Basic Course: Lesson 20 Dialogue

The basic grammatical pattern for lessons 18 and 19 is the use of 得 ak to modify verbs. This lesson takes a few new words and builds on those previous lessons by looking at question structure.

1	A: 請問該間係唔係美國陸軍語言學校呀？	Tīng mùn kwọi gan hài m̈-hài Mị-Gwōk Lùk-Gun Ngụi-Ngün Hòk-Hàu* a?
	B: 係呀，該間係美國陸軍語言學校。	Hài a, kwọi gan hài Mị-Gwōk Lùk-Gun Ngụi-Ngün Hòk-Hàu*.
	A: 黃先生，唔好意思。令你等嗲該久。	Wöng Lhing-Sang, m̈-hō yi-lhu. Lìng ni āng-e kwọi gīu.
	B: 唔緊要，唔緊要。我來嗲冇幾久喲。	M̈-gīn-yiau, m̈-gīn-yiau. Ngoi löi-a mo-gī-gīu yiak.
2	A: 佢講唔講得快呀？	Kui gōng m̈-gōng-ak fai a?
	B: 快，佢講得快。	Fai, kui gōng-ak fai.
3	A: 佢講唔講得清楚呢？	Kui gōng m̈-gōng-ak ting-chō nē?
	B: 唔清楚，佢唔講得清楚。	M̈-ting-chō, kui m̈-gōng-ak ting-chō.
4	A: 你行唔行得快呀？	Ni häng m̈-häng-ak fai a?
	B: 快，我行得快。	Fai, ngoi häng-ak fai.
5	A: 佢吃唔吃得多呢？	Kui hiak m̈-hiak-ak u nē?
	B: 唔多，佢唔吃得多。	M̈-u, kui m̈-hiak-ak u.
6	A: 你起身起唔起得早呀？	Ni hī sin hī m̈-hī-ak dō a?
	B: 早，我起身起得早。	Dō, ngoi hī sin hī-ak dō.
7	A: 佢講說話講唔講得清楚呀？	Kui gōng sut-wà gōng m̈-gōng-ak ting-chō a?
	B: 唔清楚，佢講說話唔講得清楚。	M̈-ting-chō, kiu gōng sut-wà m̈-gōng-ak ting-chō.
8	A: 你着衫着唔着得快呀？	Ni jiak sạm jiak m̈-jiak-ak fai a?
	B: 快，我着衫着得快。	Fai, ngoi jiak sạm jiak-ak fai.
9	A: 佢飲酒飲唔飲得多。	Kui ngīm dīu ngīm m̈-ngīm-ak u nē?
	B: 唔多，佢飲酒唔飲得多。	M̈-u, kui ngīm dīu m̈-ngīm-ak u.
10	A: 對唔住，對唔住，黃先生，我來遲嗲。	Ui m̈-jì, ui m̈-jì, Wöng Lhing-Sang, ngoi löi chï e.
	B: 唔緊要，唔緊要，我亦係正話來喲。	M̈-gīn-yiau, m̈-gīn-yiau, ngoi yìak-hài jing-wà löi yìak.

This lesson brings together the V 唔 V formula used to ask yes-or-no questions (see lesson 11) along with the adverbial 得 ak structure covered in the previous two lessons.

V 唔 V 得 + Adj

When the verb appears without an object, then the above structure is used, combining the V 唔 V formula and adding 得 ak to the last verb. Here are two examples from the dialogue:

佢講唔講得清楚呢？
Kui gōng m̈-gōng-ak ting-chō nē?
“Does he speak clearly?”

佢吃唔吃得多呢？
Kui hiak m̈-hiak-ak u nē?
“Does he eat a lot?”

The appropriate “yes” or “no” response is to reply with the adjective, thus 清楚 ting-chō for “yes (he speaks clearly)” or 唔清楚 m̈-ting-chō for “no (he doesn’t speak clearly).”

V + Object + V 唔 V 得 + Adj

As discussed in the previous lesson, things get messy when the verb is followed by an object (e.g. “speak Taishanese” or “do business”). In order to add 得 to the verb, the verb is repeated after the object. Now you have two verbs in the sentence—on which do you choose to apply the V 唔 V structure from lesson 11?

You choose the second. This means you will have a sentence with the verb repeated three times! It’s pretty cool (or crazy, depending on your perspective). Here are a couple examples from the dialogue:

佢起身起唔起得早呀？
Kui hī sin hī m̈-hī-ak dō a?
“Does he wake up early?”

你着衫着唔着得快呀？
Ni jiak sạm jiak m̈-jiak-ak fai a?
“Do you get dressed quickly?”

The proper response, as in the previous set of examples, is to reply with the adjective to indicate “yes” or “no.”

Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts or questions in the comments section—especially if you notice a typo or error!

Basic Course: Lesson 19 Dialogue

This lesson picks up right about where lesson 18 left off. There are some new words in lesson 19, but otherwise the vocabulary should be familiar from previous lessons.

