Hi all!
This is my first post so I thought I'd ask a simple question.
When I speak hokkien I always use "suka" for "like". In malay, "suka" is the word for "like" so I was wondering whether "suka" is the proper hokkien and malay borrowed it or whether it is wrong. If it's wrong does anybody know the proper word in hokkien?
Thank you!
How to say "like"? Simple but I don't know.
Hi Jilang
Welcome to this forum! Hopefully you'll keep participating here.
"Suka" is a Malay word, but it's true that many Hokkiens in Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore use it. Regarding the proper counterpart in Hokkien, it depends on the context:
I really like (eating) fruits -> 我真愛食果子 gua2 cin1-ai3-cia8-ker2-ci2 -> here suka is ai3.
She likes you -> 伊[合]意汝 i1 ka4-i3_ly0 -> here suka is ka4-i3.
Welcome to this forum! Hopefully you'll keep participating here.
"Suka" is a Malay word, but it's true that many Hokkiens in Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore use it. Regarding the proper counterpart in Hokkien, it depends on the context:
I really like (eating) fruits -> 我真愛食果子 gua2 cin1-ai3-cia8-ker2-ci2 -> here suka is ai3.
She likes you -> 伊[合]意汝 i1 ka4-i3_ly0 -> here suka is ka4-i3.
Thanks niuc (for welcome and help)!
So does that mean that saying that you 'want' to eat and 'like' to eat fruits is the same? Because like and want is both "ai", is this right? And does it have to be "cin ai" or can it be "ya ai" or just "ai"?
Also, kind of lak seh but how do I read and write the hokkien written on this forum with the word and number?
Thanks again!
So does that mean that saying that you 'want' to eat and 'like' to eat fruits is the same? Because like and want is both "ai", is this right? And does it have to be "cin ai" or can it be "ya ai" or just "ai"?
Also, kind of lak seh but how do I read and write the hokkien written on this forum with the word and number?
Thanks again!
You are welcome, Jilang.
Oh I see, so your "want" is ai3...... Are you from Penang or nearby area? Sorry I was thinking of my own dialect/variant during the reply. In my dialect, "want" is ber4 [欲], not 愛 ai3 [which means either to love or to like]. Regarding how to differentiate to want and to like in your variant, may be other friends here can help. May be ka4-i3 can be used there too e.g. [合]意食果子 ka4-i3-cia8-ker2-ci2, but it sounds a bit strange and may have different connotation in my variant.
Regarding how to write Hokkien, there is no strict standard here but more or less it's based on 白話字 Peh-Oe-Ji. I can't find the link to learn POJ now, but if you are from Malaysia/Indonesia more or less it's quite similar to how Malay/Indonesian are written. Here are some highlights:
'b' as in ba4/bah4 肉 meat, not 'b' in Mandarin Pinyin
'p' as in pe7 父 father
'ph' as in pher5/phue5/phe5 皮 skin
'g' as in ger8/gue8/ge8 月 moon, not 'g' in Pinyin
... et al
'o' as in ho2 好 good
'o`' or 'oo' as in ho`2/hoo2 虎 tiger
for nasal I use '*' as in chi*1 青 cyan (blue-green), you also can use 'nn' -> chinn1
For the tones, the easiest way for me is to remember these:
獅 sai1 lion
虎 ho`2 (hoo2) tiger
兔 tho`3 (thoo3) rabbit
鴨 a4 (ah4) duck
牛 gu5 cow
馬 be2 -> tone 6 is the same as tone 2 in Hokkien
象 chiu*7 (chiunn7, chionn7) elephant
鹿 lok8 deer
(from http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/lang/taiwanese/l1_ho.htm)
Oh I see, so your "want" is ai3...... Are you from Penang or nearby area? Sorry I was thinking of my own dialect/variant during the reply. In my dialect, "want" is ber4 [欲], not 愛 ai3 [which means either to love or to like]. Regarding how to differentiate to want and to like in your variant, may be other friends here can help. May be ka4-i3 can be used there too e.g. [合]意食果子 ka4-i3-cia8-ker2-ci2, but it sounds a bit strange and may have different connotation in my variant.
