Obs. ’Tíen, ih ’ngan, when they follow an adjective, while placing it in the comparative degree, preserve their own sense a little; e.g. 好一眼多謝 ’hau ih ’ngan tú zia‘, a little better thank you; 快點走 k’wá‘ ’tíen ’tseu, walk a little faster.
f. Not very, very much, too much are expressed by the derivative adverb, veh da‘ ’lí, and the forms seh fun, seh ní‘ fun, kú‘ vun‘, t’uh kú‘ vun‘.
- 勿大哩要 veh dá‘ ’lí yau‘, he does not much want it.
- 勿大哩多 veh dá‘ ’lí tú, not very many.
- 十分要 seh fun yau‘, wants it very much.
- 十二分好 seh ní‘ fun ’hau, very good.
g. Not at all, not in the least, are translated in several ways.
- 一無用頭 ih vú yúng‘ deu, of no use.
- 萬無好處 van‘ vú ’hau t’sû‘, of no use at all.
- 絲毫勿對 sz hau veh té‘, not in the least agreeing.
- 嘸啥蹉跎 m sá‘ sá dú, not at all tired.
- 一眼勿差 ih ’ngan veh t’só, just so, not at all wrong.
h. To altogether correspond ’lóng ’tsóng, kóng ’tsóng, tseu sun, ’lóng ’t’óng.
- 共總二百 kóng‘ ’tsóng ni‘ páh, in all two hundred.
- 週身幾許 tseu sun ’kí hau‘, in all how many?
- 盡行勿好 dzing‘ yung veh ’hau, altogether wrong.
- 一氣賣完 ih k’í‘ má‘ wén, altogether sold off.
- 攏統三萬 ’lóng ’t’óng san man‘, altogether 30,000.
i. Mostly, chiefly, are expressed by pronominal forms, which have been already partially illustrated.
- 大一半, tú‘ ih pén‘, the greater part.
- 大凡人勿懂 tá‘ van niun veh ’tóng, men mostly do not understand.
- 大槩百姓 tá ké pák sing‘, most people.
- 大凡人什蓋寫個多, ta‘ van niun seh ké ’sia kú‘ tú, most persons write it thus.
- 第能貸色是好個多 ti‘ nung hú‘ suh ’zz ’hau kú‘ tú, articles of this kind are mostly good.
- 吃鴉片烟個人勿牢寔個多 k’iuh á p’ien yen kú‘ niun veh lau zeh kú‘ tú, opium smokers are for the most part dishonest.
j. Half is sometimes used in English as an adverb; so also it is in Chinese, as in the following phrases.