en
cs
da
de
it
plCommon errors
Omitting the 第
English has built-in ordinal forms such as first and second, but in Chinese, the numeral must be preceded by 第. Because this structure is unfamiliar, some learners often treat cardinal numbers as if they were ordinal numbers.
*二张纸。
第二张纸。
*三题 (three questions)
第三题 (third question)
*二張紙。
第二張紙。
*三題 (three questions)
第三題 (third question)
Adding 第 unnecessarily
Some Chinese words already contain a built-in sense of order — for example, yī céng 一层/一層 ‘first floor.’ Under the influence of their native languages, learners may mistakenly add 第 even when it is not needed.
*我家在第一层。
我家在一层。
*我家在第一層。
我家在一層。
Using 两/兩 in ordinal numbers
The numeral 两/兩 is generally used before measure words to express quantity, not order. Ordinal numbers must be formed with 第 + number, and the numeral is 二, and not 两/兩. Influenced by the non-distinction of two in English, learners sometimes mistakenly use 第两/第兩, which is not grammatical.
*第两课
第二课
*第兩課
第二課
Errors caused by native transfer
(CS/DK/DE/IT/PL)
Classroom activity
The teacher prepares a long sentence, a short text, or a class schedule, and lets students use these materials to ask their classmates questions.
For example:
这个句子的第三个字怎么念？
這個句子的第三個字怎麼念？
这个句子的第一个字的意思是什么？
這個句子的第一個字的意思是什麼？
请你读这篇文章的第一行，好吗？
請你讀這篇文章的第一行，好嗎？
这篇文章第二段的第一句的意思是什么？
這篇文章第二段的第一句的意思是什麼？
今天的第一堂课是什么课？
今天的第一堂課是什麼課？