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两个人
二个人
I've never heard about the expression 二个人 . The character 二 is only used for pure lists of numbers. For example, civic numbers, telephone numbers, floor numbers in a building, etc...
个 is a general classifier which can be used for a wide range of things.
二人 without 个 is correct though, just like stellari said.
二人 sounds very formal and written. In spoken Chinese, we usually say 两个人.
二人 sounds very formal and written. In spoken Chinese, we usually say 两个人.
二个人, not 两个人, is correct in phrases like 第二个人 "the second person" and 二十二个人 "twenty two persons".
Thanks for your answers and opinions!
My textbook explains 两个人 as "two of a kind". It is quite clear when I talk about two colleagues of mine, etc.
But what if I have to refer to two people that are not "of the same kind"? Looking out of my window, for example, I can see two different people that have no connection to each other: my neighbour (walking his dog) and a schoolgirl that is just passing by (I have no idea about who she is). Shall I still use 两个人 while describing this in Chinese?
My textbook explains 两个人 as "two of a kind". It is quite clear when I talk about two colleagues of mine, etc.
But what if I have to refer to two people that are not "of the same kind"? Looking out of my window, for example, I can see two different people that have no connection to each other: my neighbour (walking his dog) and a schoolgirl that is just passing by (I have no idea about who she is). Shall I still use 两个人 while describing this in Chinese?
Yes, in modern Mandarin.
Thank you for your prompt response, Skatinginbc, and special thanks for :
两 is a cardinal number, while 二 is an ordinal number. That's why we say 第二，but not 第两。 And likewise in your case, 两个人 is correct, but 二个人 is not.
As an editor myself, I'll want to punch your editors. Seriously. ：）
Archaism (or style) could be one of their considerations. In 《红楼梦》, we can easily find examples like 二两银子, 二钱人参, 二升豆子, 二位爷, 煎了二和药来, 红枣二枚, 新书二部, 宝墨二匣, 银爵二只, 银锞二对, 香袋二个, etc. In the same book, we can also find 两封银子, 两间房子, 看两句书, 瞪两只眼, 两杯酒, 两个医生, 赏钱两串, etc.
A new translation, from English to Chinese, with "车" in its content, still using the archaic style? Well it's still possible, just extremely rare.
The Google results show that the ratio of 二个人 to 两个人 is 0.0585 to 1. Obviously those editors are going against the majority (approximately 94% of Mandarin speakers). Their decision surely doesn't seem like a wise one. I was just saying that their justification could be style-related. Without specific contexts to judge upon, my intuition tells me that their taste for and imitation of ancient styles were probably unnatural and pretentious. Even 《红楼梦》 includes 两个医生, 两间房子, and so on.