to show that the action is turned back upon the agent, as "I hurt myself". Hence "Own" is indicated by the addition of gì to cê-gă.
6. Giāng 仔 is an expression used for the diminutive of persons or things; hence we have dòng-buŏ-giāng 唐晡仔 and cṳ̆-niòng-giāng 諸娘仔 literally "little man" and "little woman" meaning "boy" and "girl". Giāng 仔 by itself, means "child", and is generally used with the meaning of "son", though dòng-buŏ-giāng is the more accurate form. A Chinese generally only reckons his sons as his children, (girls not counting).
7. The name of a person generally precedes his title. Mr. Li, Lī Sĭng-săng 李先生. The last sounds are elided and pronounced sĭnăng.
8. There is nothing to indicate by the form of a noun itself, whether it is in the singular or plural. Thus nè̤ng-gă gì bék 儂家其筆 may mean either "my pencil or my pencils".
9. The verb "to be" is indicated by sê 是 but only by the context can we find whether the English equivalent should be "is", "was", or "were".
10. Nouns and pronouns have no inflexion to show number. Thus with the demonstrative pronouns cuòi 嚽 and huòi 回, cuòi sê nguāi gì cṳ̆ 嚽是我其書 may mean "this is my book" or "these are my books".
11. Cuòi and huòi are not used to indicate persons, but only inanimate objects. See Lesson II.
EXERCISE I.
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