14 August 2012

Countries and other new words

Nouns do not change when they become plural.  Unbelievable.  First, verbs don’t change, now nouns.  That simplifies a lot of things.  A person is yàhn, and two people is also yàhn.

 Nàahm-fèi (South Africa)

Dāk-gwok (Germany)

Gà-nàh-daaih (Canada)

Sàn-sài-làahn (New Zealand)

Chàhn sīn-sàang mh leng (Mr Chan is not good looking).  Although I knew that you could say Chàhn sīn-sàang hóu leng (Mr Chan is handsome), I haven’t really used mh leng before (I think I would be saying mh hóu leng).

maaih (to sell).  I know this, but I keep forgetting the tonal difference between it and máaih (to buy)

(Bookmark: End of Chapter 1 of Baker & Ho)

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