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I"m trying to figure out the grammar/syntax behind using "整". I know that it means "Exactly" when used at the end of numbers, but I'm wondering does it come before or after the noun described by the answer? Example 1. 三百八整人 2. 三百八人整

Thank for all of your help!

Stephen
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    三百八人整 is correct. However, it sounds ambiguous. It's better to clarify whether it means 308 (三百零八) or 380 (三百八十). – user58955 Sep 23 '14 at 15:24
  • @user58955 I disagree, to me 三百八 unambiguously means 380. I've never encountered a situation where it means 308. – congusbongus Sep 24 '14 at 03:27
  • @congusbongus 三百八 definately means 380, but 三百八人 is ambiguous. –  Sep 24 '14 at 06:20
  • @congusbongus 三百八 is an abbreviated form of 三百八十 that you would only use when it is alone. – Joseph S WU Sep 24 '14 at 12:24

3 Answers3

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整 should be used after the measure word, so 三百八整人 is not correct.

However, 三百八人整 is weird too. 整 is usually used at the end of the phrase to prevent from adding new numbers to change the whole meaning, especially in financial affairs. Such as

三元 -> you can change it to 三元五角八分
三元整 -> you can't change it to 三元整五角八分, which is wrong expression.

Originally 三百八人 can't be changed to 三百八人零点五人 and so on, so need not to add 整 after that.

BTW1: It also can be written as 正 in financial affairs.
BTW2: As @user58955 said, 三百零八人 is more natural than 三百八人.

  • When you say it should be after the measure word, do you mean it should be 三百八个整人? You didn't explicitly write that in your answer. – Ming Nov 28 '14 at 00:58
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整 is formal. So 三百八人整 isn't good since 三百八 is informal, and as others stated, it usually means 380 but can mean 308. 三百八十人整 is good.

整 means exactly, that is, the last one or more zeros in the number is exact and is not an approximate. It then becomes redundant if your number does not end with a 0. 三百零八人整 is odd since you have given maximum precision for an integer. Similarly, you can say 三百元整，三元整, but not 三元五角四分整。

jf328
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It would be more natural to say 三百八十人整(380) or 三百零八人整(308). Since 整 means "Exactly" it is better to use the exact number to be consistent.

In addition, 整三百八十人 is also acceptable.

Misaka
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