Pattern

Counting Things

What goes with a number to count a thing?

English puts a number straight in front of most nouns — three books, three dogs — and only reaches for an extra word when the noun resists counting: three sheets of paper, two head of cattle. Across East and Southeast Asia that extra word is required for ordinary countable things, and which one you pick depends on what the thing is. Japanese counts books with 冊, sheets with 枚 and pencils with 本. Bantu languages do a comparable job from the other end, making the numeral agree with the class the noun already belongs to. Most of these counting words are nouns caught partway through a change: Indonesian ekor is a tail, Vietnamese cây a tree, Thai khon a person.

Domain: Quantification
Structure: Nominal classification
Mechanism: Grammaticalization

Strategies

A classifier picked by the thing

NUM + CLF + N / N + NUM + CLF

A counting word joins the numeral, and which word it is depends on the thing counted — its shape, whether it is alive, what it is for. Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese and Yucatec Maya all work this way. Mandarin, Vietnamese and Yucatec Maya put the numeral and classifier before the noun; Thai, Burmese and Korean put them after it; Japanese does both, 三冊の本 before and 本を三冊 after. Where the noun already names a unit — a year, a baht, a cupful — no sortal classifier joins it, since the noun is doing that work itself.

Japanese · 本を三冊 hon o san-satsuKorean · 책 세 권 chaek se gwonMandarin Chinese · 三本書 sān běn shūThai · หนังสือสามเล่ม nǎngsɯ̌ɯ sǎam lêmVietnamese · ba quyển sách Burmese · လူ သုံး ယောက် lù thóuñ yauʔYucatec Maya · óox-túul / óox-p’éel Bengali · তিনটি বই tinṭi boi

The noun as its own classifier

N + NUM + N

When no dedicated classifier covers a noun, the noun itself fills the slot, so it appears twice in one phrase. Burmese does this readily. Something has to go in the slot, and where the inventory has no word for this kind of thing, the noun serves.

Burmese · မြို့ သုံး မြို့ myo̰ thóuñ myo̰

Classifiers you may drop

NUM (+ CLF) + N

The counting words are picked by the kind of thing, exactly as in the languages above, but the grammar does not require them. Indonesian has orang for people, ekor for animals and buah for things, and everyday speech often leaves them out where a formal register keeps them. Obligatoriness runs as a scale rather than a line, and this is a point along it.

Indonesian · tiga (buah) buku

A unit word only where needed

NUM + UNIT of N

A word that cuts a countable unit out of something that comes in no natural pieces. English needs sheets of paper, loaves of bread, head of cattle; German has drei Blatt Papier. The choice still follows the substance — a loaf of paper is nothing — but the word supplies the unit rather than sorting a thing that already had one. Languages with sortal classifiers use measure words too: 三杯の水, 三杯水, tiga gelas air.

English · three sheets of paper German · drei Blatt Papier

Agreement instead

CLASS-N + CLASS-NUM

The noun already belongs to a class marked on the noun itself, and the numeral picks up that class as agreement. Swahili vitabu vitatu “three books” and watu watatu “three people” carry the prefix on both words. Nothing is inserted, because the sorting is already in the noun. A noun class differs from a classifier in reach: it runs as concord through the whole clause, where a classifier is a word chosen for one counting phrase.

Swahili · vitabu vitatu Zulu · izincwadi ezintathu

Nothing in between

NUM + N

The numeral sits directly against the noun, with no classifier and no agreement to speak of. This is the ordinary case across Europe and much of the world.

English · three books German · drei Bücher Russian · три книги tri knigiFrench · trois livres

Geographic distribution

Pick one thing, and each dot is how that language says it, coloured by the strategy behind the verb. Click a dot for the form.

A classifier picked by the thing Classifiers you may drop Agreement instead Nothing in between

Marker positions are approximate cultural centres — they are not territorial claims. Tiles: OpenFreeMap · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Dark tiles: © CARTO.

