gaohan Posted March 21, 2009 at 04:59 AM Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 at 04:59 AM Hello all, I am new here, so first of all, if it is a stupid question, my apologies. I've been studying Chinese for a while now in my free time, and I came across this problem. It is an assignment from the book "发展汉语". In this assignment I have to fill in the blanks: 我们班去一(1)工厂参观.这个工厂有三(2)大楼, blablabla... I am a bit confused, as the book does not tell me which measure word should be used for 工厂. I did some searching, and this is what I found: Wenlin says: 个 and 座 Yellow bridge says: 家 MDBG says: 家 and 座 When I try to understand it I come to this: 座 is used to indicate the factory building, so the material part 家 is used to indicate the busines part 个 well... 个 is just used when .... (?) However, later in the sentence they give: 这个工厂.... So they use ge in this case. Could you also say: 这家工厂? Which one is better? Then there is the second gap that I am not sure about see (2) in the sentence above. In the text they introduce the measure word 片 as a measure word of scope. Therefore I am inclined to believe that's the one I need to use here. Or should/could I be using 三座大楼? Any ideas? Gao Han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanglu Posted March 21, 2009 at 07:35 AM Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 at 07:35 AM My dictionary has all three (家，座，个) listed. I wouldn't use 片, unless it was a special, flat factory. I think your breakup of jia and zuo is right. I would use ge when I didn't want to be specific. So... (1) could be any of the three. (2) should be zuo or ge. Having said that teachers tend to mark ge wrong when there is another possible measure word, in my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaohan Posted March 21, 2009 at 08:09 AM Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 at 08:09 AM Thanks for your answer. The 片 part confusion comes from a little text later where they describe the use of the measure word 片 Quote: "片", a measure word, is used for a surface area or a scope. It refers to a ground area or a water surface here, e.g. "一片新楼" (A group of new buildings) and "一片草地" (a piece of lawn). dang... I see now the wrong in my thinking... sorry never mind. I was thinking three buildings are a group in itself too. But three is named explicitely it does not fit the pattern given above. I agree, 三座大楼 would make more sense... *sigh.... got a lot to learn... * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted March 21, 2009 at 02:04 PM Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 at 02:04 PM I guess ge for buildings is ok, but taxi drivers always used to correct me when I used it. Zuo is better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YuehanHao Posted March 23, 2009 at 10:53 PM Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 at 10:53 PM As a novice, I sometimes read the bilingual Voice of America news in Chinese for study. There was a tragic story today that used the noun 工厂, specifically 化工厂。The measure word used in this article was 家。Not clear to me whether this usage fits into the breakdown mentioned in the first post, whether it was a non-standard usage, or whether just the business part of the factory was crushed by the collapsed ceiling. Anyway, link is below. http://www.freexinwen.com/chinese/eng/news_bilingual/news/news_032309.asp 约翰好 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted March 23, 2009 at 11:50 PM Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 at 11:50 PM Personally I prefer 家. I would also use 間. If I want to emphasise the factory building then I guess I might use 座 or even 幢. Depending on what I am writing 片 might (though it is a bit unusual) also be used if I want to emphasise a big area filled with factories. I will not use 個. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaohan Posted March 24, 2009 at 02:05 AM Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 at 02:05 AM Thank you very much for your replies, they are very useful. I am still quite struggleing with the measure-word thing. Are there any online dictionaries that will show the measurewords for a word? Many only show it for a few words, by far not for all. Sincerely, 高汉. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted March 24, 2009 at 03:21 AM Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 at 03:21 AM You might find these threads helpful -> Count words list Dictionary of measures search results for "measure word" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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