- (1) The word for “to borrow” and “to lend” is exactly the same in Chinese. The only way you can distinguish between them is by auxiliary words used in connection with them. Thus Tsia° peh (借撥) means “to lend.” Tsia° le (借來) means “to borrow.” Again Tsia° chi° (借去) means “to lend.” But we have such constructions as °Ngoo tsia° la° yi (我借拉伊), meaning “I lend to him,” and °Ngoo la° yi han-deu tsia° kuh (我拉伊壗頭借個), meaning “I borrowed it from him.”
- (2) In the fifth sentence of the First Exercise Dok° °chi means “read begin,” and ding means “stop.” This is an ordinary form for asking where to begin the lesson and where to end it.
- (3) In the fourteenth sentence of the First Exercise notice how doo° qualifies the verb khok.
- (4) The twenty-second sentence of the First Exercise is a paraphrase of a Chinese proverb.
LESSON XVII
More Verbal Idioms
In asking questions °yeu tuh? (有得) sometimes precedes a verb with the sense, “is there to be had?” Thus °Yeu-tuh °ma va°? (有得買否) means, “Is there to be bought?” °Yeu-tuh chuh va°? (有得吃否) means, “Is there anything to eat?” The answers to these questions would be °yeu-tuh °ma kuh (有得買個), °yeu tuh chuh kuh (有得吃個), “It can be bought.” “There is something to eat.”
’Veh pih (勿必) means “It is not necessary.” Thus ’Veh pih khok (勿必哭), “It is not necessary to cry.” ’Veh pih chi° (勿必去), “It is not necessary to go.”
Ih ngan ’veh (一顏勿) before the verbs means, “Not at all.” Thus °Ngoo ih ngan ’veh °hyau-tuh (我一顏勿曉得) means, “I do not know at all.” Ih ngan ’veh zung khoen°-kyien° hyih (一顏勿曾看見歇) means, “I have not seen it at all.” Ih ngan ’veh iau° khoen° (一顏勿要看) means, “I do not want to see it at all.”
VOCABULARY
- To visit, to pay respects to, maung° 望, or pa° maung° 拜望.
- To worship, pa° 拜.
- To pay a ceremonial visit, pa° khak 拜客.
- To bathe, zing° yok 淨浴.
- To catch, seize, arrest, tsauh 捉.
- To prepare, to provide, yui°-be° 預備.
- To move a thing, °doong 動.
- Loose, unstable, °doong °lau °doong 動佬動.
- Immovable, °doong-°‘a ’veh-°doong 動也勿動.
- To remove (a residence), pen 搬, or pen-dzang 搬塲.
- To commence work, °doong °seu 動手, or khe koong 開工.
- To open school, khe ‘auh 開學.
- To dismiss school, faung° ‘auh 放學.
- A finger, ih tsak tsih-deu 一隻指頭.
- A toe, ih tsak kyak-tsih-deu 一隻脚指頭.
- A cup, ih tsak pe-°ts 一隻杯子.
- A clock, ih tsak z°-ming-tsoong 一隻自鳴鐘.
- A watch, ih tsak piau 一隻表.
- A well, ih tsak °tsing 一隻井.
- A basket, ih tsak lan 一隻籃.
- An apple, ih tsak bing-°koo 一隻平菓.
- A crab apple, ih tsak hwo-‘oong 一隻花紅.
- A towel, ih diau °seu-kyung 一條手巾.
- A life, ih diau sing°-ming° 一條性命.
- A hill, mountain, ih zoo° san 一座山.
- A board, ih kwhe° °pan 一塊板.
Fok (幅) is the classifier of paintings or engravings.
- A painting, ih fok wo° 一幅畫.
- A chart or map, ih fok doo 一幅圖, or ih fok di°-°li-doo 一幅地理圖.
- A picture, ih fok wo° doo 一幅畫圖.
- One time, ih we 一回, ih thaung° 一盪.
- Two times, twice, °liang we 兩回, or °liang thaung° 雨盪.
- Whosoever, van-i° 凡係.
- No matter who, ’veh lung° sa° nyung 勿論啥人.
- Whatsoever, no matter what, ’veh lung° sa° 勿論啥, dzoe-bien°-sa° 隨便啥, or ’veh kyui-sa° 勿拘啥.
- Whichever, dzoe-bien° 隨便.
- Whatever time you please, dzoe-bien° °kyi-z 隨便幾時.
- Wet, sak 濕.
- Dry, koen 乾.
- Always, dzang-tsaung 常庄, or dzang-dzang 常常.