Learn Numbers in Penang Hokkien
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Numbers in Penang Hokkien (7 August, 2016)
Reading 1
It's after school. Sham and Jimmy are at Jimmy's home. They are in his room.Sham kah1 Jimmy ti1 Jimmy-eh3 chu3.
Sham ka33 Jimmy kong4, "Kin3jit1 lu1 ai1 ka3 wah4 ha1mik1?" Jimmy mui3 Sham, "Kin3jit1 lu1 ai1 ok3 ha1mik1?"
Sham kong4, "Ka3 wah4 ho33bae4."
"E33sai4," Jimmy kong4.
"Toay3 wah1 kong4: cit1, nor33, snar1, see3, gor33, lark1, chit3, pek3, kau4, cap1." "Cit1 pun1 e33 kio3 it3, nor33 pun1 e33 kio3 jee33."
"Ti33si2 kio1 cit1, ti33si2 kio1 it3?"
"Wah4 khah1 ka33 lu1 kong4."
"Cit3 por3 cit3 por3 lai2." "Tan4 cit3 ae33," Sham kong4.
"Zero Hok1kien1 wa33 kio3 ha1mik1?" "Zero kio1 khong3."
Reading 1 Vocabulary
Now let's look at the words used in the above conversation.- kah1 and
- ti1 at
- eh2 's (to show possession)
Example:
Jimmy's house (Jimmy-eh3 chu3).
Eh2 is always hyphenated to the possessor and sandhied to -eh3 if it is followed by the object. If no object is present, then it is not hyphenated, and remains as eh2.
Example:
Whose house? Jimmy's. (Cui33-cui33-eh3 chu3? Jimmy eh2.) - chu3 house
- ka33 with, to
Depending on context, ka33 can be translated as "with", and sometimes "to". - kong4 say
On its own, "kong4" means "to say", but in constructions such as "ka33 (someone) kong4", it means "to tell (someone)". - kin3jit1 today
- ai3 want, desire
The Penang Hokkien word ai3 shares the same Chinese character, 愛, as the Mandarin word "to love". However, its degree of desire is less than that of to love, and so it is translated as "to want". - ka3 teach
Note that ka3 (to teach) and ka33 (with, to) sound the same but carry different meanings. - ha1mik1 what
- mui ask
- ok1 learn
We learned this word in the previous lesson. In regular sentences, it sandhies to ok3 if followed by an object or ha1mik1.
Examples:
What do you want to learn? (Lu1 ai1 ok3 ha1mik1?)
I want to learn Hokkien. (Wah1 ai1 ok3 Hok1kien1 wa33.) - ho33bae4 numbers
There is no singular or plural in Penang Hokkien, so ho33bae4 can be translated as "number" or "numbers" depending on context. - e33sai4 can, okay
- toay3 follow
Examples:
Say with me. (Toay3 wah1 kong4.)
Do as I do. (Toay3 wah1 co3.) - cit1 one
- nor33 two
- snar1 three
- see1 four
- gor33 five
- lark1 six
- chit3 seven
- pek3 eight
- kau4 nine
- cap1 ten
- it3 one
It3 is actually the "literary reading" of cit1, but to keep things simple, let's just say that "one" can be expressed as "cit1" and "it3"; we will learn when to use which. If you are interested to know more about numbers, go to the chapter on Numbers in Penang Hokkien to take a look. - jee33 two
Jee33 is also the alternative word for "nor33"; we will learn when to use which. - khong3 zero
- pun4 also
The word pun4 usually sandhies to pun1 unless it is the last word of a sentence. - e33 can, possible
You can use e33 and e33sai4 almost interchangeably. However, their meanings are not exactly the same. Although both can be translated as "can", e33 edges towards "having the ability to do something" while e33sai4 is "having permission to do something."
Examples:
He can eat five eggs.(Ie1 e33 ciak1 gor33-liap3 nui33.)
He can come in now. (Ie1 e33sai1 jip1 lai2 liau4.) - kio3 call
- ti33si2 when
- khah1 will
The word "khah" presents a future action, similar to future tense. - por3 step
- lai2 come
Although literally translated as "to come", lai2 often appears at the end of sentences to mean "does it". So, "cit3 por3 cit3 por3 lai2" can be translated loosely as "step by step does it". - tan4 wait
- ae33 moment
You can use the phrase "tan4 cit3 ae33" to say "hold on", "hang on", "wait a moment", etc.
Reading 2
So far, we have learned numbers 0 to 10. Now let's learn 11 to 19.11
cap3-it3Note: it's cap3-it3, not cap3-cit1. All numbers are hyphened together.
12
cap3-jee33Note: it's cap3-jee33, not cap3-nor33.
