Colloquial Chinese (1922) PDF

Expressly for the use of those
who
desire to acquire a rapid
and sound colloquial knowledge

of the Chinese language
N.
J,
WHYMANT
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA
SAN DIEGO
L
UN
C
CHINESE
(NORTHERN)
By
A.
NEVILLE
J.
WHYMANT
Lecturer in Chinese and Japanese, School of Oriental Studies,

Sometime Sir John Francis Davis
University of London
Author of Chinese
Chinese Scholar, University of Oxford
Coolie Songs, etc., etc.
;
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD.,
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
:
1922
Uniform with
this
Volume
COLLOQUIAL FRENCH
COLLOQUIAL GERMAN
COLLOQUIAL' SPANISH
COLLOQUIAL JAPANESE
London
Kegan
Paul, Trench, Trubner
&
Co., Ltd.
NOTE TO THE READER

The following pages form really a sort of note-book of
the Chinese language. There is no pretension to erudition.
Simply has the writer found during some years of teaching
experience in the two most difficult languages in the world
that the student must from the start rely upon himself.
he would make real and sensible progress, he must make
own exercises from the raw material provided in the
notes on construction and the vocabulary. For this reason
exercises herein will be few and will serve as models for
those of the student's own making.
Should the learner feel that he stands in need of further
practice with regard to exercises, he can make his choice
from many excellent manuals easily procurable. The
object in view throughout has been rather to eliminate
matter than to assemble between two covers all that is
If
his
known
of the tongue.
PREFACE
There is an idea generally prevalent that only the genius
with a lifetime of leisure can afford to devote himself to
the study of the Chinese language. It is, however, a
matter of experience that while the Written Style is undoubtedly the most difficult study in the world so difficult,
indeed, that no European has so far succeeded in producing
a composition therein which could earn the approbation
of a native yet the Colloquial Style may be learned by
any one with ordinary acumen and perseverance in the
same period that one devotes to the study of the elementary
Latin, Greek, or French Classics.
Naturally, the genius of this tongue being totally different
from that of English, many students invest their task with
exaggerated difficulties and with bogies of all descriptions.
At the outset the peculiar script used scares the would-be
sinologue. The seemingly-endless lists of characters with
the same sound and tone the utter dissimilarity of
Chinese, by virtue of which it stands in a class by itself
from among all other languages, the peculiar rhythmic
stress of each sentence as it slips from the tongue of a
Celestial, the absolute precision of utterance demanded in
order that one should be understood, all seem to be insurmountable obstacles in the path of the beginner. Let him,
that many men of
however, take comfort from this fact
ordinary ability who found it impossible to acquire even
the slightest knowledge of the written tongue have been
;
fluent speakers of the colloquial.

The object of this work is to crystallise the writer's
teaching experience toward the end that the acquisition
of Chinese Colloquial may lose many of its terrors. .In its
preparation, use has been made of the following works
:
Tzu Erh Chi. Sir T. Wade.

Gramm. d. I. Langue Chin. Paul
Perny (Tome premier, Langue
Orale).
The Chinese Language and How

Sir W. Hillier.
to Learn It.
Eng.-Chin. Diet, of Peking
Colloquial.
Sir
Chin.-Eng. Diet.
W.
Hillier.
Prof.
H. A.
Student's
W.
Four
Thousand Tzu.
E. Sooth ill.
Mandarin Lessons. Mateer.

Sy sterna Phonet. Script. Sin.
La Lingua
Cinese Parlata.
Magnasco.
Chinesische Grammatik.
Notitia Ling. Sinicae.
Premare.
Giles.
iv
Gallery.
F.
Seidel.
Le Pere
PREFACE
Guide
d.
1.
Angl.-Chin.
Conversa.
Franc.-
Le Pere Couv-
Syntaxe
Nouv.
Chinoise.
d.
I.
Langue
Stanislas Julien.
reur, S.J.
Colloquial Japanese.
Pocket Chin.-Eng. Die. C. Goodrich. M. McGovern.
Dr.
W.
The written character is understood throughout the

eighteen provinces and in other parts of the Chinese Empire
beyond such well-defined limits. There are, however,
colloquial variations, differing so widely from each
it is no exaggeration to proclaim them distinct
Northener, attempting to make himself
languages.
understood purely by means of the Colloquial among
many
other that
Southern Chinese, would encounter the same difficulty

as a Briton, knowing nothing but his mother-tongue,
in the heart of Russia.
This fact notwithstanding,
Pekingese, or rather the tongue erroneously but generally
known as Mandarin, is the lingua franca of the whole of
the Northern provinces, and with but slight variations,
"
of those of Mid-China.
K " for
The substitution of
"
"
"
initial
and
for
initial
are
indications
CH,"
CH,"
TS,"
of the change which takes place.
It is for this reason that
the dialect of the North is that generally taught, as its
sphere of utility is much larger than that of any other
of the Indo-Chinese languages.
I have to express my gratitude to my colleague, Dr. W.
Montgomery McGovern, for permission to use some of the
vocabularies in his Colloquial Japanese as a framework
for several similar word-lists in the following pages, and
very best thanks are due to the Director of the School
of Oriental Studies, Sir E. Denison Ross, for valued suggestions made during the preparation of the work. Very
specially have I to thank the Rev. Hopkyn Rees, D.D.,
Reader in Chinese in the University of London, for the
my
very valuable and expert help he has given me. On the

eve of my departure for China, I had the load of proofreading lifted from my shoulders by reason of his generosity.
He has helped in other directions also, these latter too
numerous to mention.
A.
School of Oriental Studies,
NEVILLE
(London Institution),
University of London.
J.
WHYMANT.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
THE HISTORY AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE CHINESE

LANGUAGE
2.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
3.
VARIETIES OF CHINESE
12
4.
EXAMINATION OF STYLES OF WRITING
13
1.
SOUND TABLE
LESSON
14
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
33
,,
2:
POSITION OF NEGATIVES
40
3:
NUMERALS AND ADJECTIVES
51
4:
PRONOUNS AND EXERCISES
58
ENGLISH AND CHINESE VOCABULARY
61
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
1.
THE HISTORY AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE CHINESE

LANGUAGE.
There has been current for a long time past a widespread

same relation to Japanese
No doubt
as does English to French or English to German.
this idea was born and fostered by the propinquity of the
belief that Chinese stands in the
nations.
Radically, however, the two
as
far
as
the Poles. Japanese came
are
apart
languages
from the South, a language colloquially expressive and with
two Far-Eastern
a strongly developed agglutinative tendency, but innocent

of any script.
The Chinese, however, had not only an
artistic system of writing, but also a comprehensive litera-
The newly-arrived tenants of the Land of the Rising

Sun immediately borrowed the ideographic scheme of their
Western neighbours and began the laborious task of fitting
ture.
it
to their
own
polysyllabic speech.
of the most peculiar of popular delusions
Thus arose one
for Chinese is essentially monosyllabic.

By the invention
and frequent use of written equivalents of the colloquial
however, the Japanese overcame what must have

seemed at first a supreme difficulty.
So far as can be gathered from the materials at our disposal, it appears that though the essentials of Chinese have
particles,
varied but
little in
the course of millenia of progress, yet
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
2
in
some few respects the
colloquial of the present
day
differs
sufficiently from that of the time of Confucius some twentyfive centuries ago, for it to be definitely assumed that
scholars of that period would encounter the same difficulty

to-day as would Demosthenes were he to return to modern
Athens.
In regard to Mandarin, the chief change
loss of the finals, k,
p and
which are
is
the
preserved in
reason
the
that
modern
language
of the South bears a s '.ronger resemblance to the old classical
tongue than does Mandarin.
Cantonese.
t,
still
It is for this
Dr. Edkins, in his paper (printed in the Transactions of

the Peking Oriental Society), on the Development of the
Chinese Language, examines, from a physiological standpoint, the production of sounds
among primitive people.

Starting with the production by a newly-born child, of the
simple sound "A," short or long-drawn-out, he proceeds
to show that the paucity of different sounds in Chinese is a
natural companion of the early efforts of a primitive people
towards enunciation. Hence the origin of speech among
the Chinese must belong to a date more ancient than any
we can
conceive, or of which our histories can give even an
idea.
It
may be asked
But why have not the Chinese
in their
long history simplified and enlarged the scope of their

tongue ? Surely a matter of four hundred or so vocables is
a poor stock-in-trade for a language of the richness and

precision of Chinese ? The answer to such questions is
Chinese is naturally
found in the Chinese temperament.
and the more highly-educated he becomes

the more pronounced is his conservatism. The aspirant
to honours in a Chinese University to-day must be throoughly well- versed in the Chinese Classics, and also must
show in his essays the same style of construction as was in
conservative,
HISTORY AND MORPHOLOGY
vogue three thousand years ago. Is it not conceivable that

the vehicle of speech which has served them so well for
every occasion over such a long period of time should be
retained in practically an unchanged form, as a treasure inherited from high antiquity ? And even so it is. There is
no race under the sun in which pride in the mother-tongue
The Chinese glories in his native

is so deeply rooted.
speech and venerates the written character. All foreign
tongues are little better than gibberish Chinese is a graceand polished exemplar of linguistic perfection.
The outstanding features of Chinese are as follows
Even a word
(a) It is purely monosyllabic.
ful
like
Chiang, which appears to us to be a disyllabic, is to a

Chinese ear merely a monosyllable, being pronounced
almost Jyang.
In place of the abecedaire of

(b) It has no alphabet.
Western tongues, it has a Radical Index of 214 Radicals,
two or more of which enter into the composition of every
compound Chinese character. More will be said of the
Radicals in a later chapter.
In its written form Chinese runs in parallel columns
(c)
from top to bottom and from right to left of the page.
(d)
is
Grammar,
as
it is
absent from Chinese.
understood in other languages,

There are no articles
nouns
;
have no gender (saving the natural divisions), nor declension, verbs are not conjugated, and pronouns or preA word may
positions are used as sparingly as possible.
be
as
used
a
a
an
noun,
verb,
indifferently
adjective or
adverb, without undergoing any greater change than
removal to another part of the sentence. In fact,
Position in the sentence is the one law governing Chinese
construction, or, as
"
Marshman
it
has been expressed by the pioneer

of Chinese grammar depends
The whole
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE.
upon position." Often the context alone is the means
whereby a correct translation can be made of a given
passage. To those wearied by the complex grammatical
systems of Sanskrit, Russian, Classical Arabic or Japanese,
this absence of grammar may seem to be welcome, but
unless the rules of position are properly learned and
applied, the student will not only fail to speak Chinese
fluently, but will speak English-Chinese (which would
merely be sinicised pidgin-English), instead of Chinese-
Chinese, and will
fall
most ludicrous and em-
into the
barrassing errors.
(e)
Although Chinese syntax
as in English
is
practically the
same
the construction of even the commonest
phrases differs widely from the expressions which the

same set of circumstances would call forth from a
More than ever in
Westerner.
this
tongue
is it
necessary
to acquire the native point of view.

For example in
a
would
Pu yao shuosilence
Chinese
demanding
say
"
:
hua,
not want speech," rather than use the im-
lit.
"
Be quiet."
construction,
perative positive
Chinese stylist is enamoured of the negative mood.
The
Chinese, like Malay, Burmese, Annamese and

(/)
Siamese, encourages the terse, pithy sentence, almost
ejaculatory in its force in preference to the long, vague
and loose-flowing sentences

Oriental
tongues.
of Japanese
Frequently
characters), merely paints
and some other
sentence
an idea on
(like
the
the consciousness,
leaving the intelligence free to supply its own verbiage.

Enough has been said to show the broad distinctions
that exist between this anomaly
speech and linguistics generally.

distinctions will be elaborated.
be introduced
among systems
of
human
Later the more detailed
No unnecessary rules will

should
therefore note that
the student
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
such as appear herein should be thoroughly learned and

practised.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
2.
"
we may take
as a definition of the expression

general
principles," those underlying essentials upon which the
fabric of a language is built, then this section may naturally
If
fall
into the following divisions

(a) Mode of Study.
(b)
Use
of
Words.
(d)
Translations from the Language.

