- Most Chinese nouns are on or two syllables, e.g. 人 rén 'person' and 橘子 júzi 'tangerine'. Some have three syllables or more, e.g. 巧克力 qiǎokèlì 'chocolate'.
- There are no direct equivalents of "a" and "the".
- Most nouns have no plural, although some nouns designating people do use 们 men as a plural ending, e.g. 我们 wǒmen 'we' and 同学们 tóngxuémen 'classmates'.