EXERCISES
(Translate into English)
- (1) °Ngoo iau° ih °po tau.
- (2) Di°-kuh nyung °yeu ih kuh yang-dien.
- (3) Noong°-kuh bang-°yeu kuh ‘eu-°ts °yeu ih tsak yang.
- (4) I-kuh °nyui-nyung kuk noen° iau° ih tsak °tiau.
- (5) Yi iau° ih °po san°.
- (6) °Ngoo iau° ih °po tsho.
- (7) Nyi° iau° ih tsak zaung.
- (8) Na° °yeu ih kwhe° yang-dien.
- (9) Di°-kuh sien-sang °yeu ih tsak kyoeh-°ts.
- (10) I-kuh yoong°-nyung °yeu ih kuh dan°.
- (一) 我要一把刀.
- (二) 第個人有一個洋錢.
- (三) 儂個朋友個兒子有一隻羊.
- (四) 伊個女人個囡要一隻鳥.
- (五) 伊要一把傘.
- (六) 我要一把叉.
- (七) 伲要一隻床.
- (八) 㑚有一塊洋錢.
- (九) 第個先生有一隻橘子.
- (十) 伊個用人有一個蛋.
(Translate into Chinese)
- (1) Your teacher has a table.
- (2) My friend has a son.
- (3) Their daughter has an umbrella.
- (4) They want a bed.
- (5) That servant wants a knife.
- (6) This pupil’s teacher has a chair.
- (7) My son wants a dollar.
- (8) He wants a fork.
- (9) She wants a spoon.
- (10) The woman’s daughter has an orange.
- (11) He has mine.
- (12) He has yours.
- (一) 儂個先生有一隻檯子.
- (二) 我個朋友有一個兒子.
- (三) 伊拉個囡有一把傘.
- (四) 伊拉要一隻床.
- (五) 伊個用人要一把刀.
- (六) 第個學生子個先生有一隻椅子.
- (七) 我個兒子要一塊洋錢.
- (八) 伊要一把叉.
- (九) 伊要一把匙.
- (十) 一個女人個囡有一隻橘子.
- (十一) 伊有我個.
- (十二) 伊有儂個.
Notes.
- （1) Verbs undergo no change in form for the singular and plural number. Tense formation will be explained later.
- （2) The verb °yeu is often used for the expression “there is.” Thus, °yeu ih-kuh nyung iau° doong-dien (有一個人要銅錢) means, “There is a man who wants cash.”
- （3) °yeu kuh (有個) means “some.” Thus °yeu kuh nyung (有個人) is “some men.”
- （4) Sometimes the kuh is omitted and we have °yeu nyung. Thus °yeu nyung iau° yang-dien (有人要洋錢) means, “some man want dollars.”
LESSON III
The Numerals up to one Hundred
- One, ih 一.
- Two, nyi° or °liang 二, 兩.
- Three, san 三.
- Four, s° 四.
- Five, °ng 五.
- Six, lok 六.
- Seven, tshih 七.
- Eight, pah 八.
- Nine, °kyeu 九.
- Ten, zeh 十.
From ten to twenty the numerals are formed by adding the digits after ten.
- Eleven, zeh-ih 十一.
- Twelve, zeh-nyi° 十二, etc.
- Fifteen, zeh-°ng, pronounced °se-°ng 十五.
- Twenty, nyan° 念. (In speaking of the day of the month nyi°-seh is used) 二十.
- Thirty, san-seh 三十. (Lit. three tens. The Z sound in zeh becomes S when preceded by another word.)
- Forty, s°-seh 四十.
- Fifty, °ng-seh 五十.
- Sixty, lok-seh 六十.
- Seventy, tshih-seh 七十.
- Eighty, pah seh 八十.
- Ninety, °kyeu-seh 九十.
- One Hundred, ih pak 一百.
The intervening numbers between twenty and thirty, etc., are formed regularly by adding the digits to the decimals. Thus twenty-one is nyan°-ih. Thirty-one, is san-seh-ih, etc.
Thirty-five is pronounced san-°so-°ng.
In using the numeral with the noun, the classifier of the noun is introduced between the numeral and the noun. Thus “Four men” is s° kuh nyung (四個人) not s° nyung. “Six chairs” is lok tsak iui°-°ts (六隻椅子) not lok iui°-°ts.
In speaking of a thing well understood the noun is often omitted, and we have simply the numeral with the classifier, as lok kuh, tshih tsak, etc.