Regarding how to write Hokkien, there is no strict standard here but more or less it's based on 白話字 Peh-Oe-Ji. I can't find the link to learn POJ now, but if you are from Malaysia/Indonesia more or less it's quite similar to how Malay/Indonesian are written. Here are some highlights:
'b' as in ba4/bah4 肉 meat, not 'b' in Mandarin Pinyin
'p' as in pe7 父 father
'ph' as in pher5/phue5/phe5 皮 skin
'g' as in ger8/gue8/ge8 月 moon, not 'g' in Pinyin
... et al
'o' as in ho2 好 good
'o`' or 'oo' as in ho`2/hoo2 虎 tiger
for nasal I use '*' as in chi*1 青 cyan (blue-green), you also can use 'nn' -> chinn1
For the tones, the easiest way for me is to remember these:
獅 sai1 lion
虎 ho`2 (hoo2) tiger
兔 tho`3 (thoo3) rabbit
鴨 a4 (ah4) duck
牛 gu5 cow
馬 be2 -> tone 6 is the same as tone 2 in Hokkien
象 chiu*7 (chiunn7, chionn7) elephant
鹿 lok8 deer
(from http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/lang/taiwanese/l1_ho.htm)
Thanks for such detailed replies!
No, I'm not from Penang and I don't speak Penang/(ZhangZhou??) Hokkien but with some struggling I can understand a bit of it.
For me ai3 means "like", "love" and "want" so I guess context has to be considered. I'm also thinking that to indicate ai3 as "want" I'd put in a verb like in: wa ai di ji pun cheh. And to say "like" or "love" I'd wouldn't put "di" for "have" and just say: wa ai ji pun cheh. Does this sound right? And when I use I, to say the negative is it just "mai" regardless of which of the three meanings I use?
Thanks for the help about POJ. I'll try to use it as much as possible to get good at it but it looks kind of hard, so much to remember. And what does it mean when they have a leter in capital? So just to try it out to say "I" as in the mandarin pinin "wo", in hokkien POJ would it be "waa2/wa'2"?
No, I'm not from Penang and I don't speak Penang/(ZhangZhou??) Hokkien but with some struggling I can understand a bit of it.
For me ai3 means "like", "love" and "want" so I guess context has to be considered. I'm also thinking that to indicate ai3 as "want" I'd put in a verb like in: wa ai di ji pun cheh. And to say "like" or "love" I'd wouldn't put "di" for "have" and just say: wa ai ji pun cheh. Does this sound right? And when I use I, to say the negative is it just "mai" regardless of which of the three meanings I use?
Thanks for the help about POJ. I'll try to use it as much as possible to get good at it but it looks kind of hard, so much to remember. And what does it mean when they have a leter in capital? So just to try it out to say "I" as in the mandarin pinin "wo", in hokkien POJ would it be "waa2/wa'2"?
As far as I know, 我 I = gua2 in Hokkien and never 'wa'; 'wa' is Teochew. I think your 'di' is 'ti5/8'... Hokkien has 'd-' (in some dialects for 'j'), 't-' (like Pinyin 'd-') and 'th-' (like Pinyin 't-'). In my variant, 'ti' is usually used in negative way i.e. m7-ti5/8 = not want to keep.
The sentence gua2 ai3-ti5/8-cit4-pun2-che4 我愛[]此本冊 sounds awkward in my variant, so I'd say gua2 be4-ti5/8-cit4-pun2-che4 我欲[]此本冊 which means I want to keep this book.
In my variant:
I want this book = 我欲此本冊 gua2 be4-cit4-pun2-che4 or cit4-pun2-che4 gua2 be4 此本冊我欲.
I like/love this book = 我愛此本冊 gua2 ai3-cit4-pun2-che4 but this sounds a bit strange for me, usually I'd say 我愛讀(看)此本冊 gua2 ai3-thak8(khua*3)-cit4-pun2-che4 I like to read this book.
For me, "don't want" is mai3; "don't like" is bo5-ai3.
The sentence gua2 ai3-ti5/8-cit4-pun2-che4 我愛[]此本冊 sounds awkward in my variant, so I'd say gua2 be4-ti5/8-cit4-pun2-che4 我欲[]此本冊 which means I want to keep this book.
In my variant:
I want this book = 我欲此本冊 gua2 be4-cit4-pun2-che4 or cit4-pun2-che4 gua2 be4 此本冊我欲.
I like/love this book = 我愛此本冊 gua2 ai3-cit4-pun2-che4 but this sounds a bit strange for me, usually I'd say 我愛讀(看)此本冊 gua2 ai3-thak8(khua*3)-cit4-pun2-che4 I like to read this book.
For me, "don't want" is mai3; "don't like" is bo5-ai3.
Is that the way it's written or is pronounced because the way I say it it sounds like "wa" to me or maybe I'm pronouncing it wrong.As far as I know, 我 I = gua2 in Hokkien and never 'wa'; 'wa' is Teochew.
So does that mean that "don't love" is also bo5 ai3?
It's good that I can use ai3 for like as I used suka because it's easy to change.