Translation into the Language.
(e)
Varieties of Sentence.
(c)
(/)
Differences of Style.
(g)
Notes on Prosody.
Mode of Study. It must be realised

outset
that
to study Chinese in the same way as one
from the
would attempt to master any other tongue would be but to
First, as to
(a).
court failure.
It is
no
less
than the truth to state in the
place that a psychological analysis of the Chinese mind

would reduce the labour of learning by one half, and in the
first
second place that a good mimic and one
who
is
not bored
by incessant repetition of the same thing, will achieve far

more than the student who overstocks his mind with monoand blunders along in the futile hope that he may
be able the sooner to express himself easily and before
thoroughly understanding the rules he is supposed to have
syllables
learned.
If
the assistance of a native can be procured
it is,
of
course, eminently desirable to practise with him every word

and sentence as it is learned. Native teachers are extra-
ordinarily patient, and they naturally appreciate the difficulties of their own tongue as experienced by themselves,
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
and, moreover, being of more than usual adaptability, they

are quick to detect the pitfalls in the path of the foreigner.
But for those to whom the above plan

few words of advice here may be of help
Study well the Sound-Table.
is
impossible, a
Speak slowly until you are sure of the correct sounds.

Emphasise the all-important aspirate.
Be sure of your tones.
While learning Chinese, forget your own nationality,
your own tongue, and copy closely.
Generally speaking, thorough memorisation and application of the Phonology Section is the most important of all.
Use of Words. It cannot be too strongly impressed
(b).
upon the beginner that the Chinese regard oral language

purely as a means of communication and not as a subject
for philological speculation.
Hence, one should certainly
not attempt to force colloquial Chinese into that mould so
beloved by the grammarian. This strangest of speeches
has served well the everyday purposes of countless myriads

of Celestials,
and
is
yet independent of those adventitious
aids to language study and comprehension to which we have

so long been accustomed.
"
"
To a Chinese, what is meant by word in English may
be the sound of one character or the connected sounds of

"
"
word
for
understand
characters.
Briefly,
"
idea." Supposing a native were to wish to convey to our
"
"
in the written style he would
minds the idea, a book
several
simply write the character whose sound is

"
spoken language he would need to say i
reason for this
"
shu
pn
"
shu."
in the
The
that there are so many characters bearing

"
"
the simple sound shu
that in speech auxiliary words are
needed to indicate which of these characters is intended.
More
is
details of these peculiarities will be
discussion of auxiliaries.
found in the
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Whereas some simple Chinese sentence may appear to us

an undoubted fact that, on the whole, our
speech is more verbose. In Mandarin, omit as frequently
prolix, it is
as possible personal pronouns, verbal particles, relative

Terseness is not
clauses, and, above all, circumlocution.
only highly esteemed, it is most frequently the royal road

to understanding. Make sure of your words, perfect your
idiom from English into Chinese, deduct fifty per cent of
then speak.
your verbiage
The only way
in which to appreciate this point of view is

to study carefully some colloquial phrases, dissect them,
make sure that you see the reason for the presence of every
word or compound therein, and then repeat them until

they become to you as real as are their counterparts in
your mother-tongue. This method will not only give
your mind some material with which to work, but will
indeed prepare your memory for the reception and retenA firm base having
tion of others cast in the same mould.
been established,
structure
is
it is
surprising
how
rapidly the super-
reared.
Translation from the Language.

(c).
Undoubtedly the
thorn in the side of the student of Colloquial is that while
he
may make
himself understood
by the native he
(the
former), cannot understand what the latter is saying to

him. The reason for this is twofold. The Chinese, under-
standing you, assumes that you have some practical

acquaintance with his language, and promptly proceeds to
give his answer to your utterance. He is not to know how
He may
not understand, hence the impasse.
much you do
use compounds of which you
know
nothing.
There
is,
naturally, nothing for this but practice, but rapidly one

will acquire all the idioms and colloquialisms in daily use,
and
later those
needed
for special occasions.
True, there
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
8
is
the great dictionary by MacGillivray, in which one may

up a word or phrase in its romanised alphabetical
look
order, but
it is preferable to ask your Chinese to express

himself in another way. As a general rule, he will then
use a simpler
mode
of speech or
by
gesture or other
means
convey his meaning. The worst thing of all is to allow

the best to take note of all
oneself to become discouraged
such occasions as that outlined above.
Translation into the Language. As has been before
(d).
;
remarked, the paramount necessity is to disabuse one's

mind of preconceived notions as these merely lead to con-
Speak clearly and simply,

rather
than your actual words.
translating your thoughts
Your first efforts at independent sentence-construction may
fusion
and misunderstanding.
be clumsy and forced, but remember that the Chinese is a

kind critic not given to undue mirth at the expense of the
unfortunate foreigner.
Varieties of Sentence.
It has been said that
(e).
Chinese colloquial is easy to learn on account of the fact
that there is but one standard to which it is necessary to
adhere.
This
is
not strictly true.
While
it
is
conceded
that once having fallen into the style generally in use, one
may proceed to model all future constructions thereon, yet
the Chinese are not so lacking in love of variety that they
themselves find no need for alternative forms of expression.

It may be found advisable indeed in a long conversation to
introduce sentences varying from that of four or five
vocables to that of forty or more. Usually, the Chinese
prefer short phrases to actual sentences, as suggesting the
idea to be conveyed
is
generally enough for ordinary com-
prehension.
The
that
is,
for all practical purposes, is Elimination

not only of the obviously unnecessary, but also of
rule,
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
what seems
to us to be essential.
Never use a verb
if
your
meaning
perfectly clear without it. On the other hand,
when occasion arises for emphasis, the native is tempted to
is
overdo
it.
Thus the student must be prepared
for all kinds
of anomalies in this language, since whatever rules do exist

seem to be present for the sole purpose of demonstration
which they may be broken

It has been stated above that
Differences of Style.
(/).
the Kuan Hua or, as it is generally known, Mandarin, is the
as to the myriad
ways
in
medium of intercourse throughout the north of China.

The term is difficult to define owing to its wide application.
"
The native term printed above signifies Official Speech,"
but even this is not sufficient to
ground covered by the phrase.
into use they designated that
ployed by the educated classes
State.
give an adequate idea of the

At the time the words came
form of the colloquial ememployed by the

"
"
As by degrees these officials toned down some
of officials
of the elegancies of this dialect, so did the classes inter-
mediate between the Officers of State and the coolie attempt

to reach the
same
level of speech as that
employed by
their
Various sections of the population developed

superiors.
each their own conception of what the standard tongue
should be.
The result
following styles
"
is
seen to-day in the existence of the
COOLIE TALK."
This
is
the
Kuan Hua, mangled and
battered by the careless tongues of coolies. As coolies were

for many years the main instrument of communication
between the various parts of the great Empire, it is readily

conceived that each would bring from his own particular
"
"
and slang to add to the
district some item of
patois
Thus
even
to
the
general pool.
present day coolies from
of
different
the
widely
country will be able to underparts
stand each other where more highly educated persons would
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
10
be at a
loss.
In addition, the coolies are given to twisting
and slurring the simplest sounds even as they are prone to

do with the more difficult ones. In spite of this, but little
practice
among
the natives
is
necessary to enable a good
Mandarin to speak and understand

development of the national speech.
speaker of
The KUAN HUA
is
the ordinary educated
this peculiar
means
of inter-
course.
The LOWER WEN-LI
is
frequently used as a spoken style

by students and aspirants for
as well as a written form
positions residing in the vicinity of the great UniIt is merely a modification of the
versity at Peking.
official
HIGHER WEN-LI i.e., the Easy Written Style. Considerations of wide distinctions existing between the two countries
forbid the comparison with anything of a similar nature
us.
Finally, one may say that to speak the WEN-LI
considered a sign of rather superior specialised learning.
Notes on Prosody. At first sight it may appear
(g).
among
is
strange to see any mention of the art of Poesy in a work on

Colloquial Chinese. The Chinese are of complex psychoWere the dreams of the average Chinese translated
logy.
Empire would be at once the most

most powerful, the most envied, and the most
And as the day winds its sultry way
brilliant in the world.
along, the native, humble or of dignified estate, beguiles the
into reality, the Celestial

beautiful, the
sunlit hours with snatches of song or with excerpts
from
the world-old Classic of Poetry. Practical and matter-offact as he is in matters of business, at heart John Chinaman
is
a dreamer of dreams, a metaphysician and philosopher

He is fond of speaking in riddles and
of a high order.
parables, and the surest way to his heart is to memorise a

store of his proverbial dicta and bring them into the
conversation at every possible juncture. Although until
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
11
recently quite neglected (Dr. Taylor Headland's work being

purely concerned with nursery-rhymes), the song of the
coolie is a
mine whence
may
be extracted the gems of
understanding of the nature of this wonderful people.

Labourers in the fields, coolies carrying heavy loads,
men lazing while awaiting a fare, in fact, men

of every type in China, express their thoughts through the
medium of verse.
jinrickshaw
Chinese poetry has many rules but, generally speaking,

they are simple and easy of comprehension. The metres
are many also, but those mostly used are
Four syllables to the line.

Seven syllables to the line.
"
"
That classic example, the San Tzu Ching," or ThreeCharacter Poem," which is the first book to be learned by
Chinese schoolboys, has three syllables only to the line, but
such is not a common example. Rhyme is very much
(a)
(b)
from our conception of it, as it is merely necessary

that the main vowel sound and the tone should be the same
different
two rhyming syllables for the poem to be perfect. Thus,

to quote from the above-mentioned work, there is no flaw
in the following excerpt
in
a child does not learn.

not as it should be.
Yu* pu hsiieh If he does not learn when young.
Lao 8 ho* wei*, What will he do when he is old ?
Tzti*
pu
Fei 1 so*
hsiieh
t*,
This
If
is
Here the
last
word of the second
native ears a correct

line
line
rhyme with the
(pronounced EE), is to
word of the fourth
last
(pronounced WAY).
good example of the four-syllable metre
is
found in
"
another Chinese school-book, the

Ch'ien tzu Wn," or
"
Thousand-Character Classic." This remarakble compilation consists of one
united as to compose a
thousand different characters, so

outlining data of the mos;
poem
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
12
essential type on all the elementary subjects taught to

Chinese youth. It thus serve c the double purpose of storing
the mind with a thousand different characters of primary
importance and of impregnating the young native with

of the essentials of knowledge.
But as this
properly belongs to the department of the written language,
we will leave it to be re-discovered by the student at a later
some idea
stage of his labours.

Poems in the seven-syllable metre abound and metres of
eight, ten, eleven, and even higher numbers of syllables are
The metre of the street-song or coolie-ballad
to be found.
is variable,
I Srh* san 1
but
is chiefly
of the following type
wu*, One, two, three, four, five.

shih* Srh* shih z wu 3 Five times five are twenty-five.
2
a
1
task.
Chung* chung* wo ti /ao
heavy is
Man* man* wo 3 ti 1 fan*,
long the time to dinner !
Wu 3
shih 2
ssti*
wu 3
How
How
my
There
is
in this
example of a
coolie song another peculi-
the second line being susceptible (by tone-change) of

But these would lose their value by being trans-
arity
puns.
lated and, in any case, the student could at this stage
hardly benefit by understanding them. In conclusion, it
may
be stated that by studying and examining these

many valuable colloquialisms may be added to one's
verses
vocabulary.
3.
VARIETIES OF CHINESE.
The student must be prepared
to encounter
many
varie-
other than those of style in this most difficult of tongues.

It is no exaggeration to say that there are of Kuan Hua
ties
than five subdivisions, each requiring as much

study as a separate language. These may be summariesd thus
no
less
definite
1.
Wln-li.
Used by Scholars.
VARIETIES OF CHINESE
2.
3.
Kuan Hua
Proper. spoken by the general welleducated public and by officials.

Kuan Hua Patois. Spoken by the lower class generally
4.
13
No. 2 interspersed with localisms and
is
replete with slang and slurred pronunciations.

