Notes.

LESSON VIII
Potential and Subjunctive Moods, and some Interrogative Adverbs

“May” or “can” is expressed by °khau-°i (可以). Thus “I may or can eat” is °ngoo °khau-°i chuh (我可以吃). When physical ability is implied nung-keu° (能彀) is frequently used. Thus “I have the physical ability to do,” is °ngoo nung-keu° tsoo° (我能彀做). When acquired ability is to be expressed we° (會) is generally used. Thus: “I have the ability to speak Chinese” is °ngoo we° wo° Tsoong-kok wo° (我會話中國話).

The Subjunctive Mood is expressed exactly like the Indicative Mood except that some word meaning “If” is placed at the beginning of the clause, and that the particle meh (末) is generally placed at the end of the clause.

“If” is zak (若), zak-s° (若使), zak-zen (若然), °thaung-zen (倘然), °thaung-s° (倘使). Thus “If I go, I will call you,” is expressed zak-zen °ngoo chi° meh, °ngoo iau° kyau° noong° (若然我去末我要叫儂).

Very often the word implying “If” is omitted at the beginning of the clause, and the condition is implied simply by the use of the meh (末) the end of the clause. Thus: “When he has finished it, come and tell me” is yi tsoo° °hau meh, le te° °ngoo wo° (伊做好末來對我話).

“How” is °na-nung (那能). Thus “How do you know”, is noong° °na-nung °hyau-tuh? (儂那能曉得).

“When?” is °kyi-z (幾時). Thus “When did you come?” is noong° °kyi-z le kuh? (儂幾時來個). “When did you arrive?”, is noong° kyi-z tau°? (儂幾時到). Beginners in Chinese often make the mistake of using °kyi-z as the ordinary adverb of time. To express such a sentence as “When I come he will go,” we say °ngoo le-°ts meh yi iau° chi° (我來仔末伊要去), the past participle being used, and meh implying that it is conditional. It is incorrect to say °ngoo °kyi-z le, yi iau° chi°. Let it be remembered that °kyi-z is only used in asking a question.

We have the °kyi-z used after the verb in such a sentence as noong° tau°-ts °kyi-z tse? (儂到仔幾時哉) meaning, “How long since you arrived?” or yi chi°-°ts °kyi-z tse? (伊去仔幾時哉) meaning, “How long since he went?”

VOCABULARY.

Boo (部) is the classifier used with carriages, and vehicles on wheels.

EXERCISES

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Notes.

LESSON IX
The Use of Dzak, Reduplication of Verbs, Reflexive Pronouns

In expressing the carrying of the action of the verb into effect dzak (着) is often used after it. Thus: zing-dzak (尋着) means that a thing has been actually found. Zing means ‘to find’. There are a great many active verbs which can take the dzak after them. For example we have tuh-dzak (得着), meaning a thing has been obtained. Tuh means ‘to get’. Bang°-dzak (掽着) means a person or thing has been met. Bang° (掽) means ‘to strike against’.

Verbs are often repeated for emphasis. We have had an example of this in the expression °zoo °zoo, meaning “sit down” Thus khoen° khoen° (看看) means “Look, look.”

In many cases ih (一) is inserted between the verbs, as khoen° ih khoen°. In such cases the last verb is changed into a verbal noun. Literally it would be “Look a look.”

The Reflexive Personal Pronouns hardly require any explanation. They are formed by adding z°-ka (自家) after the Personal Pronouns. Thus “I myself” would be °ngoo z°- ka (我自家). “You yourself” would be noong° z°-ka (儂自家) and so on for the rest.

VOCABULARY

In using iung-we° the particle °lau (佬) is generally added at the end of the clause. Thus: “Why did you not go? Because I did not want to go” is noong° we°- °sa ’veh chi°? Iung we° °ngoo ’veh iau° chi° °lau (儂爲啥勿去? 因爲我勿要去佬.)

EXERCISES

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Notes.

LESSON X
Divisions of Time. More Adverbs

“An hour” in Chinese is ih °tien tsoong (一點鐘) or ih kuh tsoong-deu (一個鐘頭). Literally “one point of the clock.” This is a foreign division of time. The Chinese divide the day into twelve periods of two hours each, known as z-zung (時辰). Now, the divisions into hours has become very familiar.

