Learn numbers in Penang Hokkien

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?" Sham said to Jimmy, 'What do you want to teach me today?'

Jimmy mui3 Sham, "Kin3jit1 lu1 ai1 ok3 ha1mik1?" Jimmy asked Sham, 'What do you want to learn today?'

Sham kong4, "Ka3 wah4 ho33bae4." Sham said, 'Teach me numbers.'

"E33sai4," Jimmy kong4. 'Okay,' said Jimmy.

"Toay3 wah1 kong4: cit1, nor33, snar1, see3, gor33, lark1, chit3, pek3, kau4, cap1." 'Say with me: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.'

"Cit1 pun1 e33 kio3 it3, nor33 pun1 e33 kio3 jee33." 'Cit1 can also be called it3, nor33 can also be called jee33.'

"Ti33si2 kio1 cit1, ti33si2 kio1 it3?" 'When (do we say) cit1, when (do we say) it3?'

"Wah4 khah1 ka33 lu1 kong4." I will tell you.

"Cit3 por3 cit3 por3 lai2." Sham said, 'Step by step.' (literally: one step one step come)

"Tan4 cit3 ae33," Sham kong4. 'Hang on,' said Sham. (literally: wait one moment)

"Zero Hok1kien1 wa33 kio3 ha1mik1?" How to say zero in Hokkien?

"Zero kio1 khong3." Zero is called 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-it3
Note: it's cap3-it3, not cap3-cit1. All numbers are hyphened together.

12

cap3-jee33
Note: it's cap3-jee33, not cap3-nor33.

13

cap3-snar1

14

cap3-see3

15

cap3-gor33

16

cap3-lark1

17

cap3-chit3

18

cap3-pek3

19

cap3-kau4

Numbers from 20 to 29.

20

jee33-cap1
Note: it's jee33-cap1, not nor33-cap1.

21

jee33-cap3-it3
Note: cap1 sandhies to cap3 to take a numeral behind it.

22

jee33-cap3-jee33

23

jee33-cap3-snar1

24

jee33-cap3-see3

25

jee33-cap3-gor33

26

jee33-cap3-lark1

27

cap3-lark1

28

jee33-cap3-pek3

29

jee33-cap3-kau4

Numbers in the tens are regular, in that you just need to end them with -cap1.

30

snar3-cap1

40

see1-cap1

60

lark3-cap1

90

kau1-cap1

Numbers 31 to 99 are built the same way as 20 to 29. For example:

31

snar3-cap3-it3

42

see1-cap3-jee33

59

gor33-cap3-kau4

Numbers in the hundreds are also regular. Simply end each with -pak3.

100

cit3-pak3

200

nor33-pak3

300

snar3-pak3

400

see1-pak3

700

chit3-pak3

900

kau1-pak3

Numbers from 101 to 999. Note that if the number ends in tens, it can be shortened in informal speech.

101

cit3-pak1-khong1-it3

102

cit3-pak1-khong1-jee33

105

cit3-pak1-khong1-gor33

110

cit3-pak3-cap3, informally as

pak3-cap3

113

cit3-pak1-cap3-snar1

120

cit3-pak3-jee33-cap3, informally as

pak3-jee33

124

cit3-pak1-jee33-cap3-see3

208

nor33-pak1-khong1-pek3

270

nor33-pak1-chit1-cap1, informally as

nor33-pak1-chit3

550

gor33-pak1-gor33-cap1, informally as

gor33-pak1-gor33

Numbers in the thousands end with cheng1.

1000

cit3-cheng1

2000

nor33-cheng1

8000

pek1-cheng1

Numbers 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-it3

1010

cit3-cheng1-cap1

1025

cit3-cheng1-jee33-cap3-gor33

1100

cit3-cheng1-cit3-pak3, informally as

cheng3-it3

1101

cit3-cheng1-cit3-pak1-khong1-it3

1102

cit3-cheng1-cit3-pak1-khong1-jee33

1200

cit3-cheng1 nor33-pak3*, informally as

cheng3-jee33

1300

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-it3

1421

cit3-cheng1-see1-pak1-jee33-cap3-it3

3600

snar3-cheng1 lark3-pak3, informally as

snar3-cheng3-lark1

3607

snar3-cheng1 lark3-pak1-khong1-chit3

3670

snar3-cheng1 lark3-pak1-chit1-cap1, informally as

snar3-cheng3-lark3-pak1-chit3

Numbers in the ten thousands.

10,000 can be expressed as

cit3-ban33 as well as

cap3-cheng1

30,000 can be expressed as

snar3-ban33 as well as

snar3-cap3-cheng1

90,000 can be expressed as

kau1-ban33 as well as

kau1-cap3-cheng1

Large 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-cheng1

210,000 can be expressed as

jee33-cap3-it1-ban33 as well as

nor33-pak1-cap3-cheng1

If 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-it3

502,000 can be expressed as

gor33-pak1-khong1-jee33-cheng1

The millions are often the highest numbers in common use.

1,000,000 can be expressed as

cit3-pak1-ban33

7,000,000 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-ni2

Year 1983

it1-kau4-pek1-snar3-ni2

226 1417

jee33-jee33-lark1 it1-see3-it1-chit3

012 456 8891

khong1-it1-jee33 see1-gor33-lark1 pek1-pek1-kau1-it3

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