The Classical Written Style. As extant in the days of
Confucius, and
still
the sine qua non for University
aspirants.
5.
The Epistolary
Style.
Used
solely in writing letters,
etc.
No. 4
is
the most difficult of
all,
but the
first
three alone
concern us in the present work. More will be found later

on these matters, but for general purposes No. 2 is the
essential to be attacked.
EXAMINATION OF STYLES OF WRITING.

4.
The question of the antiquity of Chinese writing is a very
vexed one. Long verbal and calamic wars have been
waged as to whether it sprang from, or gave birth to, other
very ancient national
scripts,
such as the Egyptian Hiero-
glyphs, the Assyrian Cuneiform or Wedge-writing, etc.

Some sinologues have placed the historic notice of the
Chinese written language at about B.C. 2000, while admitting at the same time that many centuries must have
been needed before the first crude symbols could have
developed into such form as was at that time in vogue.

Much native information must unfortunately be discredited
the mythological element being too strong. There is,
That
however, one undeniable fact to be faced, namely
the Chinese written language was a very slow gradual process from primitive beginnings.
It is recorded that the
:
Chinese in the
first
instance used notched sticks
and
(as did the Incas of Peru in their primitive

and
that
their first efforts in writing were confined to,
state),
knotted cords
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE.
14
and
later
modelled on, their copies or drawings of these
ele-
mentary systems of recording passing events. Some of the

characters to the present day remind one of pictures of
notched
sticks.
power to leave a mark, however

some circumstance easily recalled
on later seeing such mark again, the Chinese began to copy
the forms of visible objects such as sun, moon, tree, bird,
man, etc., exercising no little ingenuity in cases where
ambiguity might occur. But all too soon they discovered
that they had exploited this source to the full without
having written counterparts for more than a very slight
fraction of their colloquial vocabulary. Then followed a
long period of enforced idleness in which little was done
towards the development of this monumental script.
Having discovered
their
primitive, to represent
SOUND TABLE.
Vowels and Dipthongs.
" "
"
pronounced as a in father."
A.
is
When
"
chuan,"
"
e.g.,
"
its
an of canny."
" "
"
"
"
"
is pronounced as
e
in
and as
pen
ay in
"
" "
May." It has the first sound when between i
"
"
"
"
and n," e.g., chien," mien
the second sound
sound
"
in the final syllable

an,"
"
is shortened almost to the
when followed by " h,"
as in
"
"
"
"
chieh,"
mieh,"
"
etc.
pronounced always as u in fun e.g., fen "is

sounded exactly as "fun" in English. There is a
"
"
tendency in such words as erh to make the sound
"
"
"
ur
of the English word
slur," but
equal to the
it will be seen that this is merely a modification of the
true open sound. In addition it is frequently found
" "
"
that a word ending in n precedes this final
erh."
is
VOWELS AND DIPTHONGS

In such cases the
"
'
16
'
is
elided and all the other letters
"
run together e.g., pan-erh" is pronounced

"
men-erh is pronounced
merh," and so on.
I
"
mint
' '
and as in
park,"
' '
machine.
first of these sounds is employed before a nasal
"
"
"
ming,"
ting," etc., the second when the
"
"
as in
is pronounced
the final letter of the word
"
"
e.g.,
chi,"
"
"
The
e.g.,
"
is
li," etc.
"
aw
in
awful."
pronounced as
"
Thus the word wo," the pronoun of the first person
"
in Chinese, is pronounced like our word
war,"
" "
r
without the final
sound. Care must be taken
is
invariably
not to pronounce it otherwise or great confusion will

result, as will be seen when we consider the diphthongs.
is
pronounced as
"
"
in
ception to this rule, viz.:
"
pull."
the verb
There is one ex" "

to be
yu,"
"
which
is always pronounced as the first syllable of

our word "yokel."
"
"
"
u in lune," or the
is pronounced as the French
German
"
"
"
u in suss."
"
"
"
AI is the sound of the ai in the word aisle," but the
sound is more closed.
AO is the same sound as that of "ow" in English
"
how ? ", but the sound is not so open.
El is a very rare diphthong, but where it does occur it
"
"
"
in
has the sound of ay
May."
OU has precisely the sound of the English word " owe."
"
IU approximates to the sound of "ew" in new," but
is more open or lengthened.
UA is " oo-ah," but spoken more rapidly. It is almost
"
the sound of the
w " in " want."
UI
nearly as in
CA
The sounds
"
fluid,"
but more open.
of the individual letters run quickly
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
16
together will produce this sound. It

"
"
ew-a
in Kew-and-Richmond.
the
is
to
from a native.
pronounce
this correctly until learnt
almost like
It is difficult
One exception not mentioned above should receive

"
"
attention here. The word
wang," meaning
king," or
"
"
prince,' has always the sound
wong." In some systems
of
Romanization
the
"
"
of the
it is
always spelt with an
Wade
"
"
in place of
system.
Consonants^
Chinese
is
poorer in consonants than
is
English, while
some
of the double consonants appear at first sight very

strange to the eye of one versed in the Latin tongues. Such
combinations of consonations, however, have been chosen

as the nearest means of representing those sounds which
most alien and difficult. Such are,

and the aspirated ch, p, tz, which need
are to an English ear the

for example, hs,
tz,
special care owing to the fact that there is nothing analo"

word about the aspirate"
gous in our Western tongues.
is
here essential.
Some
Chinese
Sinologues have affirmed that the aspirate in

of greater importance than the tones.
This is a
is
very vexed question, but there can be no doubt that both

are of as vital importance as the vocabulary itself. The
Chinese having such a paucity of different vocables it
became necessary
to devise
some means
utility of the existing collection
So
of increasing the
this difficulty was over-
come by the emission of a strong breath immediately after

the preliminary consonant or consonants. The nearest
approach to this in the English language is the strong Irish
breathing given to some words by natives of the Emerald
"
"
Isle.
The effect of this aspirate is produced by the
"
h," together with the
rapid pronunciation of the letter
CONSONANTS
sound of the word.
system of romanisation
17
Thus a word
initial
spelt in the
Wade
pronounced as though spelt

"
"
ch-h-ee
a word spelt in this work ch'ien will be enunciated ch-h-ee-en, though of course spoken rapidly in order
to conform to the monosyllabic nature of the language.
It must be continually borne in mind that the aspirate is
is
of
paramount importance
in the enunciation of Chinese.
be omitted in the pronunciation of a single word where

properly lies, it will have the effect either of making the
If it
it
sentence utterly unintelligible, or of changing the meaning

Some of the most disastrous as well as some of
entirely.
the most amusing mistakes have arisen from this cause.
CH is a sound midway between the "ch" of "church"
" "
"
and the j of jam." The Chinese do not allow a slight
emission of breath to follow their consonants as
The pronunciation
than with
CH'
is
of consonants
do.
us.
the sound of
"
ch
"
in
"
church
"
but
much more
Pronounce aspirated consonants as
strongly aspirated.
though they were actually followed by another

"
we
must be much cleaner
"
"
e.g.,
chhurch."
F is sounded
as in English.
K. This letter has a sound intermediate between the

"
"
"
"
"
"
of
k
of
and the
g
gun." See remarks
king
"
under CH. Pronounce it almost as a hard g."
"
K'.
"kh"
of "ink-
Keeping the
lips well
much compressed, pronounce a
p," at
This letter should be sounded as the
horn."
L.
As
M.
N.
As
As
P.
This
in English.
in English.
in English.
is
almost a
closed, but not too
"
"
sound.
"
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
18
the same time taking care that no emission of breath follows

the consonant on to the vowel.
is a strongly aspirated "p."
but
more readily.
Uphill,"
This
P'.
"
As
S.
in
in English.
As
SH.
Pronounce as
in English.
a sharp hissing sound, and in the mouth of some

Chinese almost resembles a whistle. It will be sufficient
SS
is
for the student to

in
French or
pronounce
it
with the same sharpness as
Italian.
"
"
sound. Remembering again what

was said under CH, place the tip of the tongue at the top
"
of the palate near the upper row of teeth and articulate
t."
T'
"
almost a
is
is
the
"
"
th
"
of the Irishman's
"
thea."
The word
a good memoria technica.

TS is almost like the " dz " of " adze."
"
"
"
TS' is the
ts
in the expression
bits-of-wood."
TZ is like TS, and is only followed by " u." Tzu
"
"
"
sound similar to the zz of buzz."
outhouse
TZ'
W.
Y.
is
is
is
the preceding sound followed closely by an aspirate.
As in English.
As in English.
In addition to the foregoing, there are also a few combinations of vowels which may be called Tripthongs.
Although of comparatively rare occurrence, it will be
necessary for the student to be familiar with their sounds.
"
"
IAI is pronounced as y-i," in the expression
really"
"
"
I
ee-I
i.e., its sound is that of
rapidly uttered.
"
"
IAO. This is pronounced as the yow in the slang
"
"
word,
yowl
meaning to howl mournfully, to make a
plaintive noise.
CONSONANTS
19
UAI. Pronounce this as many careless speakers of

"
"
English enunciate the interrogative
Why ? " i.e., with"
"
out the aspirate, or as the wi in the word wide."
Remember
that the most difficult of
all
the sounds in the
Chinese language are the following, and endeavour at the

outset to master them properly as faulty enunciation in
is very difficult to conquer at a later stage.
"
"
"
"
occurs only after
ch,"
ch'," and
sh," and
j."
Its sound is at times scarcely perceptible so rapid is
"
the pronunciation of all the words in final
h." This
"
"
final
h is the relic in romanisation of a tone now practi-
these instances
IH
cally lost to the Pekingese.
There
is
a tendency
among
Europeans and, indeed, among foreigners generally to stress

" "
"
this syllable far too heavily.
i
If we take the
of
impossible," spoken
by a
emphasising a little
"
the Chinese
ih."
its
gentleman in a fit of temper,

brevity, we shall have the sound of
choleric
This syllable again is much too heavily stressed

In the mouth of a native it very frequently
resembles a sotto voce whistle. For all practical purposes,
SSU.
by
foreigners.
a near enough approximation to pronounce it as one

"
first syllable of our word
surrender," minus, of
" "
r
sound. Note that in this and in the next
course, the
"
"
u stands for a nondescript sound and does not
case, the
in any way indicate the vowel sound intended to follow
it is
would the
the double consonant. A similar sound is found in the

" "
"
"
a of Hindustani, or the initial and final a
"
of the word
America."
unaccented
TZU and TZ'U. As these two syllables differ only in the

matter of the aspirate, our remarks as to the former will
"
sound necessarily
apply to the latter except for the "h
combined
in
the latter.
We
have remarked that the
20
English equivalent is the "dz" of the word "adze." Here
it will be plainly seen that no vowel sound is required after
the consonants.
As
it is
presumed that the student
will
from time to time
consult other works on Chinese, it is deemed advisable to

give here a warning that many useful books are to be
obtained in which a system of Romanisation, differing from

that of Sir Thomas Wade, is employed. These systems are
very puzzling to one accustomed to the Wade orthography,

and we propose giving at length a comparative sound-table
showing the relative values of Chinese vocables according
to the styles invented by the various Sinologues named.
WADE
A
BALLER
MATEER
WILLIAMS
SOUND TABLE
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
WADE
SOUND TABLE.
WADE
23
24
SOUND TABLE
WADE
25
26
SOUND TABLE
WADE
27
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
WADE
SOUND TABLE
WADE
29
30
SOUND TABLE
WADE
31
32
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
33
Although none of the above systems are perfect for the

purpose of transliterating the Chinese characters, yet, as
has been remarked before, the Wade style has been adjudged
the nearest approach to the actual sounds as pronounced
by a native. By means of this table, the student can for
himself transfer into the latter words and phrases found
the very useful works by the originators of the other
schemes of Romanisation.
It will
be found useful also for
the purpose of comparison as to the real value of the various

sounds of the Chinese language. A very good and profitable plan would be to go through the entire table with a
native or a Western scholar of Chinese.
LESSON
The student
is strongly advised to cover up the English

translations of the Chinese Exercises until he has made an
independent effort to arrive at the meaning of the sentences
Then he should
himself.
try to
put the English again into
idiomatic Chinese, this time covering his own translation ;

then comparison should be made and errors corrected.
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE.

