What are measure words?

Measure words are characters that are used when describing how many there are of a certain object.       E.g. if you want to say 'five books', you have to say ‘五本书 not ‘五书’. Therefore, 本 (the measure word) is needed. If you want to say 'this...' or 'that...' then you have to use a measure word.        E.g. ‘这个人’ ＝ this person. ‘那个人’ = that person. Also, measure words change depending on the object they relate to.       E.g. the measure word for books, as mentioned above, is 本。However, the measure word for people is 个。 One of the more difficult parts of learning mandarin is remembering what measure words are used with what objects. That said, it gets much easier with practise.