Page:A Manual of the Foochow Dialect in Twenty Lessons.pdf/31

30 is the equivalent of the nouns understood. 儂家欲直三本書，二本大其一本細其 Nè̤ng-gă ó̤i-dĭh săng buōng cṳ̆, lâng buōng duâi gì, siŏh buōng sá̤ gì. I want three red ones. 儂家欲直三隻紅其 Nè̤ng-gă ó̤i-dĭh săng ciáh è̤ng gì.

6. Adjectives such as 真 cĭng true, 假 gā false, and adjectives of colour, take sê when used predicatively. God is true 上帝是真 Siông-Dá̤ sê cĭng. Idols are false. 菩薩是假 Bù-sák sê gā.

7. Of the two forms “This is well done” and “this is done well”, Chinese idiom prefers the latter. In the examples given, 的 dék following the verb denotes completed action, and is also used euphonically. This is well done, 囋做的好 cuoi có̤-dék hō̤. This character is written badly, 者字寫的平正 ciā cê siā-dék bàng-ciáng.

8. Potential Mood. This mood is expressed by using ⿰亻鞋 â̤ combined with dék and the auxiliary verb 來 lì. I can do it, 儂家⿰亻鞋做的來 nè̤ng-gă â̤ có̤ dék lì. He can speak Chinese, 中國話伊⿰亻鞋講的來 Dṳ̆ng-guóh uâ ĭ â̤ gōng dék-lì. Can he speak Chinese? 中國話伊⿰亻鞋講的來賣 Dṳ̆ng-guók uá ĭ â̤ gōng dék-lì mâ̤?

9. Questions introduced by the expression 挪乇 nò̤-nó̤h always imply an affirmative answer. Have you not heard of this? 汝挪乇昧聽見者代 nṳ̄ nò̤-nó̤h muôi tiăng-giéng ciā dâi? “of course you have” being understood. A question containing nò̤-nó̤h is always spoken with a rising inflexion of voice.

10. One way of indicating the Past Tense is by the use of the phrase 仈會 báik-cèng with lāu at the end of the sentence. I have already spoken to you about this, nè̤ng-gă báik-cèng gâe̤ng nṳ̄ gōng lāu.