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Expressing Duration in Penang Hokkien

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Having learned to express time, we next learn to express duration in Penang Hokkien.

Question Words related to Duration


  1. cor3 ku4 [tsɔ-ku] : how long (a time)
  2. ti3si2 [tsɔ-ku] : how long (a time), also pronounced ki3si2
  3. liau4 [liau] : already
  4. ceng2 [tseŋ] : ago

Short durations


  1. pnua3 [puã] : half

  2. miau4 [miau] : second(s)

  3. -leh3 ji3 [le-dzi] : minute(s), colloquial reading

  4. hun3ceng1 [hun-tseŋ] : minute(s), literary reading

  5. tiam1ceng1 [tiam-tseŋ] : hour

Long durations


  1. jit1 [dzit] : day
  2. meh2 [mɛ] : night
  3. leh1pai3 [le-pai] : week
  4. goay1 [goeʔ] : month
  5. ni2 [ni] : year

Questions & Answers


  1. Ie1 lai2 cor2 ku4?
    How long does he come?
    ("he - comes - how long")

  2. Ie1 lai2 nor3 jit1.
    He comes for two days.
    ("he - comes - two - days")

  3. Ee1 lai2 cor2 ku4?
    How long does she come?
    ("she - comes - how long")

  4. Ee1 lai2 snar3 tiam1ceng1 liau4.
    She came three hours already.
    ("she - came - three - hours - already")

  5. Ki3si2 ie1 lai2?
    When did he come?
    ("when - he - come ?")

  6. Ie1 lai2 pnua1 tiam1ceng1 liau4.
    He came half an hour already.
    ("He - came - half - hour - already")

  7. Ie1 lai2 cit3 tiam1ceng1 liau4.
    He came one hour already.
    ("He - came - one - hour - already")

  8. Ie1 lai2 cit3 tiam1ceng3 pnua3 liau4.
    He came one and a half hours already.
    ("He - came - one - hour - half - already")

  9. Ie1 lai2 kau1-leh3 ji3 liau4.
    He came 45 minutes already. (colloquial form)
    ("He - came - nine - classifier - words - already")

  10. Ie1 lai2 see1-cap3-gor3 hun3ceng1 liau4.
    He came 45 minutes already. (literary form)
    ("He - came - 45 - minutes - already")

  11. Ie1 lai2 snar3 jit3 ceng2.
    He came three days ago.
    ("He - came - three - days - ago")

  12. Ie1 lai2 teng1 leh1pai3.
    He came last week.
    ("He - came - previous - week")

  13. Ie1 lai2 teng1 goay1.
    He came last month.
    ("He - came - previous - month")

  14. Ie1 lai2 cit3 goay1 liau4.
    He came one month already.
    ("He - came - one - month - already")

  15. Ie1 lai2 cit3 ni3 ceng2.
    He came one year ago.
    ("He - came - one - year - ago")

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.

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