ABSTRACT
When you count, the number to use for two is èr. However, if you want to say ‘two somethings’, you should almost always use likng instead. For example:
liKng bbi kafbi two cups of coffee liKng ge Blijcngrén two Beijing people
Adjectives such as nán (male) and nw (female) can be changed into nouns by adding de after them. Thus we have:
Adjective Noun
nán male nánde man nw female nwde woman lko old lkode the old one xiko young/small xikode the young/small/little one
Note that we can also add the word rén (person/people) after nán and nw to form nouns nán rén (lit. ‘male person’) for ‘man’ and nw rén (lit. ‘female person’) for ‘woman’, which are more formal than nánde and nwde. On public signs, (nán) means ‘men’s toilet’, and
(nw) means ‘women’s toilet’.
