EXERCISES
(Translate into English)
- (1) Ih kuh nyung iau° ih tsak de-°ts.
- (2) Ih kuh °nyui-nyung iau° ih tsak iui°-°ts.
- (3) Ih kuh °siau-noen iau° ih kuh doong-dien.
- (4) Ih kuh ‘auh-sang-°ts iau° ih kuh sien-sang.
- (5) Ih kuh yoong°-nyung iau° ih kuh dan°.
- (6) Ih kuh yoong°-nyung iau° ih kuh yang-dien.
- (7) Ih kuh °siau-noen iau° ih tsak kyoeh-°ts.
- (一) 一個人要一隻檯子.
- (二) 一個女人要一隻椅子.
- (三) 一個小囝要一個銅錢.
- (四) 一個學生子要一個先生.
- (五) 一個用人要一個蛋.
- (六) 一個用人要一個洋錢.
- (七) 一個小囝要一隻橘子.
(Translate into Chinese)
- (1) A pupil wants an orange.
- (2) A woman wants a dollar.
- (3) A servant wants a cash.
- (4) A teacher wants a table.
- (5) A man wants an egg.
- (6) A pupil wants a chair.
- (7) A teacher wants a pupil.
- (一) 一個學生子要一隻橘子.
- (二) 一個女人要一個洋錢.
- (三) 一個用人要一個銅錢.
- (四) 一個先生要一隻檯子.
- (五) 一個人要一個蛋.
- (六) 一個學生子要一隻椅子.
- (七) 一個先生要一個學生子.
Notes.
- (1) It is difficult to form idiomatic sentences in Chinese until a larger vocabulary has been given.
- (2) With yang-dien (洋錢) the classifier generally used is kwhe° (塊), a piece or slice.
- (3) It will be noticed how many words are formed from the combination of two or more words. This is a characteristic of the Chinese language; for instance the word yoong°-nyung (用人) is composed of the verb yoong° (用) use, and the word nyung (人) man, and means the man whom you use or employ.
- (4) With sien-sang (先生), the classifier we° (位) is generally used.
- (5) Nouns take no change in form for the plural, but the classifier is omitted.
- (6) With iui°-ts° (椅子), the classifier °po (把) is sometimes used.
LESSON II
Demonstrative, and Personal Pronouns.
The definite article the is not expressed directly in Chinese, but the demonstrative pronoun takes its place.
The demonstrative pronouns are:
| This or these, di° kuh 第個. | That or those, i-kuh 伊個. |
The demonstrative pronouns change their forms with different nouns, being formed by the di° (第) or i (伊) and the classifier belonging to the noun. Thus “this table” is not di°-kuh de-°ts but di°-tsak de-°ts (第隻檯子).
When the demonstrative is used with a numeral it retains the form di°-kuh (第個) or i-kuh (伊個) and the classifier of the noun comes between the numeral and the noun. Thus “this one table” is di°-kuh ih tsak de-°ts (第個一隻檯子).
The personal pronouns are as follows:
SINGULAR NUMBER
| Nominative and Objective | Possessive | ||
| I. | Person: I or me, °ngoo 我. | I. | Person: My or mine, °ngoo-kuh 我個. |
| II. | Person: Thou, thee or you, noong° 儂. | II. | Person: Thy, thine or yours, noong°-kuh 儂個. |
| III. | Person: He, she, it, him, her, yi 伊. | III. | Person: His, hers, its, i-kuh 伊個. |
PLURAL NUMBER
| Nominative and Objective | Possessive | ||
| I. | Person: We, or us, nyi° or °ngoo-nyi° 我伲. | I. | Person: Ours, nyi°-kuh or °ngoo-nyi°-kuh 伲個, 我伲個. |
| II. | Person: You or ye, na° 㑚 | II. | Person: Your, or yours, na°-kuh 㑚個. |
| III. | Person: They or them, yi-la 伊拉. | III. | Person: Their, or theirs, yi-la-kuh 伊拉個. |
The use of kuh (個) in the possessive case must be noted. Kuh (個) serves to form the possessive case of nouns as it does of pronouns. Thus to say “a man’s table” would be ih kuh nyung kuh de-°ts (一個人個檯子). Exercises in possessive case formation will be found in this lesson.