- (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).