(Translate into Chinese)
- (1) If you do not read the newspaper, you will not know the news, and then when you converse with others, you will have nothing to say.
- (2) When a man dies the Chinese invite Buddhist and Taoist priests to the house to perform funeral ceremonies.
- (3) I put my pen and pencil on my writing table, but now I cannot find them; has any one been in and taken them?
- (4) Which do you think is the pleasanter to listen to, mandarin or the Shanghai dialect?
- (5) When I was young I very much liked to play the flute.
- (6) A thief enters secretly and steals things, a robber kills men and enters and takes things by force.
- (7) Chinese are called yellow men, foreigners white men.
- (8) When you go to the shop, ask the price of the boots, and come and tell me.
- (9) I caught the thief and bound him to the tree.
- (10) If you use a foreign pen to write Chinese characters, they do not look well; you must learn to use a Chinese pen.
- (11) The Chinese beggars in the city are numberless.
- (12) When the Mandarin has important things to announce to the people, he puts forth a proclamation.
- (13) I saw more than a thousand soldiers.
- (14) The merchant bought more than five hundred chests of tea.
- (15) Are three hundred dollars sufficient to buy the house? Less than three hundred will do.
- (一) 苦然儂勿看新聞紙信息儂勿會曉得難沒儂搭別人白話儂無啥好話.
- (二) 人死之末中國人請和尙佬道士到屋裏來念經.
- (三) 我個筆佬鉛筆擺拉寫字檯上但是現在尋勿着, 有啥人進來拿脫否?
- (四) 儂想官話佬上海土白那裏一樣好聽點?
- (五) 年紀輕個時候我蠻歡喜吹笛.
- (六) 賊末偷伴之進來偷物事強盜末打殺之人佬進來搶物事.
- (七) 中國人是叫黄人外國人是叫白人.
- (八) 儂到店裏去問鞋子個價錢來告訴我.
- (九) 我捉之伊個賊佬綁伊拉樹上.
- (十) 若然用外國筆佬寫中國字是勿好看個儂終要學用中國筆.
- (十一) 城裏個告化子無數目拉.
- (十二) 官府有要緊個事體對百姓話末伊要出告示.
- (十三) 我看見勿罷一千兵丁.
- (十四) 生意人買之勿罷五百箱個茶葉.
- (十五) 買房子三百塊洋錢有末? 勿消三百塊個.
Notes.
- (1) To marry a wife is expressed by °Thau nyang-°ts. When we speak of a woman being married we use the expression Tsheh ka° (出嫁), literally to go forth from the house or family. The woman leaves her own family entirely and joins the family of the husband whom she marries.
- (2) The words ’Veh-°ba (勿罷), more than, and ’Veh siau (勿消), less than, are used in answer to questions. The words ’Veh-°men (勿滿) are often used for less than, meaning literally “Not full.”
- (3) In the second sentence of the Second Exercise “to perform funeral ceremonies” should be translated Tsoo° koong-tuh (做功德), or Nyan°-kyung (念經). It means to say masses for the soul of the departed.
- (4) In the thirteenth sentence of the Second Exercise, “More than a thousand soldiers” can be expressed Ih tshien too (一干多) and in the fourteenth sentence “More than five hundred chests of tea” °Ng pak too (五百多).
- (5) In the fifteenth sentence of the Second Exercise the answer would be ’Veh siau san pak kwhe° (勿消三百塊).
- (6) In the fifth sentence of the Second Exercise “When I was young” is translated Nyien kyi° chung° kuh z-‘eu° (年紀輕個時候), literally “The time when my years were light”.
- (7) In the eleventh sentence of the Second Exercise “Numberless” is translated m-soo°-mak (無數目), literally “Without number.”
LESSON XXI
Verbal Idioms, Ordinals, and Remarks on the Expression of Time
To express the idea of “about to do a thing” in Chinese you can use the words tsiang-iau° (將要). Tsiang-iau°-chi° (將要去) means “about to go.” Tsiang-iau° °si (將要死) means “about to die.” Another way of expressing the same idea is by adding kwha° tse after the verb. Kwha° means “fast.” Chi° kwha° tse (去快哉) means “I will go fast,” that is, in a moment. Le kwha° tse (來快哉) means “will come fast,” that is, in a few minutes. Thih-°tsung is often used, meaning “just on the point of doing a thing.” Thus °Ngoo thih-°tsung iau° chi° (我貼準要去) means “I was just going.”
The expression “According to,” or “as it seems to me,” is expressed in Chinese by the words tsau° °ngoo khoen° (照我看). Tsau° °ngoo (照我) used alone would mean “Follow me,” “Follow my example.”
The Ordinals are formed from the Numerals in a very simple way. The word deu (頭) is prefixed before the first numeral and di° (第) before all the others. Thus “the first” is deu ih (頭一), the second is di° nyi° (第二), the third is di° san (第三), and so on. When first is used with the verb in the sense of the action being prior to some other action the word sien (先) is used. Thus we have Noong° veh zung tsheh chi° kuh zien-deu °ngoo sien iau° kau°-soo° noong° ih tsaung z°-°thi (儂勿曾出去個前頭我先要告訴儂一莊事體), meaning, “Before you go I first want to tell you something.” Again Sien tsoo° di°-yang° nan-meh tsoo° i-yang° (先做第樣難末做伊樣) means “First do this and then do that.” Again we have for the same expression Sien tsoo° di° kuh, man° tsoo° i-kuh (先做第個慢做 伊個), “First do this, slowly do that.”