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.