名词短语总复习
Noun phrases: review

这一级你学了名词、代词、数词、量词、方位词和“的”。现在把它们放在一起看：“我的这三本新书”——七个字里边有领属、指示、数量、描写和中心语五个层次，而且排列的顺序只有一种。你早就这样说了，今天只是给每个词归类。

This level gave you nouns, pronouns, numerals, classifiers, localizers and 的. Put them all in one phrase and look: 我的这三本新书 — seven characters holding five layers (possessor, demonstrative, quantity, description, head), arranged in one order and no other. You have been saying such phrases for months; today you simply name each piece.

记住一句话：越是说“哪一个”的，站得越远；越是说“什么样”的，离中心语越近。所以“我的”在最前边，“新”紧挨着“书”。中心语永远在最后，一个字也不能放在它后边。

One sentence holds it together: the more a modifier answers 'which one', the further out it stands; the more it answers 'what kind', the closer it sits to the head. So 我的 leads and 新 hugs 书. The head is always last — nothing at all may follow it.

“这书”不成话，要说“这本书”。数词也一样，“三书”不成话，要说“三本书”。汉语的名词自己数不了，量词就是数它的工具，这是第九级最要紧的一条。

这书 is not Chinese; you must say 这本书. The same goes for numerals: not 三书 but 三本书. A Chinese noun cannot be counted on its own, and the classifier is the tool that counts it — the single most important point of this level.

多层定语排列的时候，带“的”的一般在前，不带“的”的在后，紧挨着中心语。所以是“我昨天买的那三本新书”，不是“那三本我昨天买的新书”那样别扭的说法。

When attributives stack, the ones with 的 come first and the ones without 的 come last, pressed up against the head. Hence 我昨天买的那三本新书 rather than the awkward 那三本我昨天买的新书.

“书”可以是一本，也可以是很多本，字形一点儿不变。要说清楚数量，就加数量短语：一本书、三本书。“们”不是复数词尾，它只用在人的后边，而且一说数目就不能再用它了。

书 is one book or a hundred books — the written form does not move. To make the number explicit you add a quantity phrase: 一本书, 三本书. And 们 is not a plural ending: it goes only after people, and the moment a number appears it must go.