EXERCISES

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Notes.

LESSON X
Divisions of Time. More Adverbs

“An hour” in Chinese is ih °tien tsoong (一點鐘) or ih kuh tsoong-deu (一個鐘頭). Literally “one point of the clock.” This is a foreign division of time. The Chinese divide the day into twelve periods of two hours each, known as z-zung (時辰). Now, the divisions into hours has become very familiar.

Ih °tien tsoong may also mean “one o’clock,” and the other hours are indicated in the same way by the change of the numeral. Thus “Two o’clock” is °liang °tien tsoong (兩點鐘). Two hours would be °liang kuh tsoong deu (兩個鐘頭) or °liang °tien tsoong koong foo (兩點鐘功夫). “Three o’clock” is san °tien tsoong (三點鐘), etc.

“A day” is usually ih nyih 一日. The character nyih literally means “sun.” In speaking of the heavenly body, in the colloquial, deu is added to the nyih, making the expression nyih-deu (日頭). Sometimes the word thien (天), meaning “Heaven,” is used for “day.” Thus san thien means “three days.” No classifier is introduced between the numeral and the nyih or the thien. Thus we have for “four days” s° nyih (四日) or s° thien (四天).

“A week” is ih kuh °li-pa° (一個禮拜) or ih °li-pa° (一禮拜). This, of course, is a foreign division of time which has been adopted into Chinese. It takes its name from the name of Sunday, which is usually °li-pa°-nyih (禮拜日). Lit. “the day of ceremonial worship.” °Li means ceremony, pa° is to worship. The other days of the week are formed with the addition of the numerals as follows: Monday is °li-pa°-ih (禮拜一). Tuesday is °li-pa°-nyi°. Wednesday is °li-pa°-san. Thursday °li-pa°-s°. Friday °li-pa°-°ng and Saturday °li-pa°-lok.

A new way of expressing the days of the week is by the use of the words sing-ji (星期) meaning the star period. Thus: Sunday is sing-ji nyih (星期日), Monday, sing-ji ih (星期一), Tuesday, sing-ji nyi° (星期二), and so on for the other days.

“A month” is ih kuh nyoeh (一個月). Lit. “a moon.” The Chinese year is made up of twelve lunar months. The first month is called tsung nyoeh (正月), the second, nyi° nyoeh (二月), the third, san nyoeh (三月) and so forth.

“A year” is ih nyien (一年). No classifier is used between the numeral and the word “year”, nyien.

“How many?” or “How much?” is °kyi-hau°? (幾化). Thus °kyi-hau° nyung le? (幾化人來) means “How many men came?” °Kyi-hau° °s (幾化水) means “How much water?”

°Kyi is often used without the hau°. In such cases it is followed by the classifier of the noun. Thus “How many men came?” might be °kyi kuh nyung le? (幾個人來). “How many horses have you?” noong° °yeu °kyi tsak °mo? (儂有幾隻馬).

“Where?” is °‘a-°li (那裏). Thus “Where are you going?” is noong° tau° °‘a- °li chi°? (儂到那裏去). “Where are you?” is noong° la°-°‘a-°li? (儂拉那裏).

Sa° meaning “what” with di°-faung meaning “place” also expresses “Where?” Thus sa° di°-faung? (啥地方). We also have sa° dzang-hau°? (啥塲化) meaning “What place?” or “Where?” but this refers to a more circumscribed area than di°- faung. We also have sa° °‘oo-daung° (啥戸蕩) used much in the same way as sa° dzang-hau°.