Noun
I. Definition
A noun is word denoting the name of a person, place of thing.

II. Grammatical Features
1. Generally a noun can be preceded by a numeral-measure word combination
如: 一本书 三副眼镜
(One book) (Three glasses)
Yì běn shū sān fè yǎnjìng

2. Some monosyllabic nouns can be reduplicated to express the meaning of “every”
如：家家， 年年
(Every family) (every year)
jiajia, niannian

3. The suffix 们 can be added to a person noun to express the plural.
如： 学生们 老师们
(students) (teachers)
xuéshēngmén lěoshīmén
4. Some nouns are composed of a noun or verb with a suffix 子，儿or 头。
如： 车子 指头 碗儿
(car) (finger) (bowl)

Chēzì zhǐtou wǎnr
5. Nouns cannot be modified by adverbs.

III. Grammatical Functions
1) As the subject
如： 哥哥是学生。
My brother is a student

Gege shi xuesheng

2)．As the object
如： 我吃饭。
Wo chi fan

3)．As an attributive
如：我喜欢中国工夫
I like the Chinese “Gongfu”

Wo xihuan Zhongguo gongfu.

4) As the predicate
如： 今天星期二。
Today is the Tuesday.

Jintian shi xingqier

IV.Point Meriting Attention Concerning Nouns
Incorrect usage of the noun when expressing genders.
（1） 我家有两只狗。 一只是男的，一只是女的。 X
wo jia you liang zhi gou, yi zhi shi nan de, yi zhi shi mu de

我家有两只狗。 一只是公的，一只是母的。 X
Wo jia you liang zhi gou, yi zhi shi gong de, yi zhi shi mu de.

Teacher’s Advice: in English, “male” and “female” can indicate the gender of plants and animals. But in Chinese, 男and 女 can only indicate the gender of human beings, while 公，母，雌，雄 are used to show the gender of animals, 雌 and 雄are used to show the gender o plants.
如： 公鸡， 母鸡； 公牛， 母牛； 雌花， 雄花。
Coq， hen bull cow female flower， male flower
Gongji， muji， gongniu muniu cihua， xionghua