Verb Suffixes in Penang Hokkien

A list of suffixes in the new romanised system of writing Penang Hokkien. These suffixes are attached directly to nouns without hyphen. The verb to which these suffixes are added may be in the citation form or sandhi form, depending on circumstances.

Where the verb is in the citation form, you should place a hyphen between the said verb and the suffix, to indicate that the verb has not undergone tone sandhi. If the verb is in the sandhi form, it is fine to join together the verb and the suffix.

tiok1 著
Tiok1 is suffixed to verb to mean "unintentionally", "accidentally" or "managed to".

Wah1 that3 ie1. I kicked him. (intentionally)
Wah1 that3-tiok3 ie1. I accidentally kicked him. (unintentionally)

Wah1 liak3 hu2. I catch fish.
Wah1 liak3tiok3 hu2. I manage to catch fish. (regular form)
Wah1 liak1-tiok3 hu2. I manage to catch fish. (emphatic form)

koay3 過
Koay3 is suffixed to verbs to mean "to have done it before".

Wah1 ciak3 sushi. I eat sushi.
Wah1 ciak3koay3 sushi. I have eaten sushi before. (regular form)
Wah1 ciak1-koay3 sushi. I have eaten sushi before. (emphatic form)

Penang Hokkien Grammar

Learn Penang Hokkien with Memrise

Now you can use the most user-friendly tool on the web to learn Penang Hokkien. It helps you to listen, understand and memorise. Go to Memrise, and learn Penang Hokkien at your own pace.

Return to Penang Hokkien Resources

Songs about Penang

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.