Chinese grammar - Demonstrative pronouns as objects: 这个, 那个, 这些 and 那些

We saw previously that in Chinese, the personal pronouns don't change whether they function as the subject or object of a verb.

However, the demonstrative pronouns 这 (zhè) and 那 (nà) operate a little differently.

— As we saw, as subjects they can appear alone - for example: 这是书。- 'This is [a] book'.

But as objects, the singular demonstrative pronouns need to be coupled with a measure word.

— When asking a 'what?' question, the type of object is often unknown and so 这 and 那 are coupled with the general counter 个 (gè).

The plural forms 这些 and 那些 can be used as objects without a measure word.