1.
As has been before remarked the construction
Chinese sentence
desires
and
of the
so far as the ordinary

necessities of conversation are concerned.
is
simplicity itself
We
now proceed
to give examples of the simplest kind, viz.:

the tri-verbal sentence.
Wo 3 yao* mai*
Wo 3 yao*mai 3
Wo 3 pu yao*
Ni* pu l yao*
T'a 1
pu yao*
wish to
wish to buy
do not want
You do
He
sell
not want
does not want
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
34
1
T'a laiHiao
T'a 1 mei z
Kao*
Ni
lai 2
t'a
Tell
lai
You come
su*
kuo*
Chi 3 shih 2
Chi 3 shih*
1
T'a lao
Ch'a 1
pu
The
He has come
He has not come
over here
At what time do you go ?

At what time will you come
ch'ti*
lai 2
He
la 1
him
very old
There is not much difference.
to 1
is
rationale of such sentences
is
easily seen
when the
meanings of each word are put together in English. In the

case of the last two sentences the words mean literally
:
'
He
great," or
"
difference not
old
and
As
"He
has reached a great age
"
too much."
be seen from the above examples, the tri-verbal

sentence generally takes the form of noun or pronoun
or noun or pronoun negative and verb.
verb and object
This is as far as it is wise to take the grammatical analogy
with which we are so familiar, since these parts of speech as
such do not exist in Chinese.
"I wish to go but he wants to stay,"
In the sentence
will
we
two simple sentences in

or
without
a
with
conjunction. The Chinese
juxtaposition
"
"
"
for
but
is
tan*," although this is by no
equivalent
means used as much as in English. Thus our sentence will
"
read
Wo 3 yao* ch'ii*, t'a 1 pu 1 yao* " literally, " I want
This would be much more common than
go, he not want."
find the Chinese to consist of
would the sentence with tan* as the fourth word

the
in place of
comma.
Taking now a small vocabulary, we can proceed, knowing

the primary meanings and explaining the use of the various
particles as they appear, to simple exercises, wherein the
structure of the language will appear more clearly than
THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
35
would be the case by attempting to force grammatical

analysis upon such a language as Chinese.
wo 8 I (myself).
wo a -mSn*, we
ni 3 -ti, your.
yao*, to want.
ni a you.
ni a -mn*, you (plural).
mai 3 to buy.
wo*-ti,
mai*, to sell.
shen 2 -mo, what
tung -hsi
l
,
a thing.
kuan*, to change (generally

peated.
re-)
t'a -ti, his, hers, its.
H 3 -wu*, a
present.
k'uai*, quick.
ch'u*, to go.
meanings.
sung*, to give, as a present, etc.
him, her, it.
yu s to have.
t'a 1 , he,
pa
1
,
an emphatic
final particle
a sign of imperative mood.
jen*,
che^-ko, this.
liao* final particle, finished,

past, full stop.
na*-ko, that.
3
ftei
to give, and many other
/a,
mine, my.
a man.
From
Notes.
2.
the above
it
will
be seen that the
particle ti is a mark of the genitive or possessive case, save

in the case of adjectives in which event the addition of ti
transforms the adjective into an adverb, e.g.

k'uai (adj.] quick
k'uai-ti (adv.)
m$n added
Also that
quickly
makes
but only to pronouns
plural of singular.
Ko*
3.
is
what
is
known
as an auxiliary numeral
after the cardinal
is, it is
placed immediately
the ordinals are formed by means of
speech, thus
it
and
ti,
that
numbers and
in the coolie
CARDINALS.
(1)
P-ko
(2)
Hang
-ko
(3)
san l -ko
(4) ssu^-ko.
ORDINALS.
ko-ti
(1st) i-^ko-ti
(4th) ssifi-ko-ti, etc.
(2nd) liang*-ko-ti
1(3rd) san
(More will be found in Lesson
3.)
4.
"
What
to give,"
examples.
meant by saying that kei 3 has the meaning

and many others can best be illustrated by
It frequently translates some of our preposiis
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
36
common example
tions, as seen in the
Hsieh 3 hsin*
kei*
to write a letter to (some one or other).

3
3
(b) Wo yao* huan*-huan chS*-ko-kei na*-ko*.
want to change this for that. Literally

want change change this, give that.
Kei 3 sometimes has the force of " at ", and in the vulgar
I
"
speech
5.
with."
Sung*
"
literally,
is
to escort," as
give," and means,

though the present were escorted
by the thoughts and wishes

Pa*
"
a more polite word lor
of the giver.
the sign of the Imperative, and in many cases

carries with it a derogatory sense, so that it should only be
"
"
used to inferiors.
is a frequent expression
Ch'u*-pa
"
" "
for
Clear out
Be off with you " In the polite
6.
is
and
language, etiquette comes

ever, necessary to employ the Imperative
done by suggestion rather than order.
to the aid,
7.
Liao 3 or
,
la*,
as
it is
it is
scarcely,
if
everything being
more commonly pronounced,
is,
on the other hand, a universally-used terminal particle.

It rounds off a phrase or a sentence
(b) shows the comof
an
action
under
discussion
pletion
(c) shows that the
theme of the conversation is closed. It may be called the
"
spoken period." As will be seen later, the Chinese have
similar words to express colloquially, the mark of interroga;
tion,
mark
of exclamation, etc.
EXERCISE
IA.
(a)
Wo 3 yao*
(b)
Ni 3 -men 2 yao* mai 3 sMn z -mo
ch'u*.
(c)
Wo s
(d)
Ni 3 mai*
(e)
T'a 1 sung* wo 3
(/)
Ni yao* mai
3
sung*
t'a 1
che*-ko.
na*-ko.
3
U 3 -wu.
shen z -mo ?
l
tung -hsi ?
NEGATIVES AND THEIR USE

(g)
Ni 3
(h)
T'a mai*-la chS*-ko.
(i)
(j)
k'uai* ch'u* pa.

/at 2 , k'uai* lai 2
K'uai*
Lai^-liao.
EXERCISE
(a)
want
(b)
What
(c)
(d)
(e)
(/)
(g)
am
IB.
to go (away).
do you wish to buy
(thing)
sending him this (or
You sell that.

He sent me a present.
What do you want to buy
You get out quick
send him
this).
(h)
He
(t)
Hurry up
sold this.
(The Chinese almost invariably repeat
this phrase and, as a rule, repeat
"
times.)
(j)
37
(I)
Literally,
Come
most ejaculations several
quickly."
have come.
\
NEGATIVES AND THEIR USE.
Pu l
Met 2
not,
fei
mo
a,
va
(final
or before interrogative).
no, not, none of
not, no, without, wanting (an initial word)

out, to spring from
wu*
ch'u 1
no
not, not right, false, is not

suffixed to a sentence containing a query.
This is the spoken mark of interrogation.
suffixed to a sentence containing startling
news or intelligence. This is the spoken
mark
of exclamation.
It is also arbi-
used on any occasion, as, e.g.,

when calling a person. If a person had
trarily
the
name Ming,
often be Ming-a
the call would most

!
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
38
na?-i l ko*
- which
ch*-li*
- here
- there
- where
na*-li
na 3 -li
8.
The
shuo 1 -
to speak
words, speech
shuo l -hua converse, conversation
hua*
tsai*
at, near, by, in
correct use of the negatives in Chinese
lutely essential to comprehensible speaking.
abso-
is
a few
By
it is hoped that the student will appreciate the

underlying principle and will not find this so great a
examples
difficulty.
Pu 1 is used in the sense of refusal or disinclination towards

a positive
act,
while met 2 indicates rather that there has not
happened what might have been expected or there

of what one hoped to find.
EXAMPLE
T' a 1
1.
pii*-
lai 2
lai 2
He won't come
He has not come
He
He
ch'u 1 lai 2
T'a 1 met ^ch'u 1

9.
none
T'a 1 mei 2
EXAMPLE 2.
T'a 1 pu 1
is
lai 2
Remember, however,
Never, in Mandarin, use
pu
won't
come out
has not come out
this
l
very important rule.

with the verb yu 3 to have.
z
1
2
3
1
2
3
Always use mei as wo met yu I have not, t'a met yu
1
s
he has not, etc. The use of pu with yu is one of the
,
gravest offences in speaking Northern Chinese.
(N.B.
In
Yunnan, however, met 2 seems to be unknown, and there one

hears on every hand the expression pu^-yu 3 which to the
,
Northerner
10.
is
unpardonable.)
a classical word than one of colloquial
frequently used in the written modern style,
Wu 2 is more
usage and is
but as it is often to be met in quotations from the classics
in every-day speech,
it
is
necessary to describe
"
"
"
it.
Its
"
meaning is best described as without or not having

and its position is at the beginning of a sentence or phrase.
NEGATIVES AND THEIR USE

EXAMPLE
Wu
shan* jen
"
39
without- virtue
"
man
a vicious
man
Wu
"
"
chin 1 tai*
without-knowledge
dynasty
an ignorant generation.
Fei 1
also a written language negative, and what

wu 2 may be repeated here. Fei 1 is a nega"
He who is not " or " is
tive in the sense of contrariety
11.
is
has been said of
"
"
that which is not," etc.

There are more negatives than those mentioned above,
but they will suffice for the student of colloquial. The
not right,"
that which
is
false,"
reason for the large number of negative expressions in

Chinese is to be found in the fact that in this language the
negative construction
is
Reduced to a
positive.
almost always preferred to the

literal example from a native
expression A Chinese much prefers to say that a thing

"
"
"is not without it
than to say
it has it."
But the
student will have opportunity of getting exercise in the
Chinese negatives ere long.
EXERCISE
3
(a)
wo mei
(b)
t'a 1
(c)
wo 3 pu l
1
t'a
(d)
Ii
t'a
(/)
lai
g) t'a
t'a 1 tsai*
(i)
ch'ii*.
(k)
3
mei sung* ni na*-ko

kei 3
2
wo 3
mei ch'u
2
(/)
shud-hua
ch'u*.
mei k'uai*
kei 3
(n)
Iai -la.
(o)
yao*
pu
t'a
na^-P-ko jen 2
?
chP-li lai 2
1
yao*k'uai*'-shuo -h'ua.
shSn z-mo jen 2 ch'u 1 lai 2 - (p) shen 2 -mo jen

la ?
ni ?
(h)
na 3-i-ko jen 2 Iai 2 -la ?

t'a 1 Iai 2 -liao mei lai 2 ni
3
(m) ni
1
na 3 -li ni
(j) tsai* che*-li.
lai*
pu
2A.
-wu.
t'a 1
(e)
pu
shuo 1 -hua
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
40
EXERCISE
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
have not come.
He
will
(k)
not come.
speaking
present.
(e)
(/)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
2B.
(Which man) Who has

come ?
I will not go.
he come or not ?
(/) Has
He has not sent you that (m) To whom were you
I
He will not give me.

He has not gone out.
He did not come quickly,
What man has come out ?
Where
is
(He
here
is)
he
?
(lit.
(n)
want him
(I)
to
come
here.
do not want (you) to

speak quickly.
(o)
(I)
(p)
Who i^ the man speaking?
at here).
LESSON
2.
EXERCISES ON THE POSITION OF NEGATIVES.

12.
As has already been
"
stated,
"
position
is
all-
Chinese construction, and, above all, the

important
of
the
negative needs close and particular attention.
position
in
In this lesson the force of the transference of the negative

will be displayed
from one part of the sentence to the other

fully.
In the sentences t'a 1

"
we have
literally
pu
he not
mei* ch'u 1 lai 2

"
he not
not come," and
ch'u 1 lai*
(will)
and
t'a
(has) out come," and in order to convey the meaning of the

"
He won't (i.e., refuses to) come out "
English expressions,
"
"
and he has not come out the Chinese expressions above
If, however, we move the negative word
nearer the end of the sentence, we change the meaning of
the first in a very great degree, and the second to a lesser,
are invariable.
but
still important, alteration, thus

T'a 1 ch'u 1 pu 1 lai 2 He cannot (i.e., is unable to) come out,
or He cannot get out.
:
1
41
lai
He has not come out as yet or
he has not come out.
z
T'a mei ch'u
Even
in this
so far
primary example, the importnace, idiomatinegative correctly can be seen. There
cally, of placing the
many more
however,
are,
idioms formed purely by the
position of the negative particle.

