In this chapter, we'll learn the word 'person' and how to use it.
Firstly, the word 'person' in Chinese is '人', said as 'ngin2'.
Let's say that we want to say 'man' or 'woman'. The character that usually symbolises femininity is '女', said as 'n3'. However, if we wanted to symbolise that this female was in fact a human person, you would put '人' next to it; '女人', therefore being '女個' in Hakka, said as 'n3 ge4'.
We use the '個' instead of '人' in Hakka when next to a word that describes what that person is.
(Note that 'person' in Hakka is not '個' - '個' is used as a substitute for 'person' in that specific context. In all another contexts, use '人'. )
Same for 'man'. The general character for 'male' is '男', said as 'nam3'. Again, when representing an actual human being as male, you would write '男人' (said as '男個').
Let's do a few more examples. If you were to say 'good person', you would write '好人'. If you were to say 'beautiful person', you would write '美人' - and so on. Remember to use 'ge4', when saying it in Hakka.
YOU ARE READING
|| reconstructing meixian hakka: learning the dialect of southern china
No Ficción'Reconstructing Meixian Hakka: Learning the Dialect of Southern China' is a book rotated around learning the language and having an introduction on how Hakka is structured grammatically in modern China. Reading this book is a must if you want to lea...