Language comparison

Language	Strategy	Expression	Note
Japanese Japonic	A classifier picked by the thing	本を三冊 hon o san-satsu	the numeral and classifier form one word, and stand apart from the noun Downing 1996 Aikhenvald 2000
Korean Koreanic	A classifier picked by the thing	책 세 권 chaek se gwon	Aikhenvald 2000
Mandarin Chinese Sino-Tibetan › Sinitic	A classifier picked by the thing	三本書 sān běn shū	Chao 1968 Aikhenvald 2000
Thai Tai-Kadai › Tai	A classifier picked by the thing	หนังสือสามเล่ม nǎngsɯ̌ɯ sǎam lêm	the noun comes first, then the numeral, then the classifier Aikhenvald 2000
Vietnamese Austroasiatic › Vietic	A classifier picked by the thing	ba quyển sách	Nguyễn Đình-Hoà 1957 Aikhenvald 2000
Burmese Sino-Tibetan › Burmish	A classifier picked by the thing	လူ သုံး ယောက် lù thóuñ yauʔ	noun, then numeral, then classifier. Books take အုပ်, which is also the second half of the word for book, so this row uses people instead Okell 1969
Yucatec Maya Mayan	A classifier picked by the thing	óox-túul / óox-p’éel	the classifier attaches to the numeral and splits animate from inanimate Lucy 1992 Blaha Pfeiler & Skopeteas 2024 Aikhenvald 2000
Bengali Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	A classifier picked by the thing	তিনটি বই tinṭi boi	-ṭi and -ṭa are enclitics on the numeral rather than separate words, and on a noun they mark it as definite: boi-ṭi “the book”. South Asian classifiers work this way generally Aikhenvald 2000
Burmese Sino-Tibetan › Burmish	The noun as its own classifier	မြို့ သုံး မြို့ myo̰ thóuñ myo̰	“city three city” — the noun repeats where no separate classifier serves Okell 1969
Indonesian Austronesian › Malayic	Classifiers you may drop	tiga (buah) buku	orang for people, ekor for animals, buah for things; casual speech drops them Aikhenvald 2000
English Indo-European › Germanic	A unit word only where needed	three sheets of paper	and two head of cattle, where the unit word survives in an old invariant form [citation needed]
English Indo-European › Germanic	Nothing in between	three books
German Indo-European › Germanic	A unit word only where needed	drei Blatt Papier	Blatt stays singular after a numeral, as do Stück and Mann in the same use; drei Blätter Papier also occurs [citation needed]
German Indo-European › Germanic	Nothing in between	drei Bücher
Russian Indo-European › Slavic	Nothing in between	три книги tri knigi	the numeral governs the case of the noun, but adds no word [citation needed]
French Indo-European › Romance	Nothing in between	trois livres
Swahili Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	Agreement instead	vitabu vitatu	class 8 vi- on both the noun and the numeral; animals take class 2 agreement whatever prefix they carry themselves Ashton 1944
Zulu Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	Agreement instead	izincwadi ezintathu	class 10 agreement on the numeral Poulos & Msimang 1998

Which counting word for which thing

Read across a row for one language counting seven things; read down a column for one thing across languages. A classifier language uses several different words down its row, while English, German, French and Russian use the numeral alone and Swahili marks the numeral to agree with the noun. Cells in the classifier languages give the numeral and its classifier without the noun; elsewhere the whole phrase is short enough to show. A blank cell means no form is recorded here yet, not that the language lacks one.

