中文为什么要用量词？
Why does Chinese have measure words?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
刚学中文的时候，几乎每个人都出过这样的洋相：想说“一匹马”，脱口而出的却是“一个马”。中国朋友听了往往哭笑不得，然后不厌其烦地纠正你。你心里难免纳闷：英语里说“a horse”就够了，中文为什么偏偏要在数字和名词中间，再塞进一个小小的量词呢？这难道不是画蛇添足吗？
其实，英语里也有类似的说法。你不能说“a bread”，只能说“a loaf of bread”；牧场上成群的牛，也可以说“twenty head of cattle”。区别在于，这种用法在英语里只是例外，在中文里却是规律：凡是能数的东西，前面几乎都得配一个量词。事实上，量词并不是中文独有的，日语、越南语和泰语里也都有一整套。
耐人寻味的是，古代汉语起初并不需要量词。在古书里，人们常常直接说“三人”、“五马”，数字后面紧跟着要数的东西，中间什么也没有。据语言学家研究，量词是逐渐兴起的，大约到了九百多年前的宋朝，在数字和名词之间加量词，才成了必须遵守的语法规则。
那么，量词到底有什么用？学术界众说纷纭。一种看法认为，量词像一个个抽屉，把东西按形状归类：细长又柔软的用“条”，比如一条鱼、一条河、一条裤子；扁平的用“张”，比如一张纸、一张床、一张脸；带把手的用“把”，比如一把伞、一把椅子、一把刀。另一种看法认为，量词能让含糊的意思变得明确。同样是“课”，“一门课”指的是一整门课程，“一节课”却只是课程表里的一次。
中国人自己说话时，是不是每次都把量词用得这么讲究呢？其实，随口用“个”的情况司空见惯。语言学家发现，在日常口语里，“个”出现的次数比那些专门的量词多出几百倍。很多人明明知道该说“一所学校”，随口冒出来的却是“一个学校”，自己还浑然不觉。难怪有人把“个”叫做“万能量词”。所以，倘若你实在想不起某个量词，用“个”起码不会错得太离谱。只有那匹马，最好还是老老实实记住它的“匹”。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 匹 | pǐ | classifier for horses, mules and bolts of cloth |
| 类似 | lèisì | similar; analogous; to be similar to |
| 用法 | yòngfǎ | usage; how to use |
| 规律 | guīlǜ | law; pattern; regularity; regular |
| 配 | pèi | to match; to go with |
| 古代 | gǔdài | ancient times; antiquity |
| 据 | jù | according to; based on |
| 逐渐 | zhújiàn | gradually; little by little |
| 遵守 | zūnshǒu | to observe; to comply with; to abide by |
| 规则 | guīzé | rule; regulation |
| 纠正 | jiūzhèng | to correct; to put right |
| 难免 | nánmiǎn | hard to avoid; inevitable |
English (for the teacher)
When they first learn Chinese, almost everyone makes this howler: they mean to say 一匹马, “a horse”, and out pops 一个马. A Chinese friend usually doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, then corrects you with endless patience. You can't help wondering: in English “a horse” is enough, so why does Chinese insist on squeezing a little measure word between the number and the noun? Isn't that drawing legs on a snake?
Actually, English has similar expressions. You can't say “a bread”, only “a loaf of bread”, and a herd of cows on a ranch can be “twenty head of cattle”. The difference is that in English this is the exception, while in Chinese it is the rule: almost anything you can count needs a measure word in front of it. In fact, measure words aren't unique to Chinese: Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai each have a whole set of their own.
Intriguingly, early Chinese didn't need measure words at first. In old books people often said simply 三人, “three people”, or 五马, “five horses”: the thing counted came right after the number, with nothing in between. According to linguists, measure words caught on gradually, and only by around nine hundred years ago, in the Song dynasty, did putting one between number and noun become a grammar rule you had to follow.
So what are measure words actually for? Scholars hold many different views. One view is that measure words are like a set of drawers that sort things by shape: long, soft things take 条, like a fish, a river or a pair of trousers; flat things take 张, like a sheet of paper, a bed or a face; things with a handle take 把, like an umbrella, a chair or a knife. Another view is that measure words make a vague meaning definite. Take 课: 一门课 means a whole course, but 一节课 is just one slot on the timetable.
Do Chinese people themselves always pick the exact measure word? In fact, casually reaching for 个 is an everyday thing. Linguists have found that in everyday speech 个 turns up hundreds of times more often than the specialised measure words. Plenty of people know perfectly well they should say 一所学校, “a school”, yet what slips out is 一个学校, and they never even notice. No wonder some people call 个 the “all-purpose measure word”. So if you really can't recall a measure word, 个 at least won't be too far off. Only for that horse, you'd better just learn its 匹 properly.