WORDS COMBINED.
1—A sheet of paper. A volume. Two cakes of ink. Five pens.
2—To understand. To hear. To have forgotten.
3.—Quite right. To have finished. Not to be able to. It will do well enough.
4.—Bring that volume here for me. Show me that sheet of paper. Bring me ten pens and two cakes of ink.
5.—I hear that you are learning a language, and getting on very well. Can you distinguish four dialects? I can distinguish them all.
6.—Have you read that book yet? I have read four-fifths of it. Do you understand it? There are portions of it that I do not understand. There are also some words that I do not know.
7.—How long have you been studying? I have been studying ten months. Do you remember all the words in the book you have been studying? Not all. I have forgotten a good number, and there are some I do not remember accurately.
8.—Does that man understand the language? I have heard people say that he does not. Does he know the written characters? That he does. He knows four or five thousand. How do you know? Last month we read together. If I tell him to copy, will he be able to? There is no reason why he should not.
9.—Tell me, do you understand him when he speaks?
10.—You must on no account forget the books you read. Certainly not. You are quite right.
1.—Yi lieh tu. Yi pai tu. Au ‘hli mö. Chia kai chieh.
2.—Tang. Tang. Tung keh.
3.—Ya sa. Chiu yeh. A pang. Ku-i.
4.—Moung ta pai tu tiao vai. Lieh tu moung vai nieh. Moung tou vai mai chiu kai chieh, au ‘hli mö.
5.—Vai tang moung liu si, liu si ghou kuai. ‘Hlao tiu si moung pang keh fai a pang. ‘Hlao tiu tou fai lu.
6.—Yi pai tu moung nieh chiu a pa. Chiu fai vai ngieh chiu ya fai. Ming pai a ming pai. Mai pa fai a ming pai. Mai au pieh lai li a hsiang.
7.—Moung tung li hao nao tai. Val tung chiu ta pieh tu. Tieh tu li moung tou nieh a nieh. Nieh a chiu. Tung keh pa lai. Tu nieh sa yeh.
8.—Ngi tieh nai tang si a tang. Vai tang chiu ngi a tang tau. Ngi hsiang li a hsiang. Li si hsiang. Hsiang chiu ‘hlao chia say li. Moung hsieh pang. ‘Hla vai pieh niang yi tiao ngieh li. Vai koh ngi sei li, ngi pang a pang. A mai a pang.
9.—Vai nai moung, ngi pieh si moung tang loh kai tang a loh.
10.—Moung tung ku li, a keh tung keh. A sa. Moung chiu tiao a sa.