条條 tiáo — classifier for long, narrow things
tiáo (second tone, rising)tiao2
Traditional: 條
classifier for long, narrow things
HSK 3· HSK 1–4 (classic)Level 3· Three-band, nine-level standardmeasure
Meanings
classifier for long, narrow things
The classifier of length: 一条路 a road, 一条河 a river, 一条鱼 a fish, 一条裤子 trousers, 一条腿 a leg, 一条狗 a dog. What they share is a long line — even the dog, which Chinese sees lengthways.
measureclassifier for items of news and messages
measureA piece of news, a text message and a rule are each 一条 — the image has faded from a physical line to a single item in a list. 一条新闻, 一条短信.
Example sentences
- 这条路很长，走了半个小时。這條路很長，走了半個小時。Zhè (fourth tone, falling) tiáo (second tone, rising) lù (fourth tone, falling) hěn (third tone, dipping) cháng, (second tone, rising) zǒule (third tone, dipping) bàn (fourth tone, falling) ge (neutral tone) xiǎoshí. (third tone, dipping)···
This road is long — it took half an hour to walk.
- 他买了两条鱼和一条裤子。他買了兩條魚和一條褲子。Tā (first tone, high and level) mǎile (third tone, dipping) liǎng (third tone, dipping) tiáo (second tone, rising) yú (second tone, rising) hé (second tone, rising) yì (fourth tone, falling) tiáo (second tone, rising) kùzi. (fourth tone, falling)···
He bought two fish and a pair of trousers.
Common mistakes
Not quite我看到了一个新闻。
Correct我看到了一条新闻。
News comes in 条. 个 would do for almost anything else, but a headline is counted like a line in a list — which is what a news item once was.