A Character a Day 个

  Good morning. We are going to talk about this character 个.

个is a general measure word.  It is used for nouns that don't require specific measure word. In Chinese language, most nouns are matched with specific measure words. Such as, 一张纸， 一朵花. 

For some nouns, specific measure word are not required. Then we can use 个. For example,  一个人    一个苹果   etc.

Here I want to spend some time to talk about how to use 个 when we describe a period of time. You will find that for some time words 个 must be used. While for some others, if you add 个, you are making mistakes.

one hour ：一个小时 and 一小时  both are correct

two days:  两天  correct,  两个天  incorrect

three weeks:  三星期 and 三个星期  both are correct

four months:  四个月  correct   四月 means April

five years: 五年  correct  五个年  incorrect