1	A: 請問你貴姓呀？	Tīng mùn ni gwi lhing a?
	B: 我姓黃，我喊做黃二。你貴姓名呀？	Ngoi lhing Wöng, ngoi ham du Wöng-Ngì. Ni gui lhing mïng a?
	A: 我姓張，我喊做張三。	Ngoi lhing Jiang, ngoi ham du Jiang Lham.
2	A: 你讀書讀得幾妥樣呀？	Ni ùk si ùk-ak gī-họ-yiạng* a?
	B: 我讀書讀得好忙。	Ngoi ùk si ùk-ak hō möng.
3	A: 我講台山話講得幾妥樣呀？	Ngoi gōng Höi-San wà* gōng-ak gī-họ-yịang* nē?
	B: 你講台山話講得好好。	Ni gōng Höi-San wà* gōng-ak hō hō.
4	A: 陳先生教書教得幾妥樣呀？	Chïn Lhing-Sang gau si gau-ak gī-họ-yịang* a?
	B: 陳先生教書教得非常之好。	Chïn Lhing-Sang gau si gau-ak fi-sïang ji hō.
5	A: 該時你做生意做得好嗎？	Kwọi-sị* ni du sang-yi du-ak hō ma?
	B: 唔好，該時我做生意做得唔好。	M̈-hō, kwọi-sị* ngoi du sang-yi du-ak m̈-hō.
6	A: 昨晚你瞓得好嗎？	Dok-mạn* ni fun-ak hō ma?
	B: 好，昨晚我瞓得好好。	Hō, dok-mạn ngoi fun-ak hō hō.
7	A: 你個學生寫中文字寫得靚唔靚呀？	Ni gwoi hòk-sang lhē Jung-Mün dù lhē-ak liang m̈-liang a?
	B: 靚，我個學生寫得文字寫得好靚。	Liang, ngoi gwoi hòk-sang lhē Jung-Mün dù lhē-ak hō liang.
8	A: 你個細佬駛車駛得快唔快呀？	Ni gwoi lhai-lō sōi che sōi-ak fai m̈-fai a?
	B: 快，我個細佬駛車駛得快得逮。	Fai, ngoi gwoi lhai-lō sōi che sōi-ak fai-ak-dài.
9	A: 你個女朋友行路行得慢唔慢呢？	Ni gwoi nūi päng-yịu häng lù häng-ak màn m̈-màn nē?
	B: 慢，我個女朋友行路行慢得逮。	Màn, ngoi gwoi nūi päng-yịu häng lù häng màn-ak-dài.
10	A: 請坐喲，黃先生。	Tīng tu yi, Wöng Lhing-Sang.
	B: 唔使拘囉，李先生。	M̈-sōi kui lō, Lī Lhing-Sang.

A quick orthographic note before moving onto the key grammar point—in line 6, the basic course uses a novel character formed of a 口 radical plus 宕 to indicate dọng as in dọng mạn, which I prefer to transcribe as 昨晚. (Intrestingly enough, the transcription on page 82 is dok instead of dọng, as the character would suggest.)

V + Object + V得 + Adj

In the dialogue for lesson 18, I pointed out three examples from the text of how to make phrases in Taishanese that correspond to adverbs in English. I’ve repasted the examples below, which use the verbs 講 gōng, 教 gau and 讀 ùk.

講得清楚 gōng-ak ting-chō “speak clearly”
教得明白 gau-ak mïng-bàk “teach understandably”
讀得勤力 ùk-ak kïn-lìk “study diligently”

To recap from the previous lesson, where English follows the general pattern of VERB + ADJECTIVE + “-ly” (more or less), Taishanese uses the construction of VERB + 得 ak + ADJECTIVE. Importantly, 得 ak must be immediately next to the verb. I’ll refer to the requirement that the verb and 得 ak be adjacent as the “adjacency requirement.”

In the examples above, the verbs appear without an object. But when the verb is followed by an object, where do we put 得 ak?

The solution is to repeat the verb at the end of the phrase and to place 得 ak after the repeated verb, as in the examples below from the current dialogue.

講台山話講得好好 gōng Höi-San wà* gōng-ak hō hō “speak Taishanese well”
教書教得非常之好 gau-si gau-ak fi-sïang ji hō “teach extraordinarily well”
讀書讀得好忙 ùk-si ùk-ak hō möng “study busily”
做生意做得唔好 du sang-yi du-ak m̈-hō “do business poorly”
寫中文字寫得好靚 lhē Jung-Mün dù lhē-ak hō liang “write Chinese characters beautifully”

Of course, there is an exception, as you see in line 9b.

我個女朋友行路行慢得逮。
Ngoi gwoi nūi päng-yịu häng-lù häng màn-ak-dài.
“My girlfriend walks too slowly.”

According to the adjacency requirement, we would expect to see 得 ak between 行 häng and 慢 màn. I have no personal intuition as to why this is the case. I hope some of my more knowledgable (not to mention more thoughtful) readers can provide some input on this. What do you think?

As always, if you see a correction that needs to be made—or have any other thoughts you’d like to share—please let me know in the comments section below!