- (一) 有啥回信否? 有個, 請等一歇等我寫好之.
- (二) 冷風從北邊吹來儂應該多着點衣裳.
- (三) 先生問個, 學生子回頭勿出.
- (四) 我要搭儂商量要緊個事體.
- (五) 落之雨小囝勿好出去勃相.
- (六) 我有一把扇子儂有一把刀我要一把刀儂要一把扇子讓我伲調一調.
- (七) 我用之一根棒打殺之一條蛇.
- (八) 儂對買辦話儂要買啥伊可以對儂買個.
- (九) 我失脫之我個表情願撥拾着之佬還撥我個人五塊洋錢.
- (十) 我個薪水勿彀事我終要請儂加點.
- (十一) 第個出店揩佬掃蠻割瀝.
- (十二) 地圖上我點撥伊看一條河.
- (十三) 我勿曾辦好第莊事體我勿能彀出去.
- (十四) 今朝我勿能彀用心讀書因爲我忒弛瘏.
- (十五) 儂吃之幾瓶藥? 我已經吃完之三瓶.
Notes.
- (1) Those learning to speak Chinese must be careful never to refer to the remuneration given to their teachers as koong-dien (工錢), but to use the polite form of speech, sok-sieu or sing-foong (束脩, 薪俸). Sok-sieu means literally “dried meat,” and comes from the ancient custom of paying a teacher in kind. The teacher himself could refer to remuneration as sing° soe (薪水).
- (2) °Eu (厚) and Bok (薄) refer to things. In speaking of a person being thin we use the word seu° (瘦), and of being fat, the word tsaung° 壯.
- (3) The fourth sentence of the First Exercise is the usual salutation meaning, “How do you do?” “Does it go well with you?” The answer is also the usual one.
- (4) In the ninth sentence of the Second Exercise Zing nyoen° (情願) means “to be willing.”
- (5) In the seventh sentence of the First Exercise °Noen means “warm” (煖).
- (6) In the eleventh sentence of the First Exercise Koen°-yang-nyung means “shepherd.” Literally “Look-sheep-man.”
- (7) In the twenty-fifth sentence of the First Exercise the word Loong has a very wide meaning. There is hardly anything in China that you cannot Loong-°hau, that is, “put to rights.”
LESSON XXIV
Some Remarks on Gender
As already remarked, words in Chinese do not change their form to indicate gender. Sometimes, however, words indicating gender are placed before them. Nen (男), “Male” and °Nyui (女), “female”, are used with human beings in this way. Thus we have Nen nyung (男人) for “man”, and °Nyui nyung (女人) for “woman”. Nen noen (男囝) means “a male child,” and °Nyui noen (女囝) “a female child.”
When speaking of the male and female of animals Yoong (雄) and Tsh (雌) are used. Thus we have Yoong kyi (雄鷄) for “cock,” and Tsh kyi (雌鷄) for “hen,” Yoong s-°ts (雄獅子) for “lion,” and Tsh s-°ts (雌獅子) for “lioness.”
VOCABULARY
- To crow, di 啼.
- To offend, tuh-°dzoe 得罪.
- To hide oneself, ben°-°loong 背攏.
- To hide a thing, khaung°-°loong 囥攏, or khaung° 囥.
- To gain or make a profit, dzan° 賺.
- Profits in business, dzan°-deu 賺頭.
- To lose in business, zeh 折, zeh-theh 折脫, zeh-°pung 折本.
- To congratulate a person, koong-°hyi 恭喜.
- To become rich, fah-dze 發財.
- To lock, °soo 鎖.
- To bar or bolt the door, sen 閂.
- The bar, or bolt of the door, sak 栅.
- To plant, tsoong° 種.
- To examine carefully, dzo 查, or dzo-°khau 查考.
- To examine a class, °khau-su 考書.
- To fall, tih 跌.
- To save, kyeu° 救.
- To stop, ding 停.
- Stop a minute, ding-ih-ding 停一停.
- Garden, hwo-yoen 花園.
- College, su-yoen° 書院.
- University, da°-‘auh 大學.
- A lock, ih °po °soo 一把鑕.
- A key, ih °po yak-dz 一把鑰匙.
- A creek or canal, ih diau pang 一條浜.
- A two story house, ih zoo° leu 一座樓, or leu-vaung 褸房.
Dzung (層) is the classifier for a story of a house or for anything like a ladder.