Language	books Bound volumes — often their own class.	sheets of paper Flat, thin things. The one English also has to mark.	pencils Long and thin, the commonest shape category.	dogs An animal, where animacy usually decides.	people Humans, almost always set apart from everything else.	cars A machine, and a late arrival to every system here.	houses Buildings, counted by their own word in most of these languages.
Japanese Japonic	三冊 san-satsu A classifier picked by the thing bound volumes	三枚 san-mai A classifier picked by the thing flat thin things: paper, plates, shirts	三本 san-bon A classifier picked by the thing long thin things	三匹 san-biki A classifier picked by the thing small animals; large ones take 頭	三人 san-nin A classifier picked by the thing	三台 san-dai A classifier picked by the thing machines and vehicles	三軒 san-gen A classifier picked by the thing houses and shops
Korean Koreanic	세 권 se gwon A classifier picked by the thing	세 장 se jang A classifier picked by the thing flat sheets	세 자루 se jaru A classifier picked by the thing things with a shaft or handle	세 마리 se mari A classifier picked by the thing animals of any size	세 명 se myeong A classifier picked by the thing	세 대 se dae A classifier picked by the thing	세 채 se chae A classifier picked by the thing
Mandarin Chinese Sino-Tibetan › Sinitic	三本 sān běn A classifier picked by the thing	三張 sān zhāng A classifier picked by the thing flat spreadable things: paper, tables, beds	三支 sān zhī A classifier picked by the thing	三隻 sān zhī A classifier picked by the thing homophonous with 支 but a different word	三個 sān gè A classifier picked by the thing 個 is the general classifier; 位 is the polite one for people	三輛 sān liàng A classifier picked by the thing wheeled vehicles	三棟 sān dòng A classifier picked by the thing buildings; 間 counts rooms
Thai Tai-Kadai › Tai	สามเล่ม sǎam lêm A classifier picked by the thing books, and also knives and candles. Thai puts the whole phrase after the noun: หนังสือสามเล่ม	สามแผ่น sǎam phàen A classifier picked by the thing	สามแท่ง sǎam thâeng A classifier picked by the thing ด้าม is used for pens and other things held by a handle	สามตัว sǎam tua A classifier picked by the thing animals, and clothing with a body shape	สามคน sǎam khon A classifier picked by the thing the same word as the noun “person”	สามคัน sǎam khan A classifier picked by the thing	สามหลัง sǎam lǎng A classifier picked by the thing
Vietnamese Austroasiatic › Vietic	ba quyển A classifier picked by the thing cuốn in the south	ba tờ A classifier picked by the thing	ba cây A classifier picked by the thing cây is also the noun “tree”	ba con A classifier picked by the thing con covers animals and marks animacy broadly	ba người A classifier picked by the thing the same word as the noun “person”	ba chiếc A classifier picked by the thing	ba ngôi A classifier picked by the thing căn is also used
Burmese Sino-Tibetan › Burmish	သုံး အုပ် thóuñ ouʔ A classifier picked by the thing	—	—	သုံး ကောင် thóuñ kaùñ A classifier picked by the thing animals	သုံး ယောက် thóuñ yauʔ A classifier picked by the thing	—	—
Indonesian Austronesian › Malayic	tiga (buah) buku Classifiers you may drop	tiga lembar kertas Classifiers you may drop	tiga batang pensil Classifiers you may drop batang is also the noun “stem, trunk”	tiga ekor anjing Classifiers you may drop ekor is the noun “tail”	tiga orang Classifiers you may drop orang is the noun “person”	—	—
Bengali Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	তিনটি বই tinṭi boi A classifier picked by the thing -ṭi attaches to the numeral; -jon is used for people	—	—	—	তিনজন tinjon A classifier picked by the thing	—	—
Yucatec Maya Mayan	óox-p’éel A classifier picked by the thing the inanimate classifier	—	—	óox-túul A classifier picked by the thing the animate classifier	óox-túul A classifier picked by the thing	—	—
Swahili Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	vitabu vitatu Agreement instead class 8 on the noun and on the numeral	—	—	mbwa watatu Agreement instead animals take class 2 agreement whatever their own prefix	watu watatu Agreement instead class 2	—	—
English Indo-European › Germanic	three books Nothing in between	three sheets of paper A unit word only where needed paper cannot be counted directly	three pencils Nothing in between	three dogs Nothing in between	three people Nothing in between	three cars Nothing in between	three houses Nothing in between
German Indo-European › Germanic	drei Bücher Nothing in between	drei Blatt Papier A unit word only where needed Blatt keeps its singular form after a numeral	drei Bleistifte Nothing in between	drei Hunde Nothing in between	drei Menschen Nothing in between	—	—
Russian Indo-European › Slavic	три книги tri knigi Nothing in between the numeral puts the noun in a particular case, but adds no word	—	—	—	три человека tri cheloveka Nothing in between	—	—
French Indo-European › Romance	trois livres Nothing in between	trois feuilles de papier A unit word only where needed	—	—	trois personnes Nothing in between	—	—

