In many languages, it’s impossible to directly state numbered items and a “numerical classifier” has to be added to numbers. For instance, in Chinese, we have:<\/p>\n
s\u0101n ge r\u00e9n<\/strong> three people<\/em><\/p>\n s\u0101n t\u00f3u y\u00e1ng<\/strong> three sheep<\/em><\/p>\n s\u0101n zh\u012b g\u0101ngb\u01d0<\/strong> three pens<\/em><\/p>\n s\u0101n zh\u0101ng zhuozi<\/strong> three tables<\/em><\/p>\n The numerical classifier ge <\/strong>applies for human beings, t\u00f3u <\/strong>for certain pets, zh\u012b <\/strong>for long or cylindrical objects, zh\u0101ng <\/strong>for flat objects…<\/p>\n In reality, numerical classifiers only make up a rule for a dynamic which already exists in English, although it is still in embryonic stages. In English, certain notions are referred to as uncountable, the morphological criteria being the use of “some”. For instance, we say some water, some paper, some sugar<\/em>. But in reality, we are referring to individual entities, although they are often small.<\/p>\n To count them, individuality must be assessed by describing the entity: three liters of water, three sheets of paper, three pieces of sugar<\/em>… This is why numerical classifiers often appear in languages without grammatical numbers, meaning when words are treated as uncountable. Let’s compare the words “paper” and “pen” in English and in Chinese:<\/p>\n zh\u01d0 <\/em><\/strong>some paper<\/em><\/p>\n s\u0101n zh\u0101ng zh\u01d0<\/strong> three sheets of paper<\/em><\/p>\n g\u0101ngb<\/strong>\u01d0 a pen, pens <\/em>(as if we were saying “some pens”)<\/p>\n s\u0101n zh\u012b g\u0101ngb\u01d0 <\/strong>three pens <\/em>(as if we were saying “thee sticks of pen” on the same pattern as “three sheets of paper”)<\/p>\n As in English, instead of actual classifiers, we use metric units (three pounds of sugar, three meters of fabric, three liters of water<\/em>…) or containers (three cups of coffee, thee glasses of water, three bags of rice<\/em>…).<\/p>\n Note: Warning, zh\u01d0 “paper” is different from zh\u01d0 “classifier of long objects”, as explained before: the inflection is different.<\/em><\/p>\n