Page:A Manual of the Foochow Dialect in Twenty Lessons.pdf/36

Rh 6. 務 ô and its negative forms 昧 muôi and 毛 mò̤ are used to indicate the past tense. ô signifies possession, but it forms an auxiliary verb to mark the past and perfect tenses. It is placed before the verb, and guó is placed after the verb. Have you ridden the donkey? 汝務椅騎 [sic]過驢昧 Nṳ̄ ô kiè guó tè̤ muô? I have done so, 儂家騎過了 Nè̤ng-gă kiè guó làu.

7. 恰 Kák signifies “too much” or “extremely”, and is generally used with positive forms. That table is too long, 那棹恰長 Hiā dó̤h kák dòng. That child is very bad, 那伲仔恰平正 Hiā níe-giāng kák bàng-ciáng.

8. “Afterwards” is expressed by the use of the terms 以後 ī-hâiu and 後來 hâiu-lái. The former is most frequently used in Foochow Colloquial, the latter pointing to more distant time. Hâiu is used alone meaning “after” in opposition to 先 sĕng before. First do this and then do that, 先做嚽 後做回 Sĕng có̤ cuòi, hâiu có̤ huòi. He came here, and then went to Ku-cheng, 伊至只塊以後去古田 i gáu cī-nái ī-hâiu kó̤ Kŭ-chèng. I don’t know what will happen in (distant) future, 後來其代我賣曉的 Hâiu-lái gì dâi nguāi mā̤ hiēu dék.

9. Care must be taken to distinguish between the uses of 呌 giéu and 請 chiāng, the former being used to children and servants, and the latter to equals and superiors. Call that child here, 呌許一隻伲仔來只塊 Giéu hṳ̄ siŏh ciáh niê-guāng lì-cŭ-uái. Ask that gentleman to come here, 請許一位先生過來 Chiāng hṳ̄ siŏh ôi Sìng-săng guó lì.

10. 男 Nàng and 女 nṳ̄, male and female, are restricted in their use to the human race. 角 Gae̤k or 公 gē̤ng male and 牳 mō̤ female are used to denote