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Lesson One
At the coffee shop
Ground Rules:
- Hokkien words do not change forms. No past/present/future tenses, no plural nouns.
- SPMH uses a lot of Malay loanwords!
Vocabulary:
Wa = I
Le= you
Ai = want
Chiah = eat
Lim = drink
Kopi = coffee
Kopitiam = coffee shop
Teh = tea
Pńg = rice
A-shi = or
Simi = what
Mee = noodles
Ma-shi = also
Sentences
Take a look at this sentence: wa ai lim kopi.
If we take a look at the vocabulary, in English it is: I want to drink coffee.
It follows a S-V-O grammatical order (subject - intent - verb object.)
- subject: wa (I)
-intent: ai (want to)
-verb: lim (drink)
-object: kopi (coffee)
This is how sentences in Hokkien are constructed! Does it make more sense now?
Ordering Dialogue
Waiter: Le ai lim simi? (What do you want to drink?)
Student 1: Wa ai lim kopi. ( I want to drink coffee.)
Student 2: Wa ai lim teh. (I want to drink tea.)
Waiter: Le ai chiah mee a-shi png? (Do you want to eat noodles or rice?)
Student 1: Wa ai chiah mee. (I want to eat noodles.)
Student 2: Wa ma-shi ai chiah mee. (I also want to eat noodles.)
Listen to the audio recording here!
Lesson 1 Dialogue
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