William Ashmore

“ III. Many words are used, as occasion may require, without change of form, as verbs, nouns, and adjectives.
IV. A marked preference is shown for the use of active voice rather than passive voice forms of speech: — He struck me, rather than, I am struck by him.
V. In expressing the action of verbs, stress is often laid on the stage of the process rather than on the time when of the process.
VI. The frequency with which some one important word, — the object of the verb’s action, — is put in the fore part of a sentence to begin with, is a marked feature in Chinese construction. ”

“ Since ordinary conversation among the Chinese is marked by such an amount of indefiniteness, it is not strange that the foreign student, at the outset, is much perplexed. The latter has the grim consolation of knowing that the Chinese themselves are often puzzled, and are frequently heard interposing an inquiry to a speaker in order to get the proper tense significance.
II. By some one word, or clause, or sentence indicative of time when, and used by the speaker at the beginning of his remarks. This one word may determine the tense of verbs that follow to the number of a dozen or more. ”

“ As the verb sĩ denotes chiefly that something exists or is, so ũ denotes possession. It is often used interchangeably with sĩ, and is often combined with it. Thus, i sĩ ũ, he is in possession of, or, emphatically, he has. ”

“ Nouns. Nouns are of many varieties. It will be sufficient to indicate a few of them.
1. Single nouns, consisting of one word, with a fixed and definite meaning. This includes names of persons, places, and things, such as, pûan, a plate; to, a knife; chhe, a fork; iâm, salt; chhòu, vinegar; bō, a hat; ôi, shoes; sìn, faith; ngĩ, righteousness; hái, sea; suan, mountain.—The pupil will expand this list indefinitely to suit his own wants.
2. Double nouns, where two words of similar meaning are joined together, to add force, and prevent ambiguity of meaning. ”

“ But it may not be amiss for a learner to know that such a thing as slang not only exists, but that it is abundantly used. Every trade and occupation has its own slang best known to its own fraternity. In the market especially, trading operations are carried on between dealers and brokers by means of an extensive vocabulary of slang, used when occasion requires. Middle men who introduce a customer will conclude a bargain with the shop keeper about their own percentage, by the use of slang, in the presence of the country buyer himself who may not have the least idea of what is going on. ”

“ XIV. Special idioms are very numerous. They must be learned, each one for itself. It will be found, however, after a time, that even in them there is something of method, and that they are susceptible of no little classification.
XV. Aside from special idioms and such inverted collocations as attend, say, the genitive sense (known by that ubiquitous man of all work in Chinese Syntax, — kâi) the construction of ordinary sentences is really simple. The nouns, verbs, and adjectives which enter into a sentence, follow each other in an order which is both logical and chronological. ”

“ What god helps? sĩ-lṳ́ ka-kī õi a-bõi, can you of yourself do this? lṳ́ siẽn eng-kai chò-nî, what do you think ought to be done? ũ-sĩ-mih hó--chhù, what is the use of it? lṳ́ ũ jie̍h-chōi-hùe how old are you? chí-kâi hien-lí sĩ-so̍k tî-kâi-kūin, this village belongs to what district? chí-kâi-sṳ̄, tõ-chiēn-bûn soin ũ-kì-lo̍k a-bô, this matter—is it previously recorded? chiēn-bûn ũ-tàn chí-kâi-miâ a-bô, is this name found in the previous part of the book? kṳ̃n-ji̍t kâi-kuang-kéng chãi-sen, how are things these days? siàu-ba̍k ti̍t a-būe, is the account settled yet? ”

“ Force and clearness are derived by combining sĩ, ũ, and tõ, with the verb, as auxiliaries, when occasion requires. In such cases sĩ means is, and tõ has the force of the participial ending ing. Thus, chò, to do; tõ chò, do-ing.
hiēn-chãi—sĩ, just now—there is &c. hiēn-kim i tõ-ṳ̃-pĩ àin-ji̍p lãi-tī, just now he is getting ready to go in the country. hiēn-sî i tõ-phòu-lãi chò-khang-khùe, at present he is in the shop doing work. chí-chūn-mue̍h tháng sia̍p-lāu, just now the cask is leaking. hiēn-chhṳ́-chãi i ũ-pēn, at the present time he is ill. ”

“ Its effect may be compared to that of a flat or a sharp in music, which flats or sharps all the notes on that space or line. It will convert a past into a future tense, or a future into a past tense.
For example, uá khṳ̀ Suàn-thâu bói-mue̍h, bói-hó--liáu tńg--lâi chiũ pa lói-chia̍h, chia̍h-liáu khṳ̀-gu̍t. Here are a half dozen verbs, but there is nothing in any of them to determine clearly whether they are past tense or future tense, whether the speaker is telling of something he did yesterday, or something he is going to do to-morrow. ”