Ih °tien tsoong may also mean “one o’clock,” and the other hours are indicated in the same way by the change of the numeral. Thus “Two o’clock” is °liang °tien tsoong (兩點鐘). Two hours would be °liang kuh tsoong deu (兩個鐘頭) or °liang °tien tsoong koong foo (兩點鐘功夫). “Three o’clock” is san °tien tsoong (三點鐘), etc.

“A day” is usually ih nyih 一日. The character nyih literally means “sun.” In speaking of the heavenly body, in the colloquial, deu is added to the nyih, making the expression nyih-deu (日頭). Sometimes the word thien (天), meaning “Heaven,” is used for “day.” Thus san thien means “three days.” No classifier is introduced between the numeral and the nyih or the thien. Thus we have for “four days” s° nyih (四日) or s° thien (四天).

“A week” is ih kuh °li-pa° (一個禮拜) or ih °li-pa° (一禮拜). This, of course, is a foreign division of time which has been adopted into Chinese. It takes its name from the name of Sunday, which is usually °li-pa°-nyih (禮拜日). Lit. “the day of ceremonial worship.” °Li means ceremony, pa° is to worship. The other days of the week are formed with the addition of the numerals as follows: Monday is °li-pa°-ih (禮拜一). Tuesday is °li-pa°-nyi°. Wednesday is °li-pa°-san. Thursday °li-pa°-s°. Friday °li-pa°-°ng and Saturday °li-pa°-lok.

A new way of expressing the days of the week is by the use of the words sing-ji (星期) meaning the star period. Thus: Sunday is sing-ji nyih (星期日), Monday, sing-ji ih (星期一), Tuesday, sing-ji nyi° (星期二), and so on for the other days.

“A month” is ih kuh nyoeh (一個月). Lit. “a moon.” The Chinese year is made up of twelve lunar months. The first month is called tsung nyoeh (正月), the second, nyi° nyoeh (二月), the third, san nyoeh (三月) and so forth.

“A year” is ih nyien (一年). No classifier is used between the numeral and the word “year”, nyien.

“How many?” or “How much?” is °kyi-hau°? (幾化). Thus °kyi-hau° nyung le? (幾化人來) means “How many men came?” °Kyi-hau° °s (幾化水) means “How much water?”

°Kyi is often used without the hau°. In such cases it is followed by the classifier of the noun. Thus “How many men came?” might be °kyi kuh nyung le? (幾個人來). “How many horses have you?” noong° °yeu °kyi tsak °mo? (儂有幾隻馬).

“Where?” is °‘a-°li (那裏). Thus “Where are you going?” is noong° tau° °‘a- °li chi°? (儂到那裏去). “Where are you?” is noong° la°-°‘a-°li? (儂拉那裏).

Sa° meaning “what” with di°-faung meaning “place” also expresses “Where?” Thus sa° di°-faung? (啥地方). We also have sa° dzang-hau°? (啥塲化) meaning “What place?” or “Where?” but this refers to a more circumscribed area than di°- faung. We also have sa° °‘oo-daung° (啥戸蕩) used much in the same way as sa° dzang-hau°.

VOCABULARY

EXERCISES

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Notes.

LESSON XI
The Passive Voice, and Adverbs of Place and Time

Peh (撥) (Mandarin 被) is used to form the Passive, and is the regular and proper form of the Passive. Thus: the verb °tang (打) means to “Strike.” °Ngoo °tang yi (我打伊) means “I strike him.” To put this into the Passive we would say °ngoo peh yi °tang (我撥伊打). Literally “I gave him strike,” or “I was struck by him.”

“Here” is expressed by leh-°li or °tsh-di° (垃裏, 此地) or di°-deu (第頭). °Tsh-di° means literally “this place.”

“There” is leh-la° (垃拉) or i-deu (伊頭) or i-kwhe° (伊塊). “I am here” is °ngoo leh-li° (我垃裏). “I am there” is °ngoo leh-la° (我垃拉).

