2nd & 3rd Person & Possession & Plural - 爾, 若, 佢, 蕨, 兜, 等, gai vs ge, 硬譮 vs 軟譮 (海陸 vs 梅縣)
date
Sep 30, 2024
slug
second-and-third-person-and-possession-and-plural
status
Published
tags
Hakka
Grammar
summary
type
Post
In Hakka, there's two differing rhymings of 個, 雞, etc. In my vernacular, we rhyme with "gai". But in other spoken Hakfa¹, like the Meixian² variant, as far as I know, it's rhymed with "ge".
The Hakbboi³ I'm going to teach is called ngang-bboi 硬譮; literally: hard speak. It is of the Hailu⁴ variant or branch in Hakfa. If you're interested in teaching your variant of Hakfa or spot a mistake, feel free to contact Thonder on Discord on our community server and let him know; he is the founder of this site.
Ngang-bboi is how we call the Hailu-variant Hakfa in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is in contrast to the Meixian-variant speakers that also inhabit West Kalimantan. Therefore, to differentiate the Hakbboi we speak, we called their accent "soft" while ours "strong" because we pronounce our words more clearly while they are not; at least that's probably the assumption that ngang-bboi speakers made.
硬譮 ngang-bboi literally means hard speak, while the Meixian variant is called 軟譮 ngion-bboi; literally: soft speak. But it basically means strong accents or pronunciations vs. soft accents or pronunciations.
In Hakbboi, the second-person pronoun is
爾
ᅌᅵ
ngi
[ɲi]
You
If you want to say "yours", you would add 個.
爾個
ᅌᅵ개
ngi gai
[ɲi.käj]
Your, Yours
But the colloquial form is more used in real conversations.
爾個
ᅌᅵ어
ngi'e
[ɲi.ʔe̞]
The possessive adjective of 爾 is
若
ᅌᅣ
ngia
[ɲiä]
Your, Yours
It is both literary and colloquial.
The third-person pronoun is
佢
기
gi
[ci]
He/She/It, Him/Her/It
The same as the former, to add possessive, you add 個.
佢個
기개
gi gai
[ci.käj]
His/Her/Its, His/Hers/Its
The possessive adjective equivalent is
蕨
갸
gia
[ciä]
His/Her/Its, His/Hers/Its
It is both literary and colloquial.
To say we/us, plural you, and they/them, you combine the pronouns with 兜 deu.
捱兜
ᅌᅢᄃᅻ
ngai deu
[ŋäj.te̞w]
We, Us
爾兜
ᅌᅵᄃᅻ
ngi deu
[ɲi.te̞w]
You (plural)
佢兜
기ᄃᅻ
gi deu
[ci.te̞w]
They, Them
In Ngion-bboi, it's 等 den. 等 can be used to make plural forms of pronouns.
捱等
ᅌᅢ던
ngai den
[ŋäj.te̞n]
We, Us
爾等
ᅌᅵ던
ngi den
[ɲi.te̞n]
You (plural)
佢等
기던
gi den
[ci.te̞n]
They, Them
There are other uses of 等 in grammar. It can be used to indicate an action in progress. But that's it for now.
To say our, plural your, and their, you add 個.
捱兜個
ᅌᅢᄃᅻ개
ngai deu gai
[ŋäj.te̞w.käj]
Our, Ours
爾兜個
ᅌᅵᄃᅻ개
ngi deu gai
[ɲi.te̞w.käj]
Your (plural), Yours (plural)
佢兜個
기ᄃᅻ개
gi deu gai
[ci.te̞w.käj]
Their, Theirs
You are not really supposed to use possessive adjectives in conjunction with possessive 個 to say our, your, and their, as it doesn't work in Hakbboi grammar, but it might be permissible. (吾兜個, 若兜個, 蕨兜個)
Notes
- Hakfa is generally the common way Hakka people call their language; 客話 (literally: guest speak).
- Meixian District (梅縣區) is a district of Meizhou City in northeastern Guangdong Province, China. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meixian,_Meizhou
- Hakbboi is how Ngangbboi speakers call their language; 客譮.
- Hailu is a variant or branch of Hakfa. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailu_dialect