Multiple ways of saying "very"

[FutureSpy]

I'm a little bit confused about multiples forms of saying "very" in Taiwanese. The older edition of my textbook gives only chin 真 and chiok 足, but the new one gives also siuⁿ 傷 and chiaN5 誠. The problem is, they present them without explaining any nuance differences.

Here are the examples for all 3 (except chin, which is the most used in both) I have on my textbooks:

kin-a2-jit8 e5 thiN-khi3 chiaN5 loah8.
今仔日ê天氣誠熱。
Today is very hot.

siuN kui3 lah.
傷貴lah。
Very expensive.

soo2-i2 goa2 chiok ai3 Tai5-oan5.
所以我足愛台灣。
(also 所以我真愛台灣。 soo2-i2 goa2 chin ai3 Tai5-oan5. in the older edition)
That's why I love Taiwan very much.

lin2 nng7 e5 siN-cho3 chiok kang7 e5.
恁兩個生做足共ê。
You two are really alike!

And here are their Mandarin definitions extracted from 台文/華文線頂辭典:

chin 真: 多麼 / 好不 / 好生 / 老大 / 真 / 清楚
chiaN5 誠: 好不 / 好生 / 很 / 相當
siuⁿ 傷: 最 / 傷 / 過於
chiok 足: 足 / 非常 / 頗 / 頗為

Aren't chin and chiaN5 totally synonyms? Weren't chiok and chin supposed to have at least one matching definition? If I say "siuN chin lah." and "siuN kui3 lah.", aren't these sentences the same? When they are synonyms and when not? Could someone please shed a light on that? And also I'd love to hear what speakers of other dialects have to say about it...

[amhoanna]

An old thread on this:
http://www.chinalanguage.com/forums/vie ... 14e#p32252

傷 siuⁿ means TOO. It has a way stronger meaning than the rest.

[FutureSpy]

Thanks amhoanna. I should have used the search function, sorry I've read the whole post and I should say it was very enlightening.

niuc mentioned kai3 蓋. Is it a synonym to siuN?
siuN kui3 lah. = kai3 kui3 lah. ?

[amhoanna]

Kài can mean (THE) MOST (c.f. siōngkài) or a strong VERY. The VERY usage might be new. I've never seen it in any dictionary, not even the 台語白話小詞典. I'm pretty sure I'm not imagining it, though. Just today someone emailed me and used the phrase "差無介多" (多 being chē). As for how to tell if someone means MOST or VERY, I'm not kài sure. This would be a good word to ask your instructors about, esp. the guy, although U may have to use examples and ask indirectly.

[amhoanna]

.

[SimL]

Hi,

Sorry, terribly busy at the moment, so can't even spend time reading FutureSpy's other more detailed questions, and the great replies that amhoanna has written back.

Just a quick response. FWIW, S. Malayan "siuN" and N. Malayan "siauN" only mean "too", "excessively"; no shades of "very".

[FutureSpy]

Take your time, Sim

Thanks amhoanna. I knew siong7, but didn't know it was from siong7-kai3