These adverbs are often used as adverbial nouns and may take prepositions before them. Thus Tau° °di-deu le (到第頭來) means “Come here.” Lit. “To here come.” Tau° i-deu chi° (到伊頭去) means “Go there.” Lit. “To there go.” °Pa la° °tsh-di° (擺拉此地) means “Place it here,” Lit. “Place it at here.” °Pa la° i-kwhe° (擺拉伊塊) means “Place it there.” Lit. “Place it at there.”

VOCABULARY

EXERCISES

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Notes.

LESSON XII
Some Verbal Idioms

We have already explained the use of °khau-°i, nung-keu°, and we°. There are other ways of expressing the possibility and impossibility of doing things in Chinese. For instance one way is by the addition of tuh le or ’veh le after the verb. Thus: Dok-tuh-le (讀得來) means “Able to read.” Dok-’veh-le (讀勿來) means “Unable to read it.” Many verbs of one character admit of this construction. Thus: Wo°-tuh-le means “Able to speak.” Wo°-’veh-le means “Unable to speak.” Tsoo°-tuh-le (做得來), “Able to do.” Tsoo°-’veh-le (做勿來), “Unable to do.”

Verbs made up of two characters do not take tuh-le and ’veh-le after them. Thus we do not hear °hyau-tuh-’veh-le for “Unable to know,” but ’veh we° °hyau-tuh (勿會曉得).

The literal meaning of tuh-le is “Obtain, come,” and the literal meaning of ’veh-le is “Not come.”

We also have the use of tuh-kuh after verbs, expressing possibility, and ’veh-tuh, expressing impossibility. Thus we have tsoo°-tuh-kuh (做得個), meaning “it is possible to do a thing,” and tsoo°-’veh-tuh (做勿得), meaning “it is impossible to do a thing.” With verbs of physical action, we have tuh-°doong (得動) and ’veh-°doong (勿動) used after the verb implying possibility and impossibility. Thus we have °tseu-tuh-°doong (走得動), meaning “I have the physical ability to walk,” and °tseu-’veh-°doong (走勿動), meaning “I have not the physical ability to walk.” In the same way we have tsoo°-tuh-°doong (做得動) and tsoo°-’veh-°doong (做勿動). ’Veh-°doong literally means “Not move.”

Strange to say we have °zoo-’veh-°doong (坐勿動), meaning “I have not the physical ability to sit up,” and °zoo-tuh-°doong (坐得動), meaning “I have the physical ability to sit up.”

°Ma-tuh-°doong (買得動) means “Possible to buy.” °Ma-’veh-°doong (買勿動) means “Impossible to buy.”

With verbs of hearing and seeing impossibility is expressed in still another way. Thus we have khoen°-tuh-kyien° (看得見), meaning “It is possible to see,” and khoen°-’veh-kyien° (看勿見) meaning “It is impossible to see it.” Literally translated these expressions are “See, obtain, behold,” and “See, not behold.” We also have khoen°-tuh-tsheh (看得出), meaning to see a thing clearly. Literally “See, obtain, come forth,” and khoen°-’veh-tsheh (看勿出), meaning not to be able to see, or literally “See, not come forth.”

In the same way we have thing-tuh-tsheh (聽得出) and thing-’veh-tsheh (聽勿出) in regard to hearing. Instead of thing-tuh-kyien° and thing-’veh-kyien° we have thing-tuh-dzak (聽得着) and thing-’veh-dzak (聽勿着). Literally “Hear, obtain” and “Hear, not obtain.”

We have already explained the use of °hau after verbs expressing completed action. We also have other words used much in the same way. Thus dok-°hau-tse (讀好哉), dok-wen-tse (讀完哉) or dok-°ba-tse (讀罷哉) all mean the same thing. The verb wen means “to finish.” Accordingly in asking a question tsoo°-°hau-meh (做好末), tsoo°-wen-meh (做完末) and tsoo°-°ba-meh (做罷末), all mean “Have you finished it?”

Verbal nouns are often formed by the addition of deu (頭) or fah (法) after the verb. Thus tsoo°-deu (做頭) or tsoo°-fah (做法) means the manner of doing a thing.

VOCABULARY

Kan (間) is the classifier used with rooms.

EXERCISES

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