- (一) 小囝飯吃末?
- (二) 那裡一隻牛是儂個?
- (三) 那裡一隻鳥是黑個?
- (四) 担熱水來.
- (五) 担開水來.
- (六) 請進來.
- (七) 啥人做個?
- (八) 啥人擔來個?
- (九) 啥人擔去個?
- (十) 啥人要個?
- (十一) 啥人進來個?
- (十二) 啥人開門?
- (十三) 啥人關門?
- (十四) 那裡一隻檯子是儂個?
- (十五) 儂要啥?
- (十六) 儂有啥吃否?
- (十七) 無啥吃
- (十八) 儂有啥橘子否?
- (十九) 有個
- (二十) 無末
Notes.
- （1) Note the difference between °tshing (請), kyau° (叫) and han° (喊). °Tshing is used in speaking to an equal or to a superior. Kyau° in speaking to a servant. Han° in even more curt than kyau°. Thus °tshing yi le (請伊來) means, “invite him to come,” and is the polite form of speech if you wish an equal to come to you. Kyau° yi le (叫伊來) or han° yi le (喊伊來) would be used if you tell some one to call your servant or a workman to you.
- （2) Notice the repetition of the khe (開) in the third sentence of the first exercise. This makes it more emphatic.
- （3) The verbs tan (擔) “take” and le (來) “come” are often used together in the sense of “bring.” Literally “take-come.” So also with tan (擔) and chi° (去); this means, “Take away.” Literally “Take-go.” Sometimes the tan and the le, and the tan and the chi° are separated from one another by other words in the sentence. Thus tan su le (擔書來) means “bring the books.” The above remarks also hold true of nau.
- （4) In the sixth sentence of the first exercise the words °di-°pung su stand first. This is because they are emphatic. It is difficult to give any hard and fast rule in regard to the order of words in a Chinese sentence, but generally speaking, we may say that the most emphatic word is placed first. In this sentence it is the book which is being talked about, and so it occurs first.
- （5) The words in the thirteenth sentence of the first exercise
would only be addressed to a servant or to a child. “What are
you called?” means, “what is your name?” not “what is your
surname?”
- (5) In polite phraseology, in speaking to a person the pronoun noong° is never employed. The third person is used instead of the second. To ask your teacher his name, you would say Tsung sing°? (尊姓), which means, “what is your honorable name?” (surname). If you wish to inquire further as to his other name, you would say °tshing kyau° da° ‘au? (請叫大號) which means, “please tell me your great official name?” The requirements of etiquette as to the use of words will be explained later somewhat fully.
- （6) In the fifth sentence of the second exercise, the expression boiling water is used. For this the words khe (開) “open,” and °s (水) “water” are used. It signifies that boiling water is open water on account of the bubbles which proceed from it.
LESSON VI
Some Remarks on the Verb
In a monosyllabic language like the Chinese the words themselves are never inflected, and therefore the Moods and Tenses of the Verbs are formed by the addition of auxiliary words to mark the change of meaning.
We will take the verb chuh (吃) to illustrate.
INDICATIVE MOOD
- Present Tense, Simple Form, I eat, °ngoo chuh 我吃.
- Present Tense, Continuous, I am eating, °ngoo leh-°li chuh 我拉裏吃, °ngoo la° chuh 我拉吃.
- Past Tense, Simple Form, I ate, °ngoo chuh kuh 我吃個.
- Past Tense, Continuous, I was eating, °ngoo leh-la° chuh 我拉拉吃.
- Past Tense, Emphatic Form, I did eat, °ngoo °z chuh kuh 我是吃個.
- Perfect Tense, I have eaten, °ngoo chuh tse 我吃哉. °ngoo chuh° la° tse 我吃拉哉, °ngoo chuh koo° tse 我吃過哉.
- Past Perfect, I had eaten. °ngoo °i-kyung chuh tse 我已經吃哉, °ngoo °i-kyung chuh la° tse 我已經吃拉哉, °ngoo °i-kyung chuh koo° hyih tse 我已經吃過歇哉.
- Future Tense, I will or shall eat, °ngoo iau° chuh 我要吃.
- The Future Perfect Tense cannot be expressed directly.
The only change for the different persons is the above will be in the use of the pronouns of the different persons.