EXERCISES

(Translate into English)

(Translate into Chinese)

Notes.

LESSON XII
Some Verbal Idioms

We have already explained the use of °khau-°i, nung-keu°, and we°. There are other ways of expressing the possibility and impossibility of doing things in Chinese. For instance one way is by the addition of tuh le or ’veh le after the verb. Thus: Dok-tuh-le (讀得來) means “Able to read.” Dok-’veh-le (讀勿來) means “Unable to read it.” Many verbs of one character admit of this construction. Thus: Wo°-tuh-le means “Able to speak.” Wo°-’veh-le means “Unable to speak.” Tsoo°-tuh-le (做得來), “Able to do.” Tsoo°-’veh-le (做勿來), “Unable to do.”

Verbs made up of two characters do not take tuh-le and ’veh-le after them. Thus we do not hear °hyau-tuh-’veh-le for “Unable to know,” but ’veh we° °hyau-tuh (勿會曉得).

The literal meaning of tuh-le is “Obtain, come,” and the literal meaning of ’veh-le is “Not come.”

We also have the use of tuh-kuh after verbs, expressing possibility, and ’veh-tuh, expressing impossibility. Thus we have tsoo°-tuh-kuh (做得個), meaning “it is possible to do a thing,” and tsoo°-’veh-tuh (做勿得), meaning “it is impossible to do a thing.” With verbs of physical action, we have tuh-°doong (得動) and ’veh-°doong (勿動) used after the verb implying possibility and impossibility. Thus we have °tseu-tuh-°doong (走得動), meaning “I have the physical ability to walk,” and °tseu-’veh-°doong (走勿動), meaning “I have not the physical ability to walk.” In the same way we have tsoo°-tuh-°doong (做得動) and tsoo°-’veh-°doong (做勿動). ’Veh-°doong literally means “Not move.”

Strange to say we have °zoo-’veh-°doong (坐勿動), meaning “I have not the physical ability to sit up,” and °zoo-tuh-°doong (坐得動), meaning “I have the physical ability to sit up.”

°Ma-tuh-°doong (買得動) means “Possible to buy.” °Ma-’veh-°doong (買勿動) means “Impossible to buy.”

With verbs of hearing and seeing impossibility is expressed in still another way. Thus we have khoen°-tuh-kyien° (看得見), meaning “It is possible to see,” and khoen°-’veh-kyien° (看勿見) meaning “It is impossible to see it.” Literally translated these expressions are “See, obtain, behold,” and “See, not behold.” We also have khoen°-tuh-tsheh (看得出), meaning to see a thing clearly. Literally “See, obtain, come forth,” and khoen°-’veh-tsheh (看勿出), meaning not to be able to see, or literally “See, not come forth.”

In the same way we have thing-tuh-tsheh (聽得出) and thing-’veh-tsheh (聽勿出) in regard to hearing. Instead of thing-tuh-kyien° and thing-’veh-kyien° we have thing-tuh-dzak (聽得着) and thing-’veh-dzak (聽勿着). Literally “Hear, obtain” and “Hear, not obtain.”

We have already explained the use of °hau after verbs expressing completed action. We also have other words used much in the same way. Thus dok-°hau-tse (讀好哉), dok-wen-tse (讀完哉) or dok-°ba-tse (讀罷哉) all mean the same thing. The verb wen means “to finish.” Accordingly in asking a question tsoo°-°hau-meh (做好末), tsoo°-wen-meh (做完末) and tsoo°-°ba-meh (做罷末), all mean “Have you finished it?”

Verbal nouns are often formed by the addition of deu (頭) or fah (法) after the verb. Thus tsoo°-deu (做頭) or tsoo°-fah (做法) means the manner of doing a thing.