Measure word
In many East Asian languages, like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, measure words must be used to count both mass nouns and count nouns. Unlike in English, a person cannot simply say "three cars" or "four wheels" in Chinese. The nouns in both phrases need a measure word. In Chinese a person must say "three (vehicle) car" (三辆车) and "four (thing) wheel" (四个轮).