331. When the supplementary clause is, how much more, 何况于 hú hwong‘ ü, 况乎 hwong‘ ú, 而况 rh hwong‘ or 况且 hwong‘ ’t’siá, are employed.
- 天好勿看見, 而况雨落 t’íen ’hau veh k’ön‘ kíen’, hú hwong’ ’ü loh, when the weather is fine you cannot see it, how much more when it rains.
- 小個做勿來, 况且大個 ’siau kú‘ tsú‘ veh lé, hwong‘ ’t’siá dú‘ kú‘, if you cannot do a little thing, how much more impossible for you to do a greater.
- 自家尙且勿會做, 何况于別人 zz ká zang‘ ’t’siá veh wé tsú‘, hú hwong‘ ü bih niun, since you cannot do it yourself, much more cannot others do it.
Section 11. Expletives and Interjections.
332. There are some words which though they have important grammatical uses cannot be conveniently set down among the preceding parts of speech and they are therefore placed here. Such are 個, 之, 者, 哩, kú‘, tsz, ’tsé, ’lí.
a. 個 kú‘, besides its use as a numeral particle ([Art. 156]), as the sign of the possessive ([130]) and in relative pronoun sentences, also takes its place as a final after a verb, or adjective in any indicative proposition.
- 好個 好拉個 ’hau kú‘, ’hau ’lá kú‘, it is good, well.
- 勿能做個 veh nung tsú‘ kú‘, or veh nung kú‘ tsú‘, I cannot do it.
b. 之 tsz is the sign of the past or past participle, but as will be seen in the first three examples, it is often indicative.
- 前年做之宰相者 zíen níen tsú‘ tsz tsé‘ siáng‘ ’tsé, the year before last, he was prime minister.
- 本地白也會話之 ’pun dí‘ pah ’á wé‘ wó‘ tsz, he can speak in the dialect of this place.
- 明朝要寫好之末者 ming tsau yau‘ ’siá ’hau tsz meh ’tsé, finish writing it to-morrow.
- 做之十年官咾告老者 tsú‘ tsz zeh níen kwén lau kau‘ ’lau ’tsé, after having been in office for ten years, he retired on the plea of old age.
c. 者 ’tsé is the sign of an action completed, or in course of being done, whether expressed by a verb or adjective; also of the imperative.
- 做拉者, 好者 tsú‘ ’lá ’tsé, ’hau ’tsé, it is done, it is right.
- 去拉個者 k’í‘ ’lá kú‘ ’tsé, he is gone.
- 吾拉做者 ngú ’lá tsú‘ ’tsé, I am doing it.