13
cap3-snar114
cap3-see315
cap3-gor3316
cap3-lark117
cap3-chit318
cap3-pek319
cap3-kau4Numbers from 20 to 29.
20
jee33-cap1Note: it's jee33-cap1, not nor33-cap1.
21
jee33-cap3-it3Note: cap1 sandhies to cap3 to take a numeral behind it.
22
jee33-cap3-jee3323
jee33-cap3-snar124
jee33-cap3-see325
jee33-cap3-gor3326
jee33-cap3-lark127
cap3-lark128
jee33-cap3-pek329
jee33-cap3-kau4Numbers in the tens are regular, in that you just need to end them with -cap1.
30
snar3-cap140
see1-cap160
lark3-cap190
kau1-cap1Numbers 31 to 99 are built the same way as 20 to 29. For example:
31
snar3-cap3-it342
see1-cap3-jee3359
gor33-cap3-kau4Numbers in the hundreds are also regular. Simply end each with -pak3.
100
cit3-pak3200
nor33-pak3300
snar3-pak3400
see1-pak3700
chit3-pak3900
kau1-pak3Numbers from 101 to 999. Note that if the number ends in tens, it can be shortened in informal speech.
101
cit3-pak1-khong1-it3102
cit3-pak1-khong1-jee33105
cit3-pak1-khong1-gor33110
cit3-pak3-cap3, informally as pak3-cap3113
cit3-pak1-cap3-snar1120
cit3-pak3-jee33-cap3, informally as pak3-jee33124
cit3-pak1-jee33-cap3-see3208
nor33-pak1-khong1-pek3270
nor33-pak1-chit1-cap1, informally as nor33-pak1-chit3550
gor33-pak1-gor33-cap1, informally as gor33-pak1-gor33Numbers in the thousands end with cheng1.
1000
cit3-cheng12000
nor33-cheng18000
pek1-cheng1Numbers 1001 to 9999. Note that if the number ends in the hundreds, it can be shortened in informal speech.
1001
cit3-cheng1-khong1-khong1-it3, can also say cit3-cheng1-khong1-it31010
cit3-cheng1-cap11025
cit3-cheng1-jee33-cap3-gor331100
cit3-cheng1-cit3-pak3, informally as cheng3-it31101
cit3-cheng1-cit3-pak1-khong1-it31102
cit3-cheng1-cit3-pak1-khong1-jee331200
cit3-cheng1 nor33-pak3*, informally as cheng3-jee331300
cit3-cheng1 snar3-pak3*, informally as cheng3-snar1* Note that where there is a pause, the word in front of the pause is in the citation tone. So, 1200 is "cit3-cheng1 nor33-pak3", not "cit3-cheng3-nor33-pak3."
1301
cit3-cheng1-snar3-pak1-it31421
cit3-cheng1-see1-pak1-jee33-cap3-it33600
snar3-cheng1 lark3-pak3, informally as snar3-cheng3-lark13607
snar3-cheng1 lark3-pak1-khong1-chit33670
snar3-cheng1 lark3-pak1-chit1-cap1, informally as snar3-cheng3-lark3-pak1-chit3Numbers in the ten thousands.
10,000 can be expressed as
cit3-ban33 as well as cap3-cheng130,000 can be expressed as
snar3-ban33 as well as snar3-cap3-cheng190,000 can be expressed as
kau1-ban33 as well as kau1-cap3-cheng1Large numbers are often expressed as multiples of ten thousands, rather than multiples of thousands, although both are acceptable.
100,000 can be expressed as
cap3-ban33 as well as cit3-pak1-cheng1210,000 can be expressed as
jee33-cap3-it1-ban33 as well as nor33-pak1-cap3-cheng1If every digit has a value, it is more common to use cheng1. Take a pause at the comma.
467,931 can be expressed as
see1-pak1-lark3-cap3-chit1-cheng1 kau1-park1-snar3-cap3-it3502,000 can be expressed as
gor33-pak1-khong1-jee33-cheng1The millions are often the highest numbers in common use.
1,000,000 can be expressed as
cit3-pak1-ban337,000,000 can be expressed as
chit3-pak1-ban33
Uttering digits
When uttering digits, for example year or telephone numbers, use the digits khong3, it3, jee33, snar1, see3, gor33, lark1, chit3, pek3 and kau4. Note that if there is mention of a word such as ni2 (year), the final digit sandhis.Year 2018
jee33-khong3-it1-pek1-ni2Year 1983
it1-kau4-pek1-snar3-ni2226 1417
jee33-jee33-lark1 it1-see3-it1-chit3012 456 8891
khong1-it1-jee33 see1-gor33-lark1 pek1-pek1-kau1-it3
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