Money in Penang Hokkien

1.0 As our daily life is consumed by the use of money, it is necessary for learners to know how to express money in Penang Hokkien.

2.0 As with time, Penang Hokkien also has its own units of measure for money that do not correspond exactly to English (and is closer to Malay).

• khor1 [k^hɔ]: (noun) ringgit
  
  
• lui1 [lui]: (noun) money, sen
  
  
• puat1 [puat]: (noun) unit of currency measure in multiples of 10 sen
  
  

2.1 The word lui1 can mean "money" in general, or "sen" in particular. Therefore, "5 sen" is gor33* lui1, while "I don't have money" is "wah4 boh3 lui1".

* Tone 3 unsandiable morphemes are written with the tone 33. For details, read unsandiable morphemes.

2.2 The word "puat1" means 10 sen. It is used for sen in the multiples of ten. So, "20 sen" is "nor33 puat1". However, "25 sen" is expressed as "jee33-cap3-gor33 lui1".

2.3 Ringgit is khor1. One ringgit is cit3 khor1. When placed in front of khor1, lui1 and puat1, numbers behave like adjectives, and so those that are irregular words sandhi to the modified form. For example, cit1 becomes cit3 in cit3 khor1, cit3 puat1 and cit3 lui1.

2.4 The word cit1 is usually dropped when expressing one dollar and followed by smaller amount. The same goes with the cit1 in hundred and thousand. The cit1 is only expressed when it is a full amount, such as RM1 (cit3 khor1), RM100 (cit3-pak1 khor1), RM1000 (cit1-cheng3 khor1) and so on.

2.5 "50 sen" is gor33 puat1 (it's never spoken as gor33-cap3 lui1). However, RM1.50 is expressed as khor3 pnua3, never as khor1 gor33 puat1. The word pnua3 (which I first mentioned in the chapter on time) also means "half", so khor3 pnua3 can be translated literally as one-and-a-half ringgit.

When expressed with ringgit, the word puat1 and lui1 are usually dropped. Therefore RM1.20 is khor3 jee33 (note the pronunciation, it's not khor1 jee33, as the word khor1 sandhis), RM2.60 is nor33 khor3 lark1

Counting Money

The following is a list of examples of how money is expressed in Penang Hokkien.

RM0.01 = cit3 lui1
RM0.05 = gor33 lui1
RM0.10 = cit3 puat1
RM0.20 = nor33 puat1
RM0.25 = jee33-cap3-gor33 lui1
RM1.00 = cit3 khor1
RM1.10 = khor3 it3
RM1.20 = khor3 jee33
RM1.30 = khor3 snar1
RM1.95 = (cit3) khor1 kau1-cap3-gor33 (lui1)
RM2.00 = nor1 khor1
RM3.00 = snar3 khor1
RM4.10 = see1 khor3 it3
RM4.20 = see1 khor3 jee33
RM4.25 = see1 khor1 jee33-gor33
RM5.30 = gor33 khor3 snar1
RM5.50 = gor33 khor3 pnua3
RM6.50 = lark3 khor3 pnua3
RM7.55 = chit1 khor1 gor33-cap3-gor33
RM7.60 = chit1 khor3 lark1
RM7.65 = chit1 khor1 lark3-cap3-gor33
RM11.00 = cap3-it1 khor1
RM11.10 = cap3-it1 khor3 it1
RM12.20 = cap3-jee2 khor3 jee33
RM13.30 = cap3-snar3 khor3 snar1
RM14.40 = cap3-see1 khor3 see3
RM15.50 = cap3-gor33 khor3 pnua3
RM16.60 = cap3-lark3 khor3 lark1
RM17.70 = cap3-chit1 khor3 chit1
RM18.80 = cap1-pek1 khor3 peik3
RM19.90 = cap3-kau1 khor3 kau4
RM20.00 = jee33 cap3 khor1
RM30.00 = snar3 cap3 khor1
RM40.00 = see1 cap3 khor1
RM50.00 = gor33 cap3 khor1
RM55.50 = gor33-cap3-gor33 khor3 pnua3
RM60.00 = lark3-cap3 khor1
RM70.00 = chit1-cap3 khor1
RM80.00 = pek1-cap3 khor1
RM90.00 = kau1-cap3 khor1
RM100 = cit3-pak1 khor1
RM101 = cit3-pak1-khong1-it1 khor1
RM105 = cit3-pak1-khong1-gor33 khor1
RM110 = pak1-it3 also pak1-it1 khor1
RM120 = pak1-jee33 also cit3-pak1-jee33-cap3 khor1
RM123 = cit3-pak1-jee33-cap3-snar3 khor1
RM130 = pak1-snar1 also cit3-pak1-snar3-cap3 khor1
RM135 = cit3-pak1 snar3-cap3-gor33 khor1
RM150 = pak1-gor33 also cit3-pak1-gor33-cap3 khor1
RM160 = pak1-lark1 also cit3-pak1-lark3-cap3 khor1
RM170 = pak1-cit3 also cit3-pak1-cit1-cap3 khor1
RM180 = pak1-peik3 also cit3-pak1-peik1-cap3 khor1
RM190 = pak1-kau4 also cit3-pak1-kau1-cap3 khor1
RM200 = nor33-pak1 khor1
RM220 = nor33-pak1-jee33 also nor33-pak1-jee33-cap3 khor1
RM300 = snar3-pak1 khor1
RM370 = snar3-pak1-chit3 also snar3-pak1-chit1-cap3 khor1
RM400 = see3-pak1 khor1
RM410 = see3-pak1-cap1 also see3-pak1-it3 also see1-pak1-cap3 khor1
RM1000 = cit3-cheng3 khor1
RM1500 = cheng3-gor33 khor1
RM2000.03 = nor33-cheng3 khor1 snar3 lui1
RM2500 = nor33-cheng1-gor33-pak1 khor1
RM10,000 = cit3-bahn3 khor1 also cap3-cheng3 khor1
RM45,000 = see1-cap3-gor33-cheng3 khor1
RM100,000 = cit3-pak1-cheng3 khor1 also cap3-ban3 khor1
RM125,000 = cit3-pak1-jee33-cap3-gor33-cheng3 khor1
RM300,000 = snar3-pak1-cheng3 khor1 also snar3-cap3-ban3 khor1
RM1,000,000 = cit3-pak1-ban3 khor1

Penang Hokkien Grammar

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