- 一眼勿疑心 ih ’ngan veh ní sing, not at all incredulous.
- 伊並勿是要騙打㑚 í ping‘ veh ’zz yau‘ p’íen‘ ’táng ná‘, he surely does not attempt to deceive you.
- 樹木倒勿曾發靑 zû‘ móh ’tau veh zung fah t’sing, the trees have still not yet opened their buds.
Obs. When the necessity is denied, the negative precedes the adverb expressity; e.g. 勿必要去 veh pih yau‘ k’i‘, you are not obliged to go.
387. There are several verbs, not having a full transitive power, that are often to be taken as little more than an extension of the copula. They are such as, 呌 kiau‘, 做 tsú‘, 爲 wé, 作 tsoh.
- 第個勿呌公道 tí‘ kú‘ veh kiau‘ kúng ’dau, that is not (or cannot be called) just (or veh kúng ’dau), (or veh sön‘ kúng ’dau, cannot be considered as just).
- 我做用人 ’ngú tsú‘ yúng‘ niun, I am a servant.
- 謀反爲大事體 meu ’fan wé dú‘ zz‘ ’t’í, rebellion is a great matter.
- 女人勿好作主張 ’nü niun veh ’hau tsok ’tsû tsáng, women should not be rulers.
Obs. The equivalents of these words, in languages having forms of declension, usually take the nominative case after them.
388. The correlative pronouns and sometimes adjectives, are placed like the emphatic adverbs before the copula, the substantives they represent being the subject.
- 人秃是劃一個 niun t’óh ’zz wáh ih kú‘, the men are all honest.
- 惡事體一切全要甩脫個 og zz‘ ’t’í ih t’sih dzén yau‘ hwah t’eh kú‘, bad actions are all to be abandoned.
- 字目大有用頭 zz‘ móh tú‘ ’yeu yúng‘ deu, great is the use of the written character.
389. The most remarkable use of the copula is in the potential verb groups, where 得 tuh and 勿 veh stand between two verbs; e.g. 打勿贏 ’táng veh yung, fighting he does not conquer; 話得出 wó‘ tuh t’seh, speaking can express it; 走得轉 ’tseu tuk ’tsén, walking you can turn back.
Obs. i. In colloquial use, these words mean he cannot conquer, it can be described in words, he can turn back. If viewed alone as separate sentences, the first verb is the subject, and the second the predicate. So when the last word in these groups is an adjective, it may be regarded as predicate to the verb which stands first. This is particularly obvious where the potential force of 得 tuh and 勿 veh are wanting, 推板勿多 t’é pan veh tú, there is no great difference; 寫得 快 ’siá tuh k’wá‘, he writes fast. Where the potential force exists in these phrases; e.g. 吹勿响 t’sz veh ’h’iáng, it cannot be sounded (of a flute); 豎勿直 ’zû veh dzuh, it cannot be set upright; 改勿正 ’ke veh tsung‘, it cannot be corrected; though the relation of subject and predicate is less manifest, it is perhaps the best explanation.
Obs. ii. When adjectives occupy both the first and last places, there is no potential force, and the second adjective becomes comparative 高得多 kau tuh tú, it is much higher.