Demonstratives in Penang Hokkien

In this lesson, we learn demonstratives. These are "words that point". In English, they include this, that, these and those. As there are no plural forms for these demonstratives (apart from adding "ka1liau4"), there are just two to learn:

Cit1-leh1 : this/these
Heh1-leh1 : that/those

The two demonstratives above can appear on their own, or as modifier to nouns.

For example, on their own:

Cit1-leh1 si33 tok1teng4.
This is table.

Heh1-leh1 si33 kau3ie4.
That is chair.

And as modifier to nouns:

Cit1-leh1 tok1teng4 si33 wah1-eh2.
This table is mine.

Heh1-leh1 kau3ie4 si33 lu1-eh2.
That chair is yours.

As cit1-leh1 and heh1-leh1 may refer to singular or plural nouns, to make certain that we are referring to the plural, we add either "ka1liau4" (all) or a classifier (which we shall learn in our subsequent lessons). Like this:

Cit1-leh1 gin1na4 khee3 heh1-leh1 ok3tng2.
This child/These children goes/go to that school.

Cit1-leh1 gin1na4 ka1liau4 khee3 heh1-leh1 ok3tng2.
All these children go to that school.

Cit1-leh1 nor33-leh3 gin1na4 khee3 heh1-leh1 ok3tng2.
These two children go to that school.

Cit1-leh1 and heh1-leh1 do not change their forms whether they appear as subject or object.

Cit1-leh1 si33 wah1-eh2.
This is mine.

Wah1-eh2 si33 cit1-leh1.
Mine is this.

A good news to share with you here is that there are no definite articles in Penang Hokkien. In other words, the word "the" doesn't exist in Penang Hokkien. When it is necessary to translate a sentence in English that has "the", use heh1-leh1 as the great stand in. In other words, heh1-leh1 is "that" but often stands in for "the".

The child goes to school.
Heh1-leh1 gin1na4 khee1 ok3tng2.

By the way, heh1-leh1 is the canonical form that I use. There are two other variants to heh1-leh1 which may be good to know. The alternative forms to ha1-leh1 and hi1-leh1. All mean the same thing, except some people prefer to pronounce it that way. Thus I accepted the variants into the Penang Hokkien lexicon.

Sounds simple? I hope so, for things are about to get a little more complicated in the next lesson, when I introduce to you the general classifier, leh2. Consider what we learn today as the gateway to the next lesson.

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