Building Sentences in Penang Hokkien
Go Back- Noun:
Man
Lang2
- Subject:
The man.
Heh1-leh1 lang2.
- Subject with modifier:
The old man.
Heh1-leh1 lau33* lang2.
* Tone 3 unsandiable morphemes are written with the tone 33. For details, read unsandiable morphemes.
- Sentence with predicative adjective:
The old man is happy.
Heh1-leh1 lau33 lang2 hnua3hee4.
- Sentence with predicative adjective:
The happy man is old.
Heh1-leh1 hnua3hee1* lang2 lau33.
- Sentence with predicative nominal:
The old man is my uncle.
Heh1-leh1 lau33 lang2 si33 wah4-eh3 pek3.
- Sentence with predicative nominal:
My uncle is the old man.
Wah4-eh3 pek3 si33 heh1-leh1 lau33 lang2.
- Sentence with intransitive verb:
The man sleeps.
Heh1-leh1 lang2 khoon3.
- Sentence with transitive verb and object:
The man eats rice.
Heh1-leh1 lang2 ciak3 pnui3.
- Sentence with question tag:
The man sleeps, doesn't he?
Heh1-leh1 lang2 khoon3 meh4?*
- Sentence with auxiliary verb:
The man can't sleep.
Heh1-leh1 lang2 be33 khoon3.
- Sentence with auxiliary verb and question tag:
The man can't sleep, can he?
Heh1-leh1 lang2 be33 khoon3 nia2?
- Sentence with question word:
Who sleeps?
cui33-cui33 khoon3?
- Sentence with subject-auxiliary inversion:
Does the man sleep?
Heh-leh1 lang2 khoon3 nia2?
- Sentence with subject-auxiliary inversion:
Can the man sleep?
Heh-leh1 lang2 e3 khoon3 boh2?
- Sentence with direct object:
The man sells books.
Heh-leh1 lang2 beh33 chaek3.
- Sentence with indirect object:
The man sells me books.
Heh-leh1 lang2 beh33 wah4 chaek3.
- Sentence with object of preposition:
The man put the book on the table.
Heh-leh1 lang2 haeh3 chaek3 ti1 tok1teng4.
- Imperative sentence:
Put the book on the table.
Haeh3 chaek3 ti1 tok1teng4.
- Imperative sentence with adverb:
Please put the book on the table.
To3long3 haeh3 chaek3 ti1 tok1teng4.
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You can also listen to the above lesson on YouTube. I noticed two minor typos in the video which I corrected on the webpage above and mark them out with *. My apologies for these typos.
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