 Within the set of nominal classifiers , linguists generally draw a distinction between " count @-@ classifiers " and " mass @-@ classifiers " . True count @-@ classifiers are used for naming or counting a single count noun , and have no direct translation in English ; for example , 一本书 ( yì běn shū , one @-@ CL book ) can only be translated in English as " one book " or " a book " . Furthermore , count @-@ classifiers cannot be used with mass nouns : just as an English speaker cannot ordinarily say * " five muds " , a Chinese speaker cannot say * 五个泥 ( wǔ ge nì , five @-@ CL mud ) . For such mass nouns , one must use mass @-@ classifiers . 
