can’t be on purpose, I thought, since it’s not a sample sentence translation and thus this non English grammar can serve no pedagogical purpose here. Plus it’s inconsistent – the plural is incorrect in “two big sister” but correct in “three big brothers”. “He […] have had” is obviously also incorrect.
It’s still clear what is meant of course and I am not suggesting that this is a major problem.
Like I said I do really appreciate this course and based on my reading of a bunch of reviews of different online Chinese learning tools, and trying out a few myself, I would say it is of great quality. But I think cleaning up your English in a few places could make it even better. I am not sure how many people care about this kind of thing (after all the point of this course is to learn Chinese, and as long as the instruction texts are understandable, there is no major problem), but I am sure some do! I think presenting your material flawlessly gives a good impression and contributes to creating trust in you as competent teachers.
Kind regards
Daniel
Thanks for the feedback, we appreciate the support! In the future we’ll be more careful, also we plan to slowly remove English from our videos and lesson pages the further advanced the courses get.
Hi Lili: please can you tell me why 一 is 2nd tone in these examples, but when we learned the numbers, it was 1st tone. Many thanks, Michael!
I’m glad you noticed it! The character 一 sometimes changes its tone. The rule is explained in Tone Drill Course Lesson 14.
Ok thanks 谢谢 再见!