 The modern Chinese varieties make frequent use of what are called classifiers or measure words . One of the basic uses of classifiers is in phrases in which a noun is qualified by a numeral . When a phrase such as " one person " or " three books " is translated into Chinese , it is normally necessary to insert an appropriate classifier between the numeral and the noun . For example , in Standard Mandarin , the first of these phrases would be 一个人 yī ge rén , where yī means " one " , rén means " person " , and ge is the required classifier . There are also other grammatical contexts in which classifiers are used , including after the demonstratives <unk> ( <unk> ) <unk> ( " this " ) and <unk> nà ( " that " ) ; however , when a noun stands alone without any such qualifier , no classifier is needed . There are also various other uses of classifiers : for example , when placed after a noun rather than before it , or when repeated , a classifier signifies a plural or indefinite quantity . 