How the columns cluster

Two columns count as close when the same language uses one word for both. Branches joining further right are the pairs more languages merge; the column order in the grid and on the map follows this tree, so neighbours behave alike.

22% dogs · people 2 of 9 — Yucatec Maya, Swahili

Books sits at the far end. No language here uses its verb for sheets of paper, pencils, dogs, cars, people or houses.

Examples

Toggle between Natural / Literal / Gloss to see how each language conceptualises the same idea.

The same three books

One phrase in five languages: a classifier word in Japanese, Mandarin and Thai, class agreement on the numeral in Swahili, and nothing at all in English.

Japanese · 日本語

本を三冊買った。

hon o san-satsu katta.

Natural: I bought three books.

Mandarin Chinese · 普通话

我買了三本書。

wǒ mǎi le sān běn shū.

Natural: I bought three books.

Thai · ภาษาไทย

หนังสือสามเล่ม

nǎngsɯ̌ɯ sǎam lêm

Natural: Three books.

Swahili · Kiswahili

vitabu vitatu

Natural: Three books.

English

three books

Natural: Three books.

References

Aikhenvald 2000 01

Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. (2000).

Classifiers: A Typology of Noun Categorization Devices.

Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory. Oxford University Press.
Ashton 1944 02

Ashton, E. O. (1944).

Swahili Grammar (Including Intonation).

Longmans, Green & Co..
Bisang 1999 03

Bisang, Walter (1999).

Classifiers in East and Southeast Asian languages: Counting and beyond.

In Gvozdanović, Jadranka (eds.), Numeral Types and Changes Worldwide. Mouton de Gruyter. 113–185. doi:10.1515/9783110811193.113
Blaha Pfeiler & Skopeteas 2024 04

Blaha Pfeiler, Barbara; Skopeteas, Stavros (2024).

Numeral classifiers in Yucatec Maya: Microvariation and syntactic change.

Journal of Historical Syntax. 8(6). doi:10.18148/hs/2024.v8i6.219
Chao 1968 05

Chao, Yuen Ren (1968).

A Grammar of Spoken Chinese.

University of California Press.
Downing 1996 06

Downing, Pamela A. (1996).

Numeral Classifier Systems: The Case of Japanese.

Studies in Discourse and Grammar 4. John Benjamins. doi:10.1075/sidag.4
Gil 2013 07

Gil, David (2013).

Numeral Classifiers.

In Dryer, Matthew S.; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.), The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, chapter 55. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. https://wals.info/chapter/55
Grinevald 2000 08

Grinevald, Colette (2000).

A morphosyntactic typology of classifiers.

In Senft, Gunter (eds.), Systems of Nominal Classification. Cambridge University Press. 50–92.
Lucy 1992 09

Lucy, John A. (1992).

Grammatical Categories and Cognition: A Case Study of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis.

Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language 13. Cambridge University Press.
Nguyễn Đình-Hoà 1957 10

Nguyễn Đình-Hoà (1957).

Classifiers in Vietnamese.

Word. 13(1): 124–152.
Okell 1969 11

Okell, John (1969).

A Reference Grammar of Colloquial Burmese.

Oxford University Press.
Poulos & Msimang 1998 12

Poulos, George; Msimang, Christian T. (1998).

A Linguistic Analysis of Zulu.

Via Afrika.
Senft 2000 13

Senft, Gunter (2000).

Systems of Nominal Classification.

Language, Culture and Cognition 4. Cambridge University Press.

Related patterns

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