couple /a couple of
I know that couple of years means several years but I'm quite confused with 'couple years/weeks/times" when I heard people say it. What is the difference? Or they just spoke so fast that I heard it wrong? Could you tell me how you usually say that?

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The pattern that is indigenous to the UK is to say "a couple of", including the word "of". In the US, however, it's very common to omit the "of". "A couple years" and "a couple of years" are perfectly interchangeable in the US, both in speech and in writing.

A couple really means two, not several.

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It's fast speech. They are really saying "a couple (of) years".

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Hi

Here is my take on this.

A couple = two

A couple of weeks x2  weeks,  x 2 years and so on.

Maybe a person may use a couple of x and mean more than two. In this case I would say the correct wording should be " a few" or " several" rather than a couple referring to just two in quantity.

Hope this helps!

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As far as I know "couple" in this usage is just like 两? 两个年？