Page:Manual of the Foochow dialect.pdf/35

21 : 諸位 chü oi all the places, seats, or guests.
 * 大家𠆧 tai ka nëng, great-family-persons, i.e., all here present.

Case. The nominative before and after the verb, or the subject and predicate forms, occur as in English, as 啫𠆧是賊 chiā nëng se ch‘ek, that man is a thief.

The possessive or genitive is formed by the insertion of ki (often contracted into i) between possessor and thing possessed. It means literally his, hers, its, or theirs, and is analogous to the sign of, or to the apostrophe and letter s, as in 椆其門 tiu ki mwong, closet-its-door, the door of the closet, or the closet's door.

Sometimes the sign ki is omitted, when the first noun may be parsed as an adjective qualifying the second, or as forming with it a compound noun, as 𠆧厝 nëng ch‘io men's houses or human abodes, 國號 kwok hó nation's title, dynasty's name, or national title, dynastic name.

The objective or accusative is distinguished by its position.

(1) It follows the governing verb.


 * 寫字 siā che to write characters or words.
 * 煮飯 chü pwong to boil rice.

(2) It precedes the verb and has the word t‘a or k‘á as its sign.


 * 替伊拍 k‘á i p‘ah for-him-beat–to beat him.

(3) It precedes verbs in the imperative, and its classifier is often separated and placed after the verb.


 * 書掏來讀 chü tó li t‘ëk book-take-come-read–bring the book and read.
 * 肉去買二觔 nük k‘ó má lang küng, pork-go-buy-two-pounds–go and buy two pounds of pork.

(4) It follows the governing preposition, expressed or understood.


 * 共𠆧 kaëng nëng, with persons, 至尾 kau mwi, unto the end.
 * 去鼓山 k‘o ku sang, to go (to) Kushan.