"
we take
the word chih 1 meaning to know," with

"
tao*
a way (as in the example t'ieh 3 tao*, lit. iron road,"
"
1i.e.,
railway "), we have the colloquial compound chih
"
for
which
is
the
to
know."
commonest
tao,
expression
Now with the word shih* meaning " to be," we can make a
If
13.
"
"
negative sentence as follows
Wo
pu
From
14.
know
know
this
what we should
that
is
These compound verbs
tsou -tung*, to walk.

k'an*-shu l to read.
though not
shifr-pai*, to
all
fail.
chung^-chieh to end.
ch'i 3-lai 2 to begin.
1
to answer.
tal-ying
nien*-shu l to read, study.

,
w6n*, to ask.
take the sentence

t'a
ni 3
1
;
hsiao 3
PU
asked him you didn't (quite) know
as opposed to the following
Pu 1
hsiao 3-t*, to know.
Wo 3
is
be seen that frequently one uses

compound verbs. This is, of course,
k'an*-chien*, to see.
thing
it
will
it
call
are frequently split by the negative

verbs can be so used.
wo 3 wen*
what
what thing
natural in a monosyllabic language.
Now
shen'2 -mo tung l -hsi l
chih -tao* na*-ko* shih*
do not
do not
I
I
wen*
t'a
asked
him
U.
(or cannot),
ni3
pu
you
don't
chih l -tao*.
(or didn't)
know.
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
42
15.
Although there is actually not a shade of difference
"
between the two compounds used for to know," as they
are interchangeable, yet the meaning is different owing to

the negative being placed between the component parts of
the verb.
1
chih
and
It is
not the custom to insert
1
pu between
tao*.
3
Similarly with the verb tsou -tung. Although one
definite
of
an
act in both forms, yet
negation
may
3
l
1
t'a pu tsou -tung* means he will not (refuses to) walk, while
"
l
3
1
t'a tsou pu tung* means "he cannot walk,"
he is unable
"
he can hardly walk." One must
to walk," or, possibly,
16.
assume a
on the context
rely
ta*,
pu
3
,
small,
nng 2
tuan 3 short
little.
good, love.
-hao, bad,
,
3
tung -t, understand, com-
no good.
prehend.
hui*, can, able.
ch'ang
Wo
I
(in length).
man*, slow.
can, able.
meaning.
at 3 , short (in height).
great, big, large.
hsiao 3
hao
for the finer shades of
ming
-pai,
understand.
long.
k'an*-chien ta*
ti
k'an*
(can) see the large (ones)
Ni 3 ming 2 -pai 2 mo
Wo 3 tung 3 pu 1 te 2
.
Do
?
I
pu
chien* hsiao 3
ti.
cannot see the small (ones).

you understand ?
(I)
do not
(quite) understand.
T'a 1 shuo 1 k'uai liao-yao man*-man*-ti shuo 1 hua*.

He spoke quickly. (I) want slower speech.
2
8 "
to
Remembering that mei is the negative for_yw
be
note
here
as
another
made
follows
have,"
may
Mei 2 need not be followed invariably by yu 3 in point of
"
2
notfact, by constant usage met has come to be almost a
"
have negative so that frequently it is met in front of a
17.
43
main -verb without auxiliary yu 3 to have as witness the

following examples
:
T'a 1 mei z
T'a 1 mei z
lai z for
T'a 1 mei 1
k' an*-chien* la,
Wo 3
mei* ming z -pai z
yu
He
la, I
Chet-ko shih* ch'ang 2
(b)
Na*-ko shih*
(c)
T'a 1
(d)
(e)
ta*>,
He
have not understood.

BA.
na*-ko shih* tuan 3
che*-ko shih* hsiao 3

z
has not come.
has not seen.
EXERCISE
(a)
lai z ,
ch'u pu
pu ch'u lai
Ni 3 -m^n t ming z -pai z mo ?
Ni s chihl-tao* pu chih l -tao* ?
lai z liao
mo
(h)
Man*-man-ti shuo 1 k l uai*-k'uai*-ti shuo pu 1 hao 3

Kei 3 wo 3 k'an*-chien.
Na*-ko skik* ch'ang z shih* tuan s wo 5 pu 1 chih 1 - tao*.
(a)
This
is
(6)
That
is big, this is small.
(c)
Will he not
(/)
(g)
EXERCISE
(d)
(e)
long, that
Do you
Do you
(plural)
it is
Speak slowly,
(g)
Let
(h)
(Whether) that
18.
understand
(singular)
see
Example
SB.
short.
come out or can he not
(/)
me
is
(lit.
(g)
know
or not
bad to speak quickly.
give
is
get out
me
look
see).
long or short, I do not know.
in the preceding exercise
would be
3
3
better expressed colloquially by kei wo k'an*-k'an (lit.,
give me look-look), as this is the phrase generally heard
amongst the natives. The one in the exercise may stand,
however, as being perfectly correct and also occasionally

heard.
Example (h) shows a favourite location in Chinese.

"
Where we say Whether it is so or not, long or short, large
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
44
or small," the Chinese puts the two adjectives in juxta-
any introductory conjunction or
position, independent of
relative, e.g.
T'a 1 hao 3 pu l hao 3 wo 3 pu 1 chifr-tao* (Whether) he

or bad I do not know.
,
19.
"
It
does not matter
"
is
good
is
translated colloquially
by
pu* yao* chin so we may make a longer sentence thus

Na*-ko ch'ang 2 tuan 3 che*-ko ta* hsiao 3 t'a 1 hao 3 pu 1 hao 3
That long short, this great small, he good not good.
3
Ni 3 ming*-pai pu 1 ming z -pai, pu 1 yao* chin 3

You understand not understand (it) does not
"
matter (whether) that
It doesn't
matter.
is
long (or) short,

(whether) he is good (or)
bad, (whether) you understand (or) not."
(whether) this
20.
is
great
(or) small,
hui*.
Nng 2 and
"
These two words are in everyday

"
"
able to do." Nng

can,"
ability,"
meaning
implies more proficiency than hui* and there are again other
distinctions as to their use
Suppose two men were speaking
very rapidly in Chinese, slurring their words and not
enunciating their sentences clearly. Then one (an outsider)
use,
understanding Chinese might say

T'a l -men man^-man-ti shuo^-hua, wo 3 ming z -pai, or better,
T' oil-men jo* man^-man-ti shuo^-hua, wo 3 neng 2 ming z -pai
:
If
they spoke slowly
common word
could understand, jo* being the
for "if."
Supposing, however, one of the onlookers wished to

know if his neighbour understood Chinese, he would not
use neng 2 for
"
can
question,
Ni* hui*
or able," in his question,

Chinese is chung l -kuo* hua*,
"
China
"
and the
Can you speak Chinese would run thus
chung^kou* and
"
"
shuo 1
speak China-speech
chung
?
kuo*
hua*
mo
You
able
45
Reduced to a
one might say that what with us are
rule,
regarded as accomplishments
e.g., speaking foreign lanmusical

instruments,
etc., need the word
guages, playing
hui*, whereas in cases where degrees of proficiency or
adaptability are concerned
Fa*kuo 2
NSng
is
the word indicated.
3
2
France,
Japan, Jih*-pe*n -kuo
0*-kuo 2 Germany, Te 2 -kuo 2 Austria, Ao*-kuo z
;
Russia,
England
l
2
Ying -kuo
21.
Another negative which is frequently used, especi1
l
2
ally with shuo hua, is pieh which is almost equal topu yao*,
"
"
l
2
Pieh
as
shuo -hua,
Be quiet," lit., not want speech."
"
Also pieh 2 ch'ang*,
don't sing." Pieh 2 kuan 1 mSn z lit.,
"
"
not want shut door."
Don't shut the door." The
student is warned that he will find this word pronounced as
"
though spelt bay," and the first phrase will sound to him
"
"
like
bay shwah
(for bee-ay shwaw-hwah) but this is a
which
his
to
ear will become accustomed only by
slurring
.
practice.
When
the two negatives wu 2 zndfei 1 come together

in a sentence (a construction beloved of the native speaker)
the result is a strong positive. This form is used often
22.
where emphasis or insistence is required, e.g.

Ni^-mSn wu 2 fei 1 ch&* mo k'uai*-ti shuo l -hua mo ?
:
You (plural) always

Do you always speak
this quickly-quickly
as rapidly as this
speak
Che* is here short for che*-ko. The ko is very frequently

dropped when che^-ko and na*-ko precede words with which
they are constantly associated.
Ni*-mn* wu*
You
(plural)
fei
Asm 4 ntei* lai 2 liao.

know answer not has come
chiW-tao* hui*
not have is-not
finish.
You
are certain that no answer has
come
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
46
Mo is a negative used with a verb in the Imperative
23.
"
"
Mood, and means not," do not."

which are important idiomatically,
Mo* ta 3 wo*, Do not beat me.
Mo*
"
Do
k'uai*-ti tsou 3 -tung*,
it," etc., as in
e.g.
not walk rapidly.
With an adjective mo has a meaning

nothing like
has also other uses
It
"
"
of
incomparable
Mo* hsiao a yii 2
ch*-ko, Nothing so small as this.

"
"
"
at," and is dealt with in a
with,"
by,"
(Yii means
later chapter.)
Mo*
ta* yii* na-ko,
Nothing so large as
that.
With the word jo* the negative mo has the sense of "it
would be better." This is the colloquia equivalent of the
written language expression pu l ju 2 having the same
meaning and
also the sense
"
not so good as."
chiao* t'a 1 o*-kuo z
Mo* jo* (orju )

to teach him Russian.
2
hua 2
It
e.g.
would be better
"
not yet,
the negative wei*, meaning
never," is only used with verbs in the past tense, e.g.
Wo 3 wei* ts'e'ng* ch'u* I have not as yet gone.
24.
Finally,
Tal-m^n* wei*
The
verbs,
and
They have not yet come.
ts'fag* lai*-la,
"
attached to
tense-particle
will be found explained in the chapter on verbs.
Ts'fag* here used
is
"
VOCABULARY OF
pit-yao, ought, must.
kao'su, tell, inform.
yang*, kind, sort, fashion.
NEW WORDS.
hsi*, fine, small,
shui*.
same
who
minute.
pronoun),
(relative
z
as shen -mo
j&ri*.
3
few, a small number.
i^-yang^-ti, the same, that sort, shao
chin^-t'ien 1 to-day.
that style, that fashion.
1
to-morrow.
hsien^-tsai*, now, at present, at the ming^-t'ien
,
moment.
sa -huang
shang*-li -pai*
last
week.
shan 1 a mountain.
,
to l -shao 3 ,
how many
few ").
shu 3 a number.
,
hsn l
>
deep, very.
"
(lit.
to tell
lies,
to speak
falsely.
to see, observe, also to

think, consider.
1
kai^-tang ought, should, same as
pi^-yao.
shang*, to go to, move towards.
k'an*,
many,
VOCABULARY OF NEW WORDS

hsiieh*, to learn, to
study.
cooked
rice (the staple
Chinese food except among the

poorer classes where coarser
grains and millet take the
place of rice).
kuo^-shih 1 fault, error, transgres,
sion.
a Chinese character, a word

or sign in native script.
many, a large number.
t'ien 1
Heaven, the commonly-
txu*,
li*-ch'ien, profit, gain.

l
i
-tien 3 a little, a fraction.
mi'-fan*,
47
to 1 ,
used word for day.

