- 半死半活 pén‘ ’sí pén‘ weh, half dead half alive.
- 半假半眞 pén‘ ’ká pén‘ tsun, half false half true.
- 半推半愛 pén‘ t’é pén‘ é‘, refuse and yet wish for.
- 半呑半吐 pén‘ t’un pén‘ t’ú‘, cease from saying a thing when half through it.
Obs. The other proportional parts, such as 四分裏一分 si‘ vun‘ ’lí ih vun‘, a quarter; 十分裏一分 seh vun‘ ’lí ih vun‘, one tenth, are much too long to enter into such groups.
k. only, alone are represented by tseh, tók, tan, tan‘ and forms into which they enter.
- 只得一眼 tseh tuh ih ’ngan, only a little.
- 獨一干 tók ih kûn, only one.
- 獨干子 tók kûn ’tsz, alone.
- 勿但一個 veh dan‘ ih kú‘, not only one.
- 惟獨兩個人 ví‘ dóh ’liáng kú‘ niun, only two men.
- 勿獨之一個 veh dók tsz ih kú‘, not only one.
- 一干子 ih kûn ’tsz, alone.
- 單單一個 tan tan ih kú‘, a single one.
- 不過一個 pih (should be peh) kú‘ ih kú‘, only one.
- 獨獨哩我會做 tóh dóh ’lí ’ngú wé‘ tsú‘, only I can do it.
Obs. i. Tan, is also an adjective, as in the question, 花單個呢雙個 hwó tan kú‘ ní song kú‘, is the flower single or double? Tóh and tan‘ are both conjunctions, when joined to ’zz, as 但是, 獨是 tan‘ ’zz, tóh ’zz, but.
Obs. ii. The numeral adverbs once, twice, etc. translated by 一次 ih t’sz‘, etc. may be seen in section 4. on auxiliary substantives, [Art. 163].
Negative and Affirmative. 268. One of the most common negative particles is 嘸 m, to which 沒 meh, the same in meaning is frequently appended. 嘸 m is properly a verb not to have.
- 嘸啥事體 m sá‘ zz‘ t’í, it is nothing.
- 嘸形嘸踪 m yung tsóng, there is no trace of him.
- 嘸沒啥話頭 m meh sá‘ wó‘ deu, there is nothing to say.
- 嘸憂嘸慮 m yeu m lü‘, having no grief or care.
269. The literary word that corresponds to this particle is 無 vú, which is also in common use in colloquial phrases derived from the books or formed on book models.
- 無財無勢 vú dzé vú sz‘, having no riches or influence.
- 無親無戚 vú t’sing vú t’sih, having no relations.
- 無冬無夏 vú tóng vú ’yá, having neither winter nor summer.