108. Some of these combined forms consist of a substantive and an enclitic. Of the auxiliary words thus used 子 ’tsz, 頭 teu, are the most common.
| 鴿子 keh ’tsz, a pigeon. | 席子 sih ’tsz, matting. |
| 刮法子 kwah fah ’tsz, machinery. | |
| 罐頭 kwén‘ deu, saucepan. | 流頭 lieu deu, pulley. |
| 甎頭 tsén deu, bricks. | 話頭 wó‘ deu, words. |
| 骨耳頭 kweh- ’rh deu, an axle. | |
These enclitics are never used in the classics; they form a leading characteristic of colloquial Chinese. ’Tsz and teu give individuality and definiteness to the term they qualify. Their proper meaning, son, head, is in these cases lost; they help also to fill the rhythm of the sentence, and to distinguish the words to which they are appended from other terms like them in sound. The enclitic 兒 rh, so common in the mandarin provinces, and also in the dialect of Háng-cheú, has its place supplied by 子 ’tsz. Nyih ’tsz 日子 day is distinguished from nyih deu 日頭 the sun by the enclitic.
109. To express a place where persons come and go, the words 頭 deu and 塲 dzáng are appended to substantives.
- 粒屑 lih sih, or sih alone, expresses small fragments of.
- 局頭 kióh deu, place of carrying on trade.
- 橋頭 kiau deu, landing place of a bridge.
- 碼頭 ’mó deu, „ „ of a ferry.
- 賭場 ’tu dzáng, place of gaming.
- 戲場 h’í dzáng, place of seeing plays.
- 牛場 nieu dzáng, place of tethering cattle.
- 柴粒屑 zá lih sih, small fragments of firewood.
110. Verbs and adjectives form compound substantives, by taking after them such auxiliaries as 頭 teu, 法 fah and 處 t’sû‘.
- 有辦頭 ’yeu pan‘ deu, there is a way of doing it.
- 唔坐處 m ’zú t’sû‘, no place to sit down.
- 有啥做法 ’yeu sá‘ t’sû‘ fah? is there a way of doing it?
- 唔啥好處 m sá‘ ’hau t’sû‘, no benefit in it.
- 那能好法 ’ná nung ’hau fah? how is it good?
- 長頭 dzáng deu, overplus.
- 剩頭, 餘頭 dzung‘ deu, û deu, remainder.
- 牢實頭 lau zeh deu, a simple, honest person.
- 苦惱子 ’k’u ’nau ’tsz, one very poor and wretched.
111. Many of the auxiliary substantives treated of in the next section, whose office it is to stand between numerals and their nouns, often follow their substantives without a numeral. A compound is thus formed, in which the sense of the classifying particle is often preserved, A piece of is expressed by k’wé. A bar of by tiau.
| 冰塊 ping k’wé‘, piece of ice. | 鋼條 kong diau, steel spring. |
| 船隻 zén tsáh, boats. | 人頭 niun deu, a man. |
| 書本 sû ’pun, books. | 紙張 ’tsz tsáng, sheet of paper. |
112. The words 夫 fú, 手 ’seu, 做 tsoh, 匠 ziáng‘, 司務 sz‘ vú‘, 家 ká, 人 niun, are appended to substantives to denote agents, trades and professions.