 In Chinese , a numeral cannot usually quantify a noun by itself ; instead , the language relies on classifiers , commonly also referred to as measure words . When a noun is preceded by a number , a demonstrative such as this or that , or certain quantifiers such as every , a classifier must normally be inserted before the noun . Thus , while English speakers say " one person " or " this person " , Mandarin Chinese speakers say 一个人 ( yí ge rén , one @-@ CL person ) or 这个人 ( zhè ge rén , this @-@ CL person ) , respectively . If a noun is preceded by both a demonstrative and a number , the demonstrative comes first . ( This is just as in English , e.g. " these three cats " . ) If an adjective modifies the noun , it typically comes after the classifier and before the noun . The general structure of a classifier phrase is 
