Sentences with "all", "many", "some

[Sim Lee]

Could anyone help with rendering the following English constructs into Hokkien?

Set A and Set B are ok (where the "all", "many", "some", "few", or "none" are either before OR after the "like"), but I have a lot of trouble with Set C (where there is an "all", "many", "some", "few", or "none" both before AND after the "like").

This is Penang Baba Hokkien, so some of the words are a bit different from the Amoy forms:
1. "ka liau" = "all". I think this is a slurred form of "kau liau" (= "until finished").
2. "suka" = "like". This is a word borrowed from Malay.
3. "bo pua~ e" = "not half of one", i.e. "not a single one", i.e. "no one".
4. "niau" = cat. I believe a lot of Hokkiens pronounce this "ngiau" instead of "niau".

Notation:
-----------
~ = nasalization
c = English "ch", without extra puff of air
ch = English "ch" (with puff of air)


Set A
====

A1. All the people I know like me.
gua bat e lang ka liau suka gua.

A2. Many of the people I know like me.
gua bat e lang cin cia~ ce suka gua.

A3. Some of the people I know like me.
gua bat e lang u e suka gua.

A4. Few of the people I know like me.
gua bat e lang cin cia~ cio suka gua.

A5. None of the people I know like me.
gua bat e lang ka liau bo suka gua. (or: gua bat e lang bo pua~ e suka gua.)


Set B
====

B1. I like all the cats I feed.
gua ci e niau ka liau gua suka.

B2. I like many of the cats I feed.
gua ci e niau cin cia~ ce gua suka.

B3. I like some of the cats I feed.
gua ci e niau u e gua suka.

B4. I like few of the cats I feed.
gua ci e niau cin cia~ cio gua suka.

B5. I like none of the cats I feed.
gua ci e niau ka liau gua bo suka. (or: gua ci e niau bo pua~ e gua suka.)


Set C
====

(The ones marked with a "*" I feel are not really sensible sentences in English, so it's not a problem if there's no way of saying them in Hokkien, but the remainder of the set seem to be quite ordinary sentences in English, and yet I can't say them in Hokkien, or I CANT say them, but the sentence sounds very forced.)

C1a. All the people I know like all the cats I feed.

C1b. All the people I know like some of the cats I feed.

C1c. *All the people I know like none of the cats I feed.

C2a. Some of the people I know like all the cats I feed.

C2b. Some of the people I know like some of the cats I feed.

C2c. Some of the people I know like none of the cats I feed.

C3a. None of the people I know like all the cats I feed.

C3b. *None of the people I know like some of the cats I feed.

C3c. *None of the people I know like none of the cats I feed.


Final question.

I am quite happy with my renderings of A1,A3,A5 and B1, B3, B5:

A1. All the people I know like me.
gua bat e lang ka liau suka gua.
A3. Some of the people I know like me.
gua bat e lang u e suka gua.
A5. None of the people I know like me.
gua bat e lang ka liau bo suka gua. (or: gua bat e lang bo pua~ e suka gua.)

B1. I like all the cats I feed.
gua ci e niau ka liau gua suka.
B3. I like some of the cats I feed.
gua ci e niau u e gua suka.
B5. I like none of the cats I feed.
gua ci e niau ka liau gua bo suka. (or: gua ci e niau bo pua~ e gua suka.)

but I was wondering whether the following are also acceptable Hokkien (or are they "Anglicisms" caused by my speaking too much English?

A1 => ka liau gua bat e lang suka gua.
A3 => u e gua bat e lang suka gua.
A5 => ka liau gua bat e lang bo suka gua. (or: bo pua~ e gua bat e lang suka gua.)

B1 => gua suka ka liau gua ci e niau.
B3 => gua suka u e gua ci e niau.
B5 => gua bo suka ka liau gua ci e niau. (or: gua suka bo pua~ e gua ci e niau.)

[ppk]

different terms leh, we use 'long' or 'longzong' for 'all', think its the chinese word '笼总'（sim. chin. fonts）.

'bo bua e': not even half, ie, none.

i think for 'some', there are still other words like '(wu) jit zhai'(（有）一些？！), 'wu jit cho'（有一切）. 'jit cho' i think means 'all' but with a 'wu' in front it bcomes 'some'.

a1, wa b(p)at eh lang long(zong) suka wa.
a2, wa b(p)at eh lang jin zhuay suka wa, jin zhuay wa pat eh lang suka wa.
a3, wa b(p)at eh lang wu eh suka wa, wu eh wa b(p)at eh lang suka wa, wu jizhai wa b(p)at eh lang suka wa.
a4, wa b(p)at eh lang jin jio (wu) suka wa (eh), jin jio wu wa b(pat) eh lang suka wa.
a5, wa b(p)at eh lang (boh bua eh/boh jit eh/boh lang) suka wa.

[Sim Lee]

Thanks ppk, but it's Set C that was giving me the most trouble. Do you have any suggestions for those?

Sim.

