Lesson 8: 你们家有几口人？

1. I.Grammar
   

1. 1.Numeral-measure words as attributives
   

1. a.In modern Chinese, a measure word must be combined with a noun to function as an attributive.  All nouns have their own particular measure words.  Here are some commonly used measure words:
   

2. •“个” is used to refer to people, things, or units.  Examples: 一个人(one person); 三个哥哥(three brothers); 五个学院 (five colleges/institutes)
   

3. •“张” is used to refer to something with a flat surface, such as paper, photographs, and business cards
   

4. •“口” is used to refer to a number of people in a family when it is combined with “人”.  Examples: 我家有五口人(my family has five people)
   

2. 2.Questions with “几” or “多少”
   

1. a.The question pronouns “几” and “多少” are used to ask about numbers.  But “几” is often used to ask about number less than 10, and a measure word is needed.  “多少” may be used ask about any number, and measure word is optional. Examples:
   

2. •你们家有几口人? (How many people do your have in your family?)  我们家有五口人(I have 5 people in my family)
   

3. •你们系有多少个学生? (How many students does you department have?)  我们系有五百个学生 (Our department has 500 hundred students)
   

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2. II.Usage
   

1. 1.The usage of  “和”
   

2. •The conjunction “和” is generally used to connect pronouns, nouns, or noun phrases. Examples: “他和我” (He and I); “哥哥和弟弟” (older brother and younger brother); “我们老师和你们老师” (our teacher and your teacher). “和” cannot be used to connect two clauses (Ex. "我很好, 和你呢?)
   

2. 2.The usage of “两” and "二"
   

1. a.Although both “两” and “二” mean “two,” but they have different usages
   

2. •“二”.  When the numeral “2” is used alone or used in a multi-digit number, we use “二”.  Examples: 二十二 (22); 十二 (12)
   

3. •“两”.  When the numeral “2” is used with a measure word, the character “两” is used instead of “二”.  Examples: 两张照片 (two photos); 两个人 (two people)
   

3. 3.The usage of "太"
   

1. a.The adverb “太” can be used in a negative construction.  “不太” means “not very” (same as “不很”).  Examples: 不太大 (not very big); 不太忙 (not very busy).  However, when “太” is used in an affirmative construction, it means “too" or "much”
   

2. •Comparison: 不太大 (not very big), 太大了 (too big); 不太忙 (not very busy), 太忙了 (too busy)
   

4. 4.The usage of "还"
   

1. a.“还” can be used to make an additional remark.  Examples: 我有两个弟弟，还有一个姐姐 (I have two younger brothers, and I also have an older sister); 我认识马大为，还认识林娜 (I know Ma Dawei, and I also know Lin Na)