Kid Nickels
Distinguished Member
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- Nov 18, 2010
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The difference that I believe Liam is trying to point out is that although English does have specific (and sometimes weird) grouping words (such as bales of hay, sheets of paper, murder of crows) they are not mandatory most of the time. You can just say "one pen" in English, but in Mandarin you need the classifier "yi zhi bi" (one of pen), "two fish", "liang tiao yu" (two of fish) etc. But it also shifts toward our usage with measures that are familiar such as "yi bei shui" (one cup (of) water) or "san ge ping pijiu" (3 bottles (of) beer). Anyway, all languages have their idiosyncrasies I guess so....