Basic Course: Lesson 14 Dialogue

This dialogue has two key words to pay attention to: 到 o “at” and 該 kwọi “this” or kwọi* “here.” If you aren’t familiar with the words in the dialogue below, you can check out the translations in the lesson fourteen vocabulary list.

1	A: 你吃煙嗎？	Ni hiak yien* ma?
	B: 多謝，多謝。我吃煙。	U-dè, u-dè. Ngoi m̈-hiak yien*.
2	A: 陳先生到該嗎？	Chïn Lhing-Sang o kwọi* ma?
	B: 到該，陳先生到該。	O kwọi*, Chïn Lhing-Sang o kwọi*.
3	A: 李小姐該時到該嗎？	Lī Lhīau-dē kwọi-sị* o kwọi* ma?
	B: 唔到該，李小姐該時唔到該。	M̈-o kwọi*, Lī Lhīau-dē kwọi-sị* m̈-o kwọi*.
4	A: 黄先生個朋友到唔到該呀？	Wöng Lhing-Sang gwoi päng-yịu o m̈-o kwọi* a?
	B: 到該，黄先生個朋友到該。	O-kwọi*, Wöng Lhing-Sang gwoi päng-yịu o kwọi*.
5	A: 李夫人個父親現在到唔到該呢？	Lī Fu-Ngịn* gwoi fù-tin yìen-dòi o m̈-o kwọi* nē?
	B: 唔到該，李夫人個父親現在唔到該。	M̈-o kwọi*, Lī Fu-Ngịn* gwoi fù-tin yìen-dòi m̈-o kwọi*.
6	A: 黄小姐個母親到乃呀？	Wöng Lhīau-dē gwoi mụ-tin o nại* a?
	B: 黄小姐個母親到嚀。	Wöng Lhīau-dē gwoi mụ-tin o nịng*.
7	A: 你個女該時到乃呀？	Ni gwoi nūi kwọi-sị* o nại* nē?
	B: 我個女該時到該。	Ngoi gwoi nūi kwọi-sị* o kwọi*.
8	A: 佢個仔幾時到該呀？	Kui gwoi dōi gi-sị* o kwọi* a?
	B: 佢個仔今日到該。	Kui gwoi dōi gim-ngìt o kwọi*.
9	A: 你個女朋友今日幾時到該呢？	Ni gwoi nūi päng-yịu gim-ngìt gi-sị* o kwọi* nē?
	B: 我個女朋友今日下午到該。	Ngoi gwoi nūi päng-yịu gim-ngìt hà-ṇg o kwọi*.
10	A: 到我該吃餐便飯，好嗎？	O ngoi kwọi* hiak tan bìng fàn, hō ma?
	B: 唔好囉。多謝嘥囉。唔好客氣囉。	M̈-hō lō. U-dè-lhai lo. M̈-hō hak-hi lō.

In the above dialogue, the word 到 o means either “at” or “to be at.” This word has several other meanings, but these other meanings are not important one for the purpose of this lesson.

We first encountered the word 該 kwọi “this” in lesson four. In this dialogue the word appears in the term 該時 kwọi-sị* “now” (literally, “this time”).

You also see the term used to mean “here”—but with a different tone. The tone of kwọi is low-falling, while the tone of kwọi* “here” is low-dipping; it begins low-falling, then rises to the same pitch as a high tone. In a numeric transcription of Chao’s tone letters, this tone could be transcribed: 215.

The word 該 kwọi* can also indicate a place. In example 10, the word 該 kwọi* is part of the expression 我該 ngoi kwọi*, meaning “my place.”

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