"We all love this cute owl."
Translation:我们都爱这只可爱的猫头鹰。
20 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
只 is the measure word for animals so usually if you're talking about an animal you use it.
Thank you. These measure words don't come instinctively. I think it's going to be quite a while before they cease to confuse. (Makes me wish I'd studied grammar, generally, at school; learning by memory/familiarity seems the less easy route.)
只(zhī)：animals 个(gè)：person，fruits，some objects like bottles, vases, chargers...， 本（bên)：book，notebook 把（bâ)：chair, scissors, 盏（zhân): lamp, light This is one of the differences between all latin languages and Chinese, you have to learn by memory. Sometimes, the classifier can be opt out, the meaning is not changed. Eg: 我们都爱这可爱的猫头鹰.
You only use 个 in the absence of a more suitable measure word. In this case, a small animal such an owl requires the usage of 只. It's ungrammatical otherwise.
So folk like to mark down a legitimate question rather than answer it ? What sort of folk do we get here, for crying out loud ? What's wrong with them ?
