Editing Count noun (section)

==Linguistic differences==
Some languages, such as [[Mandarin Chinese]], treat all nouns as mass nouns, and need to make use of a [[noun classifier]] (see ''[[Chinese classifier]]'') to add [[Number names|numerals]] and other [[Quantifier (linguistics)|quantifiers]]. The following examples are of nouns which, while seemingly innately countable, are still treated as mass nouns:

* '''那个人'''吃完了/'''那個人'''吃完了 ('''nà gè rén''' chī wán le) – "'''That unit (of) person''' has eaten", "That person has eaten"
* '''那三个人'''吃完了/'''那三個人'''吃完了 ('''nà sān gè rén''' chī wán le) – "'''Those three unit (of) person''' have eaten", "Those three people have eaten"
* 她有'''七本书'''/她有'''七本書''' (tā yǒu '''qī běn shū''') – "She has '''seven volume (of) book'''", "She has seven books."

A classifier, therefore, implies that the object(s) referred to are countable in the sense that the speaker intends them to be enumerated, rather than considered as a unit (regardless of quantity). Notice that the classifier changes as the unit being counted changes.

Words such as "milk" or "rice" are not so obviously countable entities, but they can be counted with an appropriate unit of measure in both English and Mandarin (e.g., "''glasses'' of milk" or "''spoonfuls'' of rice").

The use of a classifier is similar to, but not identical with, the use of [[units of measurement]] to count ''groups'' of objects in English. For example, in "three shelves of books", where "shelves" is used as a unit of measurement.

On the other hand, some languages, like [[Turkish language|Turkish]], treat all the nouns (even things which are not obviously countable) as countable nouns.

* {{lang|tr|'''Pirinçler''' daha tam pişmemiş.}} – "The '''rice''' (lit. ''rices'') hasn't been cooked well yet"
* {{lang|tr|'''Sütler''' hep '''yerlere''' döküldü.}} – "The '''milk''' (lit. ''milks'') has been spilled all over the '''floor''' (lit. ''floors'')"
* {{lang|tr|'''Nehirlerin''' '''suları''' çok güzel akıyor.}} – "The '''rivers'<nowiki/>''' '''water''' (lit. ''waters'') flows very nicely"
* {{lang|tr|Parasız '''kişiler''' için '''kitaplar''' dağıtıyorlar.}} – "They are distributing '''books''' for the '''people''' without money"

Even then, it is possible to use units of measures with numbers in Turkish, even with the very obviously countable nouns. The Turkish nouns can not take a plural suffix after the numbers and the units of measure.

* {{lang|tr|Beş '''bardak''' süt}} – "five '''glasses''' of milk"
* {{lang|tr|İki '''kaşık dolusu''' pirinç}} – "two '''spoonfuls''' of rice"
* {{lang|tr|Üç '''tane''' kişi}} – "three '''units''' of person"
* {{lang|tr|Dört '''metrekare''' yer}} – "Four '''square meters''' of floor"
* {{lang|tr|Yedi '''raf''' kitap}} – "seven '''shelves''' of book"