HSK 1 · Measure Words

个 gè “general measure word” in Chinese

Traditional 個

What 个 means

  1. general measure word
  2. (classifier used before a noun that has no specific classifier)
  3. (bound form) individual

How to say 个

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale个gè4th tone, falling

个 in a sentence

  1. 我可以问你个问题吗？

    Wǒ kěyǐ wèn nǐ ge wèntí ma?

    Can I ask you a question?

    Sentence #480595 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他已经是个男人了。

    Tā yǐjīng shì gè nánrén le.

    He’s already a man.

    Sentence #502746 from Tatoeba

  3. 他是个很好的老师。

    Tā shì gè hěn hǎo de lǎoshī.

    He is a very good teacher.

    Sentence #2118229 from Tatoeba

How 个 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 个 (gè) with each of its parts in a different colour
个gèindividual
  • 人person · rén
  • 丨line · gǔn

Memory aidDrawn from a single stalk of bamboo: one item. It is now the everyday measure word.

How to write 个

个 3 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

个 (gè) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 个 (gè). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 个

Words with 个

那个nàge · that one这个zhège · this one哪个nǎge · which one?个子gèzi · height个别gèbié · individual个人gèrén · individual个性gèxìng · individuality整个zhěnggè · whole个体gètǐ · individual

More words: Measure Words & Counters

本běn · measure word for books些xiē · some块kuài · yuan (currency)岁suì · year(s) of age一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little

FAQs

个 (gè) means “general measure word” or “(classifier used before a noun that has no specific classifier)”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it gè: gè with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 个 is written 個. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ge with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 个 from the suggestions. Typing ge into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
个 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.