Obs. i. The word 好 ’hau, good, is found appended to many verbs, giving to them the sense of completeness, 做好 tsú‘ ’hau, complete the making of.
Obs. ii. These examples shew how in Chinese, compensation is made for that class of words called derivatives in languages possessing a system of terminations. Instead of a formation like prolongare, to lengthen, from longus or long in Latin, or lengthen from length in English, we have a separate word prefixed to the adjective dzáng, long. Many English phrases are compounded in the same manner; e.g. rub smooth, rub dry, which are equivalent in sense and grammatical construction to the Chinese forms, 磨光 mú kwong, 揩乾 k’á kûn.
Obs. iii. 差 t’só, wrong, is found after many other verbs; e.g. 懂 ’tóng, understand; 聽 t’ing, to hear; 待 té‘ treat any one. In every case, it is predicated of the action, that it is wrong.
220. In some dissyllabic verbs used transitively, one of the constituent words is a substantive.
- 囘頭 wé (turn) deu (head), to answer, to tell.
- 弄神 lóng‘ (trick) zun (spirits), to deceive.
- 到手 tau‘ (reach to) ’seu (hand), have in possession.
- 算計 sön‘ (calculate) kí‘ (a plan), to plan.
Obs. These may be seen to be transitive, in such sentences as 勿好弄 神朋友 veh ’hau lóng‘ zun báng ’yeu, you should not deceive friends; 就來囘頭我 dzieu lé wé deu ’ngú, come at once and tell me.
221. Some colloquial verbs, with examples of the manner in which they combine with other words, are here inserted.
- 踛上去 lóh ’zong k’í, go up (m. 升 shíng, 足 p‘a).
- 跑出來 pau‘ t’seh lé, walk out (m. 走 ’tseu).
- 搿住拉 geh dzû‘ ’lá, held by the arm (m. 挾 hieh).
- 碰着 páng‘ záh, meet (m. 遇 ü‘ and p‘eng choh).
- 挬輔 peh ’tsén, turn around (m. 囘 hwei).
- 担到此地 tan tau‘ ’t’sz dí‘, bring here (m. 拿 ná 端 twan).
- 甩脱 hwah t’eh, throw away (m. 扔下 jeng‘ hia‘).
- 孛相 peh siáng‘, to ramble (m. 遊桄 yeu kwang‘).
- 坍銃 t’an t’sóng, to be ashamed.
- 撥拉我 peh ’lá ’ngú, give it me (m. 給 ki‘, ’kei).
- 做唆 tsu‘ sú‘, to deceive.
Obs. At Súng-kiáng ’pun, is used for peh, in the sense of give. 跑 has two pronunciations, ’pau run, and pau‘ walk.