“ Often times there is nothing to indicate either singular or plural, as, ũ-nâng-tõ, may mean either that there is one man, or that there are several.
che̍k-pé-tāu, one handful of beans. che̍k-tàn-thn̂g, one “carry” of sugar. che̍k-táu-bí, one measure of rice. che̍k-ūi nàng-kheh, one guest personage. che̍k-ki-sam, one log of pine. chiah-chûn; che̍k-chiah-chûn; toan-chiah-chûn, one boat kù-ūe; che̍k-kù-ūe; toan-kâi-ūe tiān-tiān, only one sentence. toan-kâi-nâng, a single man. to̍k-it chin-Sîn, the only one true God. to̍k-ma̍k, to̍k-chhiú, to̍k-kha, only a single eye, hand, or foot. ”

“ In the following examples, as the Chinese say, sí-jī chò-ua̍h-jī ēng, dead words are used as live ones. In each example following, the first Chinese word, or the first two or three words before the dash — are sí, as, sí-nâng—à-kàu-khiã, a dead man argues till he starts erect. The words, sí-nâng, are sí, for, says the scholar triumphantly, “How can a dead man argue at all? ”

“ I will obey you. hi-mōn chiang-lâi õi-tit chò-tōa-kuan, hoped that hereafter he might be come a great mandarin. lṳ́ chiang-lâi kâi-miân sĩ-phang, your future name will be fragrant. chiang-lâi sĩ-ũ chò-nîn, in the future how will it be? lṳ́ kâi-huân-ló àin-pièn-chò huan-hí, your sorrow shall be turned into joy. chí-kâi lîm-lîm-liáu, uá chiũ ji̍p-lâi sùan-tàn, when these (your words) are barely finished I will come in and continue the conversation. bõi-sún-tie̍h che̍k-tiâu thâu-môn, you will not be injured a hair of your head. ”

“ For example, were a foreigner giving a description of a building, he would imagine himself on the outside looking inward. But a Chinaman would be more than likely to imagine himself in the inside looking outward. ”

“ Before any man can him I am afraid I shall be beaten. lṳ́ būe-tàn, lṳ́ chiũ tie̍h soin pun-i phah. Before you can say anything you will first have been beaten by him. Pot’l lṳ́ õi-pun-i phah tie̍h-a-bõi? Can you be beaten by him or not? bõi pun nâng phah. He can’t be beaten by people. eng-kai pun nâng phah. It is necessary to be beaten. ēng-pun i phah chiũ pun-i phah. If it is needful to be beaten, then I will be beaten by him. Subj. uá a-sĩ khṳt-i phah. If I am beaten by him. uá a-sĩ pun nâng phah. If I am beaten by people. ”

“ There is usually no difficulty in apprehending the meaning. Two clauses or two sentences are spoken-in such close connection that the dependence expressed by the subjunctive ‘if’ is obvious. We have analogous expressions in English, such as, “No cure, no pay.” ”

“ Too much cannot be said in favor of this method of learning Chinese, for it enables one to follow a Chinaman in his thoughts, and furnishes the learner with the nouns and verbs appropriate to the topic in hand. ”

“ Khó and hó often represent the syllable ble. Bô is an equivalent for less; õi and bõi indicate the possession or absence of a quality, and, therefore, convert clauses and sentences into adjective phrases. Ũ and kâi are used in this connection.
chò-tit, practicable.—m̄-chò-tit, impracticable. khó-pí, comparable.—m̄-hó-pí, incomparable. khó-chhiè, laughable.—m̄-hó-chhiè, not laughable. khó-kièn, perceptible.—put-khó-kièn, imperceptible. hó-thóin, visible.—thóin-bõi-tit-kìn, invisible. hó-chia̍h, edible.—m̄-hó-chia̍h, not edible. khó-ín, practicable. khó-ùi, fearful. khó-sìn, credible. ”

“ As far as possible the more common definitions have been chosen, and where more than one definition follows a syllable, the definitions represent different characters of the same tone,
A a crow; or; a name prefix. á, to break off. à, to dispute. ”

“ It will be noticed further how the sound of the middle vowel more especially, is prolonged in quantity. In giving a lesson the teacher may exaggerate this a little, and the pupil will need to follow him. But when he comes to speak in ordinary conversation he will not be at all likely to drawl too much, while he will escape the huddling objected to. Some examples are given in illustration. The vowel is repeated to indicate the prolongation,
Variations in Pronunciation. ”

“ Among those are sêng, to accomplish, and hence it means to become; also pièn or pìn, and
uān, to change. thóin-chò-hó, I regard it as being good. thóin i chò-pù-nâng, I look upon him as being a rich man. chò-chèng-nâng tàn, as everybody says. i àin-chò-tōa, he wants to be great. i àin-chò-gâu, he wants to be wise. lia̍h-i chò-chha̍t, treat him as being a thief. pí-jũ-i chò-hṳ̂, compared him to being a fish. sêng-chò-nâng, to be a man. sêng-chò-gâu, to become wise. chò-pēn-nâng bõi-tit chhut-mn̂g, those who are sick cannot go out of doors. ”