• Scrollone@feddit.it
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      3 days ago

      I mean… in English we also use different words, such as “pair” and “dozen”, for some specific numbers.

      • Bassman1805@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        But those are just words for “a group of a special size”

        Some eastern languages have totally different counting words depending on WHAT you’re counting. One set of number-words for flat things, another set for long things, another set for printed/bound things, another set for things with handles…

    • wylinka@szmer.info
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      3 days ago

      Huh. I learnt that 两 is for counting everything. Er is only used if you spell out a number. Like you can’t say “erge ren”, must be “liangge ren”. Maybe you’re confusing it with another liang character, the measure for cars?

      Sorry, I might be wrong, my Chinese isn’t the best.