Page:A Manual of the Amoy Colloquial (1898).pdf/23
[5]
俱未會至 Lóng m̄-bat kàu hia, I have never been there.
他到我不識他 I kàu, góa m̄-bat i, When he arrived I did not know him.
他欲離開 I ài lī-khui, He wants to go away.
人要走 Lâng beh tsáu, The men will run.
In the Chinese language there is neither declension of nouns nor conjugation of verbs. The word is precisely the same both in the nominative and objective cases, and the tense of the verb is determined alone either by the connection or by the use of auxili- aries. The consequence is that past and future time can never be expressed with the same minuteness that is afforded by either the English or Greek verbs. The same word acts as adjective and adverb.
SECTION 4.
給 Hō͘, Give.
打算 Phah-sǹg, Think.
出 Chhut, Go out, come out.
入 Ji̍p, Enter.
不能 Bōe, Unable.
能 Oē, Able.
開 Khui, Open.
閉 Koaiⁿ, Shut.
問 Mn̄g, Enquire.
可 Thang, May, can.
宜,然 Tio̍h, Ought, yes.
看 Khòaⁿ, See, look.
聽 Thiaⁿ, Listen, hear.
言 Kóng, Speak, talk, tell.
取 The̍h, Take.
門 Mn̂g, A door.
婦人 Hū-jîn-lâng, A woman.
話 Oē, Words.
多 Tsōe, Many.
小 Tsió, Few.