Page:Chinese spoken language.djvu/31

Rh slave. Sieu2 means, literally, the little, or inferior one. Koi3, signifying honourable, is used for your, on the ground that what is said to be honourable, is of course understood to belong to the person addressed, rather than to the speaker. Koi3 k’ai3, your slave; koi3 siong7, your master, or superior; koi3 huò2, your agent; koi3 tung, your employer; koi3 ka, your noble family; koi3 iu2, your noble friend; koi3 kuoh4, your honourable country; koi3 seng3, your surname. In all these examples honour is conferred upon the person addressed by applying an honourable epithet to what belongs to him.

When speaking of brutes or inanimate objects, the simple possessive pronouns are generally used.

The Interrogatives are, sie3 nò4, what? Which? sie3 nò4 nëng5, what man? Who? tie7 në2 nëng5, who? or, man from what place? tie7 süò8 chia4, which one? This expression is varied by using, instead of the last word chia4, the classifier which corresponds with the particular thing in reference to which the inquiry is made.

The Demonstratives are, chi2, or chia2, this; hi2, or hia2, that. Chia2 is also often used as nearly equivalent to that. Chui5, or in full, chia2 kuai3, this place, is often used adjectively for this. Hui5, or hia2 kuai3, is also used for the demonstrative that.

Who, which, and what, when used as relative pronouns, have no proper equivalent in this dialect of the Chinese language. Their place is supplied by demonstratives, followed by the nouns themselves.

Verbs.
The variations of the verb are not as numerous, or as precise in their meaning, as in most other languages. The various forms of p’a4, to strike, will illustrate to peculiarities of the Chinese verb in the Fuh Chau dialect.

I. – Indicative Mood. 1. General tense. Nguai2 p’a4, I strike. This form may denote either past, present, or future time, which may be determined, with more or less certainty, by the connexion in which it is used. 2. Present tense, definite; as Nguai2 lè2 p’a4, I am striking. 3. Perfect tense. This tense denotes that an action or event is already completed. With transitive verbs, in this tense, the accusative follows the principal verb, and lau2, finished, follows the accusative, to denote the completion of the action; as, Nguai2 p’a4 i lau2, I have struck him. In case of intransitive verbs, k’ò3, departed, or li5, to come, is often inserted between the principal verb and the auxiliary lau2,