Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǒ de gōngyù yǒu yí gè xiǎo chúfáng hé yí gè kètīng, chúfáng lǐ yǒu yí gè bīngxiāng. - My apartment has a small kitchen and a living room, and there is a refrigerator in the kitchen.

Breakdown of wǒ de gōngyù yǒu yí gè xiǎo chúfáng hé yí gè kètīng, chúfáng lǐ yǒu yí gè bīngxiāng.

Used when counting nouns or when specifying a specific instance of a noun.

There are also classifiers for people, for bound items such as books and magazines, for cups/glasses, etc.

The classifier 个 is a general one that can be used for any of these.

Why do we need 的 after 我 in 我的公寓?

的 (de) is a possessive particle. It turns 我 (wǒ, I/me) into 我的 (wǒ de, my).

我公寓 is generally wrong or at least very unnatural in modern standard Mandarin.
The normal way to say my apartment is 我的公寓.

Sometimes 的 can be dropped in close relationships (e.g. 我妈妈, 我朋友) but not usually with things like 公寓.

What’s the difference between 有 in 我的公寓有… and 厨房里有…? Is it the same verb?

It’s the same verb 有 (yǒu), but it has two closely related uses:

Possession:
- 我的公寓有一个小厨房和一个客厅。
  → My apartment has a small kitchen and a living room.
  Here 有 means to have.
Existence / “there is/are”:
- 厨房里有一个冰箱。
  → There is a refrigerator in the kitchen.
  Here 有 is more like there is / there are.

Chinese uses 有 for both possession and stating that something exists in a place. Context and word order tell you which is meant.

Why do we need 个 so many times? Can we say 一小厨房 instead of 一个小厨房?