A collective noun refers to the whole unit of a group of people, animals, or things, expressing a collection rather than an individual. In Chinese, collective nouns typically denote the whole formed by a class of members and can be used with quantifiers. A collective noun can refer to a concrete group or to an abstract set. Understanding collective nouns helps to express the distinction between 'the whole' and 'the individuals' accurately.

Collective nouns can function as subjects, objects, or modifiers, expressing a whole-action or state. They are often paired with demonstratives like 'this' or 'that' to refer to a group. When combined with a verb, they usually emphasize the action of the group as a whole. If you need to refer to members, you can add modifiers or use words such as 'members'.

Common Chinese collective nouns can be divided into 'crowds of people', 'animal groups', 'collections of things', and 'abstract collections'. Each category has high-frequency terms you can choose from based on context. The category itself does not change the part of speech, but it affects typical collocations. The following units list representative vocabulary.

People-group collective nouns denote a whole consisting of people, commonly used in school, work, and everyday contexts. Such terms often collocate with collective activities or group characteristics. If you need to express a part inside the group, you can add a restricting modifier.

Animal-group collective nouns denote a collection of animals, commonly used to describe animal behavior or distribution. In Chinese there are specific terms corresponding to particular animals’ groups. In sentences you can pair them with quantifiers or demonstratives to increase specificity.

Collections-of-things collective nouns refer to a whole of similar or related objects, often used for items and natural phenomena. Such terms are often used in attributive structures with '的'. When expressing a part, you can use '其中' (among them) or a specific quantity.

Abstract-collection nouns refer to conceptual or functional collections, not pointing to tangible objects. They are common in contexts like disciplines, information, data, etc. When used as the subject, they typically describe the overall attributes or changes.

Collective nouns are often paired with measure words such as '个', '批', '组', '队', '群', forming 'numeral + collective noun' structures. When choosing a measure word, base it on the semantic features and common collocations of the collective noun. A numeral + collective noun usually refers to several groups, not the number of members within a group.

When using collective nouns, expressing the 'whole' usually does not focus on individual members; to express 'members', you should add specification. You can refer to individuals with words like 'members', 'classmates', 'team members', etc. You can also use the '的' structure to specify a part within the group.

When choosing collective nouns, you should pick based on the occasion and scale; avoid mixing. In formal contexts, you should prefer 'team' or 'group' (群体); in spoken language, commonly 'a bunch' or 'a group'. In the same sentence, if you need to distinguish between group and individuals, you can combine methods described above.