Free · 72 nouns
Chinese nouns
The everyday ones by kind, most common first.
People
Places
Time
Things
Ideas and events
Place words
Do Chinese nouns have a plural?
No. 书 (shū) is “book” and “books”; the number or the context says how many. Only words for people can add 们 for a group: 朋友们 (péngyoumen, friends), 老师们 (teachers). Nouns have no gender and no articles either, so there is no “a” or “the”.
Why is there a word between a number and a noun?
Chinese counts with a measure word: 一本书 (yì běn shū, a book), 两个人 (liǎng ge rén, two people), 三张票 (three tickets). 个 works with most nouns; the right one sounds natural.
How do place words like 上边 and 里边 work?
They come after the noun, not before it: 桌子上边 (on the table), 房间里边 (in the room), 学校旁边 (next to the school). With 在 the phrase says where: 书在桌子上 (the book is on the table).
More words
Ordered by our own count of Chinese web text (FineWeb-2, ODC-By). Meanings from our own dictionary.