[Niuc]

C1a. All the people I know like all the cats I feed.
* gua (so) pat e lang long hua~ hi gua so chi e niau.
* gua (so) pat e lang ke hua~ i gua so chi e niau.
* gua so chi e niau gua (so) pat e lang long hua~ hi.
* etc...

'so' is used to emphasize "all".
'(so)' can be omitted, also can be used to emphasize the meaning.
'ke' is similar to 'long'.
'hua~ hi' is a Hokkien word for "suka"
I think most Hokkiens use 'niau' for "cat".


C1b. All the people I know like some of the cats I feed.
* u e gua chi e niau gua (so) pat e lang long hua~ hi
* gua (so) chi e niau u e gua (so) pat e lang long hua~ hi
* gua (so) pat e lang long hua~ hi u e gua chi e niau
* gua (so) pat e lang long hua~ hi cit po hun gua (so) chi e niau
* cit kua a gua chi e niau gua (so) pat e lang long hua~ hi
* etc...

'cit po hun' and 'cit kua a' is similar to 'u e'. but 'cit kua a gua chi e niau' also can means "cats I feed"


C2a. Some of the people I know like all the cats I feed.
* cit po hun gua (so) pat e lang hua~ hi gua so chi e niau.
* gua (so) pat e lang u e hua~ hi gua so chi e niau.
* cit kua a gua (so) pat e lang hua~ hi gua so chi e niau.
* gua so chi e niau u e gua pat e lang hua~ hi.
* etc...


C2b. Some of the people I know like some of the cats I feed.
* gua (so) pat e lang u e hua~ hi cit po hun gua (so) chi e niau.
* cit kua a gua chi e niau gua (so) pat e lang u e hua~ hi.
* cit po hun gua (so) pat e lang hua~ hi u e gua (so) chi e niau.
* etc...


C3a. None of the people I know like all the cats I feed.
* gua (so) pat e lang long bou hua~ hi gua so chi e niau.
* gua so pat e lang bou pua~ e hua~ hi gua so chi e niau.
* bou pua~ e gua so pat e lang hua~ hi gua so chi e niau.
-> bou pua~ e = bou pua~ lang = bou lang = bou cit e
* gua so chi e niau gua (so) pat e lang long bou hua~ hi.
* gua so chi e niau gua so pat e lang bou cit e hua~ hi.
* etc....

[ppk]

ke, keh, meaning should be 'all', 'jia1'(add) in mandarin.
c1a, long(zong) eh lang huahi/shio wa qi eh ngiau.
c1b, wu eh wa qi eh ngiau long(zong) lang huahi(欢喜)/shio(惜).
'jit boh hun'(一部分) is quite formal.

later...

[Sim Lee]

Excellent, excellent.

Thank you very much .

I'll have to tell all the people I know, and all the cats I feed .

Sim.

[Sim Lee]

Thank you Niuc.

-Sim.

[ppk]

c2a, wu eh lang huahi wa longzong eh ngiau(simplified and abbreviated)
wu eh lang huahi wa qi eh ngiau. (without qty means all).
wu jit cho lang huahi wa qi eh (longzong eh) ngiau.

c2b, wu eh wa qi eh ngiau wu eh wa b(p)at eh lang huahi,
wu eh lang huahi jit boh hun wa qi eh ngiau,
wu gui jia(ji3zhi1 几只 in mandarin) wa qi eh ngiau wu eh lang jin huahi.

c3a, boh lang huahi wa qi eh ngiau. short and sweet.

[Niuc]

Sim Lee, you're welcome. It's a good exercise for me too .

PPK, I agree that your examples are more natural to Hokkien speakers, short and sweet, but their meaning do not exactly match those English sentences. Of course in daily conversation almost nobody will use those sentences (my posting). Yet it's possible that we'll have those kinds of sentences, may be in essay etc.

'ke' that means "all" isn't 'jia1' 加 (add) in Mandarin but 'jie1' 皆 (all). This word is pronunced as 'kai' (literary) and 'ke' (colloquial).

'ka' in 'ka liau' 到了 is one of the pronunciations for 到 (Mdr: dao4) in Hokkien, beside 'kau' and 'tou'. Eg. 'chio ka pak to thia~' 笑到腹肚疼 (laugh until feeling pain in stomach).

'ka' & 'kau' are usually closely related in pronunciation for words. The word 教 as a verb ("to teach") is pronounced as 'ka', eg. 教書 'ka cy'/'ka cu', Mdr:'jiao1shu1'. As a noun ("teaching") it is pronounced as 'kau', eg. 教育 'kau jiok'/'kau diok', Mdr:'jiao4yu4' ->education; 宗教 'cong kau', Mdr:'zong1jiao4' ->religion.

'cit po hun' 一部分 is more formal and may be absorbed from Mandarin, yet both colloquial and literary (formal) pronunciation & vocabulary are integral in Hokkien language. Both enrich our beloved ancestral tongue.

[Sim Lee]

Niuc,

Thanks.

What is your background? How come your Hokkien is so good?

Sim.