Resultative complements

[Ah-bin]

I have been wondering how to explain the difference between:

khoàⁿ-bē-tióh and bē khoàⁿ tióh

I have my own ideas about it, but I am not sure whether they actually make sense or not. I'd like to hear what some native speakers think.

My feeling is that khoàⁿ-bē-tióh means "cannot see" and is directly related to ability and that bē khoàⁿ tióh means "won't be able to see" or "wouldn't be able to see" in the future (as far as ē and bē indicate "future"), as well as just "won't see" or "wouldn't see" without any reference to ability.

So similarly khoàⁿ-ē-tióh means "can see" and ē khoàⁿ tióh means "will see"

Lots of these correspond to words that are expressed as single verbs in English
khoàⁿ bē-chhut "can't recognise"
khoàⁿ ē-chhut "can recognise"
ē khoàⁿ chhut "will recognise" etc.

khoàⁿ-bē-chheng-chhó• "can't see clearly"
bé bē khí "can't afford" (how do you say "can afford"?)

Thanks for any feedback.

[AndrewAndrew]

I'm not a native speaker, but my impression of the two is that in khoann-be-tioh, you can see and are looking, but you can't see a particular thing, whereas be khoann-tioh, it is more general as in you cannot see (something), for whatever reason, e.g. disease / foggy windscreen, etc.

Khoann-bo is a more native Hokkien way of saying khoann-be-tioh, and again has the connotation that you are looking but can't see something.

[Ah-bin]

Thanks Andrew.

I didn't even think of khoàⁿ bô and thiaⁿ bô, because Penang Hokkien speakers don't seem to use them that much. They certainly don't use them as much as Taiwanese do. "thiaⁿ bô" was one of the first things I learnt in in Taiwanese, but Penangites seem to prefer "bē hiáu thiaⁿ" when they want to say "doesn't understand" (through hearing). At eas that is the impression I get from listening to the podcast.

[niuc]

Ah-bin, in my variant khoàⁿ-bē-tióh, bē khoàⁿ tióh, khoàⁿ bô or bô khoàⁿ tióh (for 2 & 4, tióh/tio8 becomes neutralized tio0 if it is at the end of a sentence) can be used interchangably to mean the same thing in certain cases (with rearrangement of noun), but can mean different things too, depending on context. I concur with Andrew about the difference between khoàⁿ-bē-tióh & bē khoàⁿ tióh. Also the former can mean that we are trying to see but cannot see the thing we want to, while the latter can imply that we don't even try to see (i.e. not expect to) and thus not seeing even though we can see.

Khoàⁿ bô can mean to look down at / to despise; 'hor7-lang5-khua*3-bo5' = be despised by someone.

In my variant:
khua3-be7(bue7)-tio8-ly2 = cannot see you (although I have been trying).
be7(bue7)-khua3-tio8-ly2 = won't be able to see you -> Ah-bin, same as what you guessed
khua3-bo5-ly2 = cannot see you (imagining I have looked to every direction).
khua3-bo5 ly0 (a bit vague in meaning) = look down on you = khua3-ly2 bo5
bo5-khua3-tio8-ly2 = cannot see you (not much effort, may be I didn't know you were here).

siu1-khiai0, mang1-hoi7-khua3 tio0 = hide it, don't let him(her) see it!
(khiai0 = khi2 lai0, mang1 =m7-thang1, hoi7 =hor7-i1)
siu1-khiai0, hor7-i1 khua3-be7-tio8 = hide it, let him cannot see it! (even if he tries)
siu1-khiai0, hor7-i1 be7-khua3 tio0 = hide it, let him cannot see it! (or: won't see it, because he is not aware)
siu1-khiai0, hor7-i1 khua3-bo5 = hide it, let him see nothing! (or: cannot see it, as he most probably will try to)
siu1-khiai0, hor7-i1 bo5-khua3 tio0 = hide it, let him cannot see it! (neutral, not sure he is aware or not)

bé bē khí "can't afford" (how do you say "can afford"?)

bé ē khí.

In my variant, thiaⁿ bô = can't catch what is being spoken (too fast or inaudible), bē hiáu thiaⁿ" = can hear it clearly but cannot understand, but sometimes they are interchangable.

[Ah-bin]

Thanks very much for these answers Niuc. I like the hoi7 too. i'm beginning to grow quite fond of Hokkien contractions.

[niuc]

I like the hoi7 too. i'm beginning to grow quite fond of Hokkien contractions.

Indeed! I love them!