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Outline

你有几个苹果?How many apples do you have?
Nǐ yǒu jǐ gè píng guǒ?
我有两个苹果。I have two apples.
Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè píng guǒ.
你有几个好朋友?How many good friends do you have?
Nǐ yǒu jǐ gè hǎo péng you?
你有几个女儿?How many daughters do you have?
nǐ yǒu jǐ gè nǚ ér?

Dialogue

1)A:丽丽朋友
Lì lì,yǒuhǎopéng you?

Lily, how many good friends do you have?

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B:2个朋友你呢/td>
yǒuliǎng gèhǎopéng you.Nǐ ne?

I have two good friends, and you?

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A:3个朋友
yǒu3 gèhǎopéng you.

I have three good friends.

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2)A:安娜女儿
Ānnà,yǒunǚ ér?

Anna, how many daughters do you have?

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B:1个女儿
yǒu1 gèhǎonǚ ér.

I have one daughter.

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3)A:苹果
yǒupíngguǒ?

How many apples do you have?

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B:4个苹果丽丽苹果
yǒu4 gèpíng guǒ.Lì lìyǒupíng guǒ?

I have four apples. How many apples does Lily have?

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A:5个苹果
yǒu5 gèpíng guǒ.

She has 5 apples.

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Grammar

● Chinese Measure Word (1)

When you want to express the quantity of a noun, in Chinese, we must insert a measure word between the number and the noun it describes. There are different measure words when describing different nouns. And "gè" is the most common one which can be used for the people and objects.

Structure:Number + Measure Word + Noun

No.Measure wordNoun
朋友a friend
péng you
苹果an apple
píng guǒ
哥哥two elder brothers
liǎnggē ge
弟弟three younger brothers
sāndì di
女儿a daughter
nǚ ér
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*When 2 is used before the measure word to express a quantity, we must use 两 (liǎng) rather than 二(èr)。
2 people两个人P二个人O

Englishliǎng gè rénèr gè rén
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● Asking "How many" with the question word 几 (jǐ)

To ask the quantity, there are 2 question words in Chinese which express "how many". One is 多少(duō shǎo) which is introduced in Lesson 16, and the other is 几(jǐ). The main difference lies in that 几(jǐ) is often to ask the number which is supposed to be less than 10, and 多少(duō shǎo) is used to ask the number larger than 10.

Structure:Subject + 有 (yǒu) + 几 (jǐ) + Measure word + Noun

How many sth does sb have?

lit.Youhavehow manyapples?
Question:苹果?
yǒupíng guǒ
lit.Ihave1apples.
Answer:苹果。
yǒupíng guǒ
lit.Youhavehow manygood friends?
Question:好朋友?
yǒuhǎo péng you
lit.Ihave3good friend.
Answer:好朋友。
yǒusānhǎo péng you.
lit.Shehashow manydaughters?
Question:女儿?
yǒunǚ ér
lit.Shehas2daughters.
Answer:女儿。
yǒuliǎngnǚ ér.

Vocabulary

苹果píng guǒn. apple