tso*-t'ien l
yesterday.
every.
"
(lit.
ground-details "),
details, munite data.
hai*-teu a a small boy, a child,
,
tott 1 , all,
ti
-hsi*
one, a single, unity

young person.
wan*-tuan* all things, everything, k'ai 1 to open, start, begin.
2
k'ai 1
the universe.
open the door.
k'ai 1 men* shu 1 start to study.
tan*, but, still, yet, only.
hsiieh^-hsiao*, a school.
pul-t'ung't-i*, to differ.
z
1
1
i
I cannot see
kungi-fu leisure, holiday.
fSn -pu -ch'u-lai
"
division i 1 -tien 3 -Srh, a morsel, a soupfon.
any difference (lit.
or difference not out comes "). hao 3 hsieh^ko*, a good number, a
chiu 9 wine.
large number, many, numerous.
shang*-pien, above, the upper mei* hsieh^-ko*, not many, few,
a small number.
side, on top.
shih 2 tsai*, truly, indeed.
hsia*-pien, below, the underside,
3
at bottom.
fa*-tzu method, plan, remedy.
a
3
hsien 1 former, before, formerly.
p'Sng -yu a friend, comrade.
shen"-mo yang, what kind ? what hao 3 -ti (adv. from the adj. hao 3
sort of ?
good), well, excellently.
tso*-, last, past, as in
ch'iian*, all, complete, every.
"
l
3
to divide, differ (also
t-;u*-chi
a
oneself, self, used after f6n
minute ").
personal pronouns.
t'a 1 teu*-chi 3 he himself, etc.
to
eat.
ch'ih^fan*,
too 4 to reach, up to, as far as.
ho 1 to drink.
shui 3 water.
chia 3 -hsia*, at base, at foot of.
H 3 -tou 2 inside.
/*, a Chinese mile (approx. a
third of English mile).
wai*-t'ou*, outside.
l
a
8
s
a house, a
i ck'u*
k'ti
bitter, affliction, used as au
fang -tz&
dwelling.
emphatic, very.
shih 2 -hou'rk 4 time, period, age.
kao 1 high, lofty, exalted.
i
-ko*,
mn
EXERCISE
(a)
Wo
4A.
l
mei yu* na*-ko* tung -hsi l

Ni -men 2 pi*-yao* kao*-su *w
Ni 3 yu s shen 2 -mo yang* tung 1 -hsi ?
T'a^men 2 hsien*-tsai* na 3-li 3 ch'ii*
.
(b)
(c)
(d)
kuo
(e)
Wo 3 yao
?
Shang* chung
ch'ii*.
Ni 3 -men 2
tso*
sh6n z-mo yang* tung^hsi 1 ni ?
1-
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
48
Shang*-li -pai* wo
Ni 3 pu 1 chih l -tao,
(f)
(g)
k'o
(h)
mei* k'an* chien*
t'a
pu
t'a 1 liao.
wo 3 pu 1 chiW-tao
chih -tao,
3
wen* shSn -mo j6n*-yao kao*-su wo wcn
Ni 3 -men mei 2
k'an*-chien
wo 3
la,
tzu-chi k'an*
pu
chien* la, tsen* yang* ning chihl-tao ni ?
Na*-ko tung l -hsi PU hao, pieh 2 kei 3 wo 3 na* yang*-ti.

Ta 3 chP-Wtao* na* shan 1 chiao s -hsia* pu 1 chih l -tao yu*
(j)
3
3
li
shu 3
to l -shao
(i)
1
3
pu hao
l
1
(k) T'a^-ti tung -hsi tau
(1)
(m)
(n)
T'a 1 met*
To 1
yu
t'ien 1 t'a 1
Na* shan 1
she"n z -mo tung^-hsi.
mei* lai z
shih z tsai*
liao.
1
pu shSn kao
l
pu i-yang* ts'ung 2
.
(o) Hsien*-tsai* chung-kuo

shih^-hou'rh.
(p)
shih*
Yu 3-ti
wo
shuo 1 mei*
1
shuo
ti
(r)
Wo 3 pu 1
(t)
Ni
shuo
mei z -ti shuo 1 yu 3 -ti, na* pu 1
-ti,
chih l -tao
1
jn
ti -hsi*.
1
l
jen* tou pi*-yao chih -tao.
chP hua* shuo 1 na*
hua*,
wo 3
tzu*-chi
fn
pu-ch'u-lai
(u)
(v)
Wo 3 k'an* pu 1 chien 4 na* tung^-hsi.

Wo 3 wen* t'a 1 tan* t'a 1 mei 2 tal-ying
Wo 3 k'an* pu chien* hsiao 3 -tzu*.
Wo 3 pu chiW-tao shih* shui 2
('hui fu).
(w)
(x)
(y)
Mei
(z)
Wo 3
shen 2-mo
li*-hsi.
mei 2 kung l-fu* k'an* shu 1
EXERCISE
(a)
T'a
yu hao
5A.
ma 3
-hsieh?-ko*
(c)
T'a 1 mei 2 shen 2 mo, tan yu 3 i-tien 3 -rh mi 3-fan*.

T'a 1 mei 2 yu 3 hsiefc-ko* kuo^shih 1
(d)
Shih 2-tsai'* mei 2 fa*-tzu 3
(b)
Pieh* sa l huang 3
Che* shih*
t^
(q)
(s)
yu
ch'ien z
l-
EXERCISES
(e)
Ni
(f)
Kao*-su wo s ni 3
Ni
(h)
pu
(i)
k'an* ch*ko- hao*
Wo 3
(g)
jo*
pu hao
tso 2 -t'ien tso*
shSn z-mo.
kei ni s k'an* ni 3 k'o 3 pieh 2 kao*-su
ming -pai,
jo* pu
chih l -tao chiu* wSn* wo 3
men ming 2-pai mo
T'a 1
49
3
wSn*
t'a
t'a^m^n 2
-mn,
t'a
-men
Ni mei 2 i l -ko peng 2-yu 3

Wan* wu* Iso* ti hao 3 liao,
3
(j)
(k)
ch'iian 2
tan* mei 2
jn 2
chiW-tao
ti*
k'an* ch* hai -tzu kai -tang nien*-shu mo ?

'hat 2 mei 2 nien* shu 1 hsia*-U 3-pai* t'a 1
Hsien*-tsai*
(m)
2
-hsiao*
hsueh
ch'ii*.
shang*
(1)
Ni 3 pu 1
Wo 3-men
()
tzu 3
shuo 1 che* hua* shuo 1 na* hua* tan 1 mei z fa*~
(o)
T'a tsai hsiieh 2 -hsiao* nien* shu 1
(P)
Ni 3
kao*-su t'a 1 k'uai* ch'u*-pa.
(q)
Wo 3
hsien*-tsai*
(r)
Na*
1
yao* ken
ch' u* fang -tzu Ii -t'ou

2
(s)
(t)
Wai*-t'ou mei jen
Ni 3
Wo
(u)
t'a
yu
la.
shuo l -hua.
hao^hsiefc-ko* jen 2
2
.
mei 2-yu 3 ?
-men ch'iW-fan*, t'a^mln ho 1 chiu 3
ch'ih 1 la-fan*
3
1
shih 2 -hou'rh.
(v) Hsien*-tsai* shih* ch'ih-fan* ti
1
1
1
3
(w] Kei t'a shui ; t'a yao ho
1
1
2
(x) San-t'ien to ; t'a mei ch'ifc-fan* liao.
.
(y)
(z)
Ni 3 jo*
k'uai* lai 2
Kao*-su
t'a
wo
-ti
wo 3 kao*-su ni 3
(c)
EXERCISE 4B.
have not that thing.
You (plural) must tell us.
What sort of thing have you ?
(d)
Where
(a)
(6)
hua*.
are they going
now
I want to know.
(They are going) to
China.
(e)
What
is
that thing you have done
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
60
(/) I
did not see
him throughout
You do not know.
(g)
He
You (plural) have not

how then can one know ?
(h)
(i)
week.
I
do not
Whom then shall we ask to tell us ?
know.
it,
last
does not know.
That thing
(j) From here

know how many
seen
it,
myself cannot see
bad ; do not give me any like it.

to the foot of that mountain, I do not
is
miles
it is.
(k) All his things are bad.
He has not anything.

(m) He has not come for many
(/)
(w)
(o)
days.
That mountain certainly is not very high.

China nowadays is (certainly) not like it was
in
earlier times.
am not
the one to deny what

to affirm what is not (or is false).
(p) I
(q)
Do
(r)
not
"
is (or
is
right ")
and
tell lies.
do not know the
details.
something that all men should know.

You may talk this way, you may talk that way, for
(/)
myself I do not see any difference.
(s)
This
is
cannot (quite) see that thing.

asked him, but he has not answered.
(w) I cannot see very small characters.
(x) I do not know who it is.
(M) I
(v)
(y)
There is not any profit.

have no leisure for reading.
(z) I
EXERCISE
(a)
(b)
(c)
SB.
He has a great number of horses.

He has nothing but cooked rice.
He has not many faults.
is no help for it (no
think this good or bad ?
(d)
Truly there
(e)
Do you
way
out).
EXERCISES
me what you
(/)
Tell
(g)
(If) I let
51
did yesterday.
tell them.
you see don't
if they do not
(h) If you do not understand, ask them
know, ask me.
or not ?
(*) Do they understand it
(j) You have not a single friend.
(k) Everything (in the universe) was well made, but
;
there
is
not a
man who knows
(of)
everything.
Do you
not think that this boy should study ?

At
next week
present he has not begun to study
(m)
(I)
(however) he will go to school.

(n)
(o)
We may
He
say this or that, but there
He
studies at the school, or,
is
is
no help
for
it.
at the school
studying.
(/>)
You
tell
want
him
away quickly.
him now.
house there is a great number
(q)
(r)
In that
(s)
Outside there
(t)
Have you
(This
is
(u)
(v)
(w)
(x)
We
are
is
common greeting amongst
takes the place of

"
you
of men.
no one.
yet eaten your rice
a very
It actually
How
to go
to speak to
amongst
the Chinese.
Good-morning
"
!
or
us.)
are eating
they are drinking wine.
Now it is meal-time.
;
Give him water

he wants to drink.
For more than three days he has not eaten food.
;
you come quickly I

him what I say.
(y)
If
(z)
Tell
will tell you.
LESSON
3.
NUMERALS AND ADJECTIVES.

is a very simple matter.
One
has merely to learn the numerals from one to ten and four
25.
Chinese enumeration
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
52
remembering that the Chinese use the decimal
others, and,
system, the rest

cardinals
is
The following
easy.
is
list
of the
one,
six, liu*.
1
seven, ch'i
Srh*.
two,
1
three, saw
eight, pa
3
nine, chiu
.
four, ssu*
five,
wu 3
z
ten, shih
One hundred is pai 3

One thousand is ch'ien 1
Ten thousand is wan*.
One million is i l pai 3 wan*(i.e., one hundred ten thousands.)
.
Such
the material required for simple enumeraThere is, however, an alternative number
" two "
for the cardinal
i.e., that while in counting from
" one " to " ten " erh* is
used, when speaking of two of
3
anything one employs the word Hang which also means
26.
is all
tion in Chinese.
" two
",
"
"a
pair,"
duality," etc.
27.
Generally, however, the numbers are recited with
"
as follows
the suffix " -ko 4
:
P-ko*, one (of anything).
liu*-ko*, six (of anything).
ch'i l -ko*,
Iiang -ko*, two

san l -ko*, three
,,
pa^-ko*, eight
ssu^-ko*, four
,,
chiu 3-ko*, nine
,,
wifi-ko*, five
,,
shih*-ko*, ten
,,
seven
,,
"
"
the procedure is quite simple,
ten
arriving at
"
the order of the Chinese words being
ten-one, ten-two,"
"
"
"
and so on to twenty whence one goes on
twenty-one,
On
28.
twenty-two,"
etc.,
thus
shih -erh*-ko* twelve.
rh*-shih z-ii -ko'1 , twenty-one.

erh*-shih 2 -erh*-ko*, twenty-two.
shih z -san l -ko*, thirteen.
Srh*-skih 2 -san l -ko, twenty-three.
shih
-i -ko'
eleven.
53
shih*-ssu*-ko*, fourteen.
^rh*-shih z-ssu*-ko*, twenty-four.
shih z -wu 3 -ko*, fifteen.
erh*-shih 2 -wu z -ko*, twenty-five.

rh*-shih z-liu*-ko*, twenty-six.
shih?-liu*-ko*, sixteen.
shih z -ch' i l -ho* seventeen. erA 4 -sAt'A 2 -cA'V 1 -^o 4 ,twenty-seven.

,
shih z -pa l -ko*, eighteen.

shih z -chiu s-ko* nineteen.
erh*-shih 2 -pa l -ko*, twenty-eight.

rh*-shih 2 -chiu s -ko*, twenty-nine.
erh*-shih z -ko*, twenty.
san l -shih z -ko*, thirty.
This process
29.
"
is
regular up to one hundred and

be chiu z -shih z -chiu z -ko* followed
ninety-nine" will therefore

il
One hundred and one is P-pafi-fi-ko*, and so

on through the hundreds to ch'ieri1 thence again to wan*
and on to the completion of the million i 1 pai 3 wan*.
by
pai
The
30.
ordinals are formed in
two ways and are as
simple as the cardinal numbers. The word ti*

to the simple numeral thus
4 1
ft' -*
the first.
ti*-chiu 3 the ninth.
is
prefixed
ti*erh*,
ti*-shih 2 ,
the second.
the tenth.
ti*-shih 2 -wu s ,
ti^-san 1 the third.

,
the fifteenth, etc.
In the common speech one will often hear the numeral

with ko* prefixed to ti 1 the genitive particle thus
l
1
i l -ko*-ti
the first
etc., but
lian^-ko^-ti the second
:
this
is
31.
vulgar and not to be recommended.
AUXILIARY NUMERALS or NUMERATIVES.
As
in
Assyrian and several other languages, the Chinese interpose

between the actual number and the name of the article
described a sort of descriptive word which is called an
"
"
Pidginauxiliary numeral." Those acquainted with
"
"
will recall such expressions as
English
one-piecey"
man," one piecey-boat," etc. This is in general a translation of the auxiliary numeral which, owing to the large
number of homophones in the Chinese language helps out
the Colloquial by particularising the sound to convey the
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
64
meaning intended. In Egyptian hieroglyphs one finds

"
determinatives," that is, signs used to
symbols used as
fix in the mind the class into which the word immediately
preceding falls. The Chinese have many words of a similar
"
"
determine
the class of the word
nature, intended to
immediately following.
The word
ko*,
already familiar to the student, is the

But it may be used only
auxiliary of primary importance.

with words of a certain class. It
chiefly confined to the
is
"
a man," although it will

numerals and to the word jn 2
be met with elsewhere. The following is a list of those the
,
student should certainly know and recognise

Chih 1 (" standing alone ") before boats, fowls, gems,
1
1
2
a boat.
e.g.-i chih ch'uan
:
etc.,
chih 1 chi 1 a fowl.
Feng
(" to seal ") before letters, parcels, packets, etc.
t1 fSng 1 hsin 4 one letter.

(" a room, an apartment "), before houses, build,
Chien
rooms,
ings, yards, gardens,
etc.
chien 1 fang 2 -tzu, a house.

san 1 chien hua l -yuan 2 -tzu, three gardens.
Chien* (" to divide ") for articles of clothing, wearing
1
apparel, etc.:
4
2
i 1 chien ^shang
an article of clothing.
,
Ko*
("
("
one piece
one thing
")
for
human
beings, animals coins,
") J boxes, fruit,
watches, etc.
liu^-ko* hsiang l -tzu, six foxes,

3
jen
erh*-pai
K'o 1
mark
(a
i
i
Kuan 3
any
2
,
but
two hundred men.
or order) before trees.
shu 4 a
k'o 1
k'o 1 hsiao 3 shu*, a small tree, a shrub.
tree,
a single
tree.
before pens, pencils, flutes,

tube-like
articles.
small, round,
(a reed, pipe, tube)
and

K'uai* (a piece
ch'i
Pa 3
(to
55
before dollars, bricks, stones, etc.

k'uai* shih 2 seven stones.
of)
hold in the hand) before table cutlery, forks,
spoons, knives, etc.

i
Pen 3
pa
taol-tzu,
l'
P'i 3
one knife.
(a root, origin before books, etc.

3
1
1
pSn shu a book.
(to
pair) before mules, camels, donkeys, horses, etc.

a 4 p'i 3 ma 3 that horse.
,
T'ou* (the head), before domestic animals

wu 3 t'ou 2 niu z , five cows.
This word is also used to supplement many nouns,

and not merely as a numeral adjunct,
shih z -t'ou 2 stone, rock, boulder.
e.g.,
mu*-t'ou 2 wood, etc.

,
3
Ting (summit, top), before hats, sedan-chairs.umbrellas,
etc.
i
chiaol-tzu, a sedan-chair.
mao*-tzu, a hat, a cap.
ting
1
ting
Wei* (those upright,

cannon, heavy
erect, gentlemanly,
etc.),
before
artillery, persons of rank, etc.
rh* wei*
kuan 1 two
,
ssu* wei* ta*
officials.
ao*, four
heavy guns.
DISTRIBUTIVE NUMERALS. Repetition is a constant

factor in Chinese Colloquial, and the student can rarely go
wrong if he repeats a noun in order to mark the distributive.
32.
notable example
is t'ien 1 t'ien
"
lit.,
every day, daily.

Che* shih z -hou'rh wo 3 kao*-su ni 3
fco
day-day, "meaning
t'ien 1 t'ien 1
chS^yang*
4
.,
lit.,
This tune
this.)
I will tell
you
every day do
it
this
way
(or like
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
56
Distributions may be generally formed, however, by

3
using the word ko* or the word mei both of which mean
"
each, every." The latter is the more usual in e very-day
conversation
,
Mei 3 jen z yu 3 hao 3 -hsieh l -ko*, Each man had a
large
number.
Ko* yu 3 shu 3
ch'ien 1
ADVERBIAL
33.
z
,
Each had several thousand men.
NUMERALS.
These
are
formed
by
1
2
simple numeral. Thus i ts&
4
2
ssw tse fourthly.
Once, twice, etc., are formed by
firstly
1
z
adding the words tz'u*, pien or hui to the cardinal as
1
3
1
1
2
j
tz'u* once
Hang pien twice san hut thrice etc.
adding
tse 2 ("
jn
then
") to the
FRACTIONS. These are headed by i 1 pan 4 meaning

Other fractions are formed by an ingenious use
"
of the word fen 1 which originally means
to divide," hence
"
a division, a part." Every whole is considered as having
10 parts, each part being called Pf&n 1
Thus -f would be
called liu^fen 1 i.e., T%. A quarter would be expressed by
34.
"
a half."
the locution ssu*-fen l chih 1 i 1

language word for the colloquial
This chih
case,
and
is
ti
1
,
is
the written
the sign of the genitive
used in circumstances where
ti
is
by customary
usage either inadmissible or clumsy. This would read

"
four part's one," that is, one of four parts, hence
literally
a quarter. Thus f would be sstf-feri1 chih1 san. 1 This
word
"
for
"
(meaning
is not used in saying a

which the special word k'o*
quarter," however,
"
quarter of
an hour
fifteen
for
minutes) exists.
35.
ADJECTIVES. In Chinese adjectives undergo no
change for number, gender or case. It may be said that an
adjective does not exist per se as is the case with any other
It is merely by position that a word is
part of speech.
described as adjective, noun or verb.
But
in the simple

sentence the adjective invariably precedes
its
57
noun
as
jen A good man.

3
2
Ch'ang kuan A long tube.
Ta* ho 2 A great river, etc.
Hao
When
the noun
is
one of quality, the Chinese adjective
acquires a predicative force by the addition of a particle

very similar to a relative. This office is filled by the
versatile particle
ChP-ko fang
ti
2
usually not
It is
as
shih* ts'u l -ti, This sugar
is
coarse.
the adjective in a
nearly the same as in
"
difficult to identify
Chinese sentence, as the idiom is

English. As we do, the Chinese speak of
ill-fated,"
"
long-headed," and similar locutions are daily to be heard.

It may seem strange to many that precisely the same
method
of adjective-formation is in use in China as amongst

"
Many of our adjectives end in able," and
ourselves.
these in Chinese are formed by an ordinary word with the

"
"
3
s
able,"
can," etc., k'o is, in effect,
prefix k'o meaning
2
the equivalent or a synonym of neng
Thus k'cP-ksiao*
"
"
can
is
also
hao*-hsiao* (lit.
(lit.
laugh ")
laughable,"
"
" can-hate
a
love laugh) is
k'o
-wu*
laughable,"
(lit.
") is
,
"
hateful, detestable."
An
idiom of frequent occurrence
is
the juxtaposition of
two adjectives of the same or closely similar meaning to

3
express one idea e.g., Ian -to* (lit. lazy and slothful),
"
meaning lazy, idle." Another is the putting together of
adjectives signifying opposites to make an abstract noun,
"
as kao 1 ai 3 which may mean
tall and short," or as in the
"
3
1
l
1
sentence wo pu chih -tao to ti 1 kao 1 ai 3
I do not know his
,
height."
36.
COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES.
difficulty to the student.
Comparison
This presents no
is
formed by the
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE.
58
use of the word pi 3 (to compare). Another way is to add a

"
"
word signifying more such as kSng 1 tsai 4 etc.
3
ChP-ko pi na*-ko
hao 3
1 This is better than
,
This compared with that
T'a 1
t'ien l -t'ien l
kng
(is) good.
Ian 3-to*.
He day
(by) day most lazy.

Na*-ko ta\ che*-ko kSng 1 to*.
That
(is)
great, this
(is)
that.
He
gets lazier every
day.
\That
more great.
is
is
big (but) this
bigger.
The superlative degree is expressed by
(a) prefixing to the

3
3
chih*, meaning
adjective an intensive such as ting ,
"
very, exceedingly, utmost, furthest," etc. ; (b) by pre"
"
1
lit.
ten parts (out of ten)
completely,
fixing shiW-fSn
3
shfag*,
altgoether
(c) by suffixing such intrusives as hen
hn
etc.
Tsai* chung l -kuo 2
chiu 3 lung 2 shan 1 shih* ting 3 kao l -ti l

in China.
The Chiulung mountains are the highest

Hai*
2
lu* chih* hsien 3 (this hsien 3 stands for wei hsien*.
"
"
The sea-road
danger "). (Literally,
extremest danger "). The sea passage is most perilous.
common word
for
Che* shih* shih z -fen l hao 3 (this

absolutely the best.
LESSON
is
ten parts good), This
is
4.
PRONOUNS AND EXERCISES.

37.
We have already used in the exercises preceding the
pronouns
in
common
use.
There
are,
however, one or two
The pronouns are

special observations yet to be made.
as simple as the numerals are, and are used as follows
:
PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
1st pers. sing.
2nd
wo 3
3
pers. sing.
ni
3rd pers. sing.
t'a
1st pers. plur.
wo 3mn 2
2nd
pers. plur.
ni 3 -mn 2
3rd pers. plur.
t'a^men 2
PRONOUNS AND EXERCISES.

These are unchanged in
pronoun
You
Wo 3
tzu*-chi 3
yourselves,
common
the reflexive
reflexive
is in
reality
I myself,
In
which
a postposition
The
all their uses.
in all cases is tzu 4 -chi 3 oneself,
59
Ni 3-mn 2
tzu*-chi 3 ,
and so on.
with what has been said before as to
is
often used
itself
by
i.e.,
sonal pronoun in which case the latter is

the context and the reflexive is still
ellipsis,
without the perunderstood from

actually a post
position.
38.
polite
form of the 2nd

"
pronoun
pers.
is
nin z or
nin -na, which is equivalent to

You, sir." Ju although
sometimes used in polite phraseology is more a written
language form.
,
Ch'i 2 as a polite form of the 3rd pers. pronoun is

again a written language term and is very unusual save in
the mouths of scholars.
39.
The personal pronouns are without gender,
40.
he, she or
t'a
is
it.
41.
The possessive pronouns are formed from the personal pronouns by the addition of ti to both singular and
plural, thus
T'a l -ti
3
his, ni -men-ti
yours
(plural),
wo amen-tzu*-chi 3-ti l
our very own.
The
42.
shewn
Demonstrative
are
pronouns
Che^-ko
[or
this
these
and na*-ko
There are others used by graduates and

but they are not in use
43.
as
already
The
among
the people.
interrogative pronouns are
that or
those.
classical scholars
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE.
60
Shui*, or
"
more commonly, shen z -mo* jln* "who"?, or

"
what person ? (with

"
whose ? ").
terrogative
ti
suffixed
these
make
the in-
na 3 -ko*, which ?
shen*-mo*, what ?
There are pronominal forms widely used in Chinese
which are not exactly pronouns, but honorific and deprecatory particles. Those will be dealt with in a later section.
44.
45.
There
is
no
relative
pronoun
in
Chinese.
The
achieved either by dual sentences in

or
a
circumlocution.
by
juxtaposition
effect of the relative is
AN
ENGLISH AND CHINESE VOCABULARY
IN
THE
PEKINGESE AND CANTONESE LANGUAGES.
FOREWORD.
THERE
is
a widespread belief that Pekingese and Cantonese
are but "dialects" of the Chinese language, but this

For this reason this vocabulary
altogether erroneous.
is
is
prepared in the two languages, so that whether north or

south be the destination of the traveller, he may be able
to
make
his
way.
number (though
No system
of
marking the tones by
the case of the northern speech),

will be effective in the language of the south as there the
efficient in
tones are greater in variety and more minutely distinguished.

Hence no tone-marks have been given in the Cantonese
The enunciation and pitch must be learned from

a native or a good foreign speaker of Cantonese. The fact
of the two columns differing widely in the expression of an
English term will emphasise the fundamental difference
between the two forms of speech.
column.
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
62
ENGLISH.
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
64
ENGLISH.
Ass
Assist
Astronomy
Auction
Author
Avail
Average
Awake
Away
Axe
Back
Bad
Bag
Baggage
Bake
Balance
Bale
Ball
Bamboo
Banish
Barbarian
Barbarous
Barber
Bargain
Bark
,,
(v.)
(of trees)
Barley
Barrel
Barter
PEKINGESE.
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
65
66
ENGLISH
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
Bowels
Box
Boy
Bracelet
Braces
Brain
Branch
Brass
Bread
Break
Breakfast
Breast
Breeches
Breath
Breeze
Bribe
Brick
Bridge
Bridle
Bring
Broad
Broker
Broom
Brother
Brush
Bucket
Build
Bullock
Bundle
Burn
Bury
68
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
Carpenter
Carriage
Carrot
Carry
Cartridge
Cash
Cask
Cat
Catch
Cause
(ball)
Cautious
Cave
Cellar
Certain
Chain
Chair
Chalk
Change
Charcoal
Chase
Cheap
Cheat
Cheese
Cheek
Chess
Chest
Chew
Chicken
Child
Chin
China
Chocolate
70
ENGLISH
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
Compliment
Conceal
Confess
Confine
Conjurer
Consent
Consult
Constable
Contest
Contract
Contradict
Conversation
Cook
Coolie
Copper
Copy
Cord
Cork
Corner
Corpse
Correct
Cotton
Cough
Count
Country
Cover
Covet
Cow
Coward
Crab
Crackers
72
ENGLISH
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
74
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
ENGLISH
PEKINGESE
Different
Ch'a 1
Difficult
Nan 2
1m toong
Nan
Dig
Digest
P'ao 2
Hsiao l -hua
Sew-shik
Diligent
Ch'in 2
Kan
Dinner
Wan* fan*
Ni 2
l
Ang -tsang
Man
Dirt
Dirty
Discharge
Discount
Dish
Dislike
CANTONESE
pu* t'ung
Kwat
tsan
Che^-k'ou
Net
koan tseng
Tzse huy
Kaw taw gun
P'an 2 -tzu
Hsien 2 -hsi
M oy
Tz'u 2
Oon
Dismount
Hsia*
Ha
Dissatisfied
Pu 1 man 3 tsu z
Mow
Dissipated
Dissolve
Lang* fei*
Distant
Yuan 3
Fong
San
Une
Distinguish
Distribute
Fen^-pieh
Ditch
7 1 tao* kou 1
Teen tsun
Dive
Cha 1 meng^-tzu
Me
Do
Tso*
Tsow
Doctor
P-sheng
2
shu 1
Man
Document
Dollar
Hsiao*
Fen 1
ko 2
eem tsuk
sze
Fun peet
Fun pai
p'ei*
shuy
E-shang
shu
Wn
Can
Don't
Yang ch'ien
Pu* tso*
Door
Men 2
Double
Liang pei*
Sheong kay
Doubt
I 2 -huo
Sze ee
Down
Hsia*
Dragon
Drain
Moon
3
(7
tao*)
oo
Fong ha
t'iao 2 )
(I
tseen
Mok
hmg
kou 1
Yat tew lung

Hang kuy
76
ENGLISH
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
False
Family
Famous
Fan
Fat
Father
Fault
Favour
Fear
Feast
Fee
Feed
Female
Fetch
Fever
Few
Field
Fig
Fight
Fill
Fine
(n.)
Finger
Finish
Fire
First
Fish
Fist
Fit (proper)
Fix
Flag
Flatter
Flee
78
ENGLISH
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
VOCABULARY
79
ENGLISH
PEKINGESE
CANTONESE
Funeral
Fa 1
Sung
li
Furniture
Gain
Gale
Gamble
Garden
Gate
Gather
Gem
Get
Ghost
Giddy
Ginger
Girl
Give
Glad
Glass
Gloves
Go
God
Gold
Good
Goose
Gradually
Grain
Grape
Grass
Gratitude
Grave
sang-tsang*
3
tsong
80
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
82
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
Jaw
Jest
Joint
Journey
Judge
Juggler
Juice
Jump
Just
Justice
Key
Kick
Kidneys
Kill
Kindred
King
Kiss
Kitchen
Kite
Knee
Kneel
Knife
Knot
Know
Knuckles
Labour
Lace
Lady
Ladder
Lake
84
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
86
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
88
ENGLISH
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
90
ENGLISH
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
PEKINGESE
o
Oak
Oar
Oath
Obey
Oblong
Obstacle
Obstinate
Ocean
Octagon
Oculist
Odd
Offend
Office
Often
Oil
Ointment
Old
Olive
Once
One
Only
Open
Opinion
Opium
Opportunity
Opposite
Or
Orange
Order
CANTONESE
VOCABULARY,
ENGLISH
Ore
Origin
Orphan
Other
Otherwise
Ought
Out, go
Outside
Oven
Overturn
Owl
Own
Oyster
Pack
(v.)
Padlock
Pagoda
Pain
Painter
Pair
Palace
Pan
Paper
Pardon
Parrot
Parsley
Part
Partner
Partridge
Pass
Paste
92
ENGLISH
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
Plaintiff
Plate
Play
Pleasure
Pluck
Plum
Plunder
Pocket
Poem
Point
Poison
Pole
Polish
Polite
Poor
Poppy
Pork
Postage
Postman
Pot
Potatoes
Pour
Power
Practice
Praise
Pray
Prepare
Present
(v.)
Preserve
Price
Priest
Print
(v.)
94
ENGLISH
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
95
ENGLISH
R
Rabbit
Radish
Rag
Rain
Rainbow
Raise
Raisin
Rash
Rat
Razor
Read
Ready
Reason
Rebellion
Receipt
Receive
Reckon
Recommend
Red
Redeem
Reed
Reflect
Refuse
Regulation
Reject
Relation
Religion
Remember
Remove
Repay
)6
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
Row
(a boat)
Rub
Run
Rust
Sacrifice
Saddle
(n.)
Sail (n.)
Sailor
Salt
Same
Sand
Sandal
Sash
Satisfied
Save
Saw
Say
School
Scissors
Scrape (v.)
Scratch (v.)
Screw
Scroll
Scrub
Sea
Seal
Second
Secret
Secure
See
)8
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
Shoulder
Shove
Shut
Sick
Side
Silk
Silver
Sing
Sink
(v.)
Sister
Sit (v.)
Skin
Sky
Slave
Sleep
Sleeve
Slip
Slow
Small
Smell
Smoke
Smooth
Snail
Snake
Snatch
Sneeze
Snow
Snore
Soap
Soft
Soldier
Solemn
100
ENGLISH
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
Storm
Straight
Straw
Street
Strike
(v.)
String
Strong
Suck
(v.)
Suddenly
Sugar
Summer
Sun
Supper
Support
Surround
Swear (v.)
Sweep
Sword
(v.)
Syrup
Table
Tail
Tailor
Take
(v.)
Tall
Taste
Tax
Tea
Teach
Teacup
Teapot
102
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
104
ENGLISH
Verandah
Very
Victory
Village
Vinegar
Virtue
Visit (v.)
Voice
Vomit
(v.)
Voyage
Vulgar
Wages
Waistcoat
Wait
Wake
Walk
Wall
Want
War
(v.)
Warm
Wash
Watch
(n.)
Water
Way
Wax
Weak
Weary
Weather
Weep
PEKINGESE
VOCABULARY
ENGLISH
105
COLLOQUIAL CHINESE
106
ENGLISH
PEKINGESE
CANTONESE.
Wrap
Paol-ch'i-lai
Chat chu
Shou 3 wan*-tzu
Ak
Hsieh 3
Say
(v.)
Wrist
Write
(v.)
Yaw
Wrong
Ts'o*-lo
Year
Yellow
Yes
Nien 2
Yesterday
Yet
Tso z -t'ien
Jan
Young
Nien 2
Your
Ni
tso
Y
Huang
Neen
2
Wong
ShiW-ti
-Srh
-ti
ch'ing
shik
Hei
Tsok yat
Tsang
Shew neen
Ne-te
Printed in Great Britain by Fox, Jones and Co., Oxford.
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Expressly for the use of those

desire to acquire a rapid

and sound colloquial knowledge

Lecturer in Chinese and Japanese, School of Oriental Studies,

Paul, Trench, Trubner

NOTE TO THE READER

fluent speakers of the colloquial.

Tzu Erh Chi. Sir T. Wade.

The Chinese Language and How

Mandarin Lessons. Mateer.

The written character is understood throughout the

Southern Chinese, would encounter the same difficulty

very valuable and expert help he has given me. On the

THE HISTORY AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE CHINESE

EXAMINATION OF STYLES OF WRITING

THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

NUMERALS AND ADJECTIVES

PRONOUNS AND EXERCISES

ENGLISH AND CHINESE VOCABULARY

THE HISTORY AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE CHINESE

There has been current for a long time past a widespread

a strongly developed agglutinative tendency, but innocent

The newly-arrived tenants of the Land of the Rising

Thus arose one

for Chinese is essentially monosyllabic.

however, the Japanese overcame what must have

the course of millenia of progress, yet

some few respects the

colloquial of the present

scholars of that period would encounter the same difficulty

In regard to Mandarin, the chief change

loss of the finals, k,

Dr. Edkins, in his paper (printed in the Transactions of

among primitive people.

conceive, or of which our histories can give even an

But why have not the Chinese

long history simplified and enlarged the scope of their

a poor stock-in-trade for a language of the richness and

and the more highly-educated he becomes

HISTORY AND MORPHOLOGY

vogue three thousand years ago. Is it not conceivable that

The Chinese glories in his native

Chiang, which appears to us to be a disyllabic, is to a

In place of the abecedaire of

absent from Chinese.

understood in other languages,

has been expressed by the pioneer

Chinese, and will

most ludicrous and em-

Although Chinese syntax

the construction of even the commonest

phrases differs widely from the expressions which the

More than ever in

to acquire the native point of view.

not want speech," rather than use the im-

Chinese, like Malay, Burmese, Annamese and

and loose-flowing sentences

characters), merely paints

and some other

leaving the intelligence free to supply its own verbiage.

that exist between this anomaly

speech and linguistics generally.

Later the more detailed