Minnan phrasebook

Minnan (閩南話/闽南话 Bân-lâm-ōe) is the main language of Southern Fujian and has spread from there to other areas. It is known by several different names: in mainland China, it is Minnan hua (South Fujian speech), in Taiwan, Taiwanese (臺語 or 台語 Tâi-gí), in most of Southeast Asia, Hokkien or Hokkian (福建話 or 福建话 Hok-kiàn-ōe or Hok-kiàn-ōa, used widely in Indonesia) from the Minnan word for Fuijan, and in the Philippines, the overseas Chinese call it “Our People’s Language” (咱儂話/咱侬话 Lán-lâng-ōe). Manila, Medan and Penang are examples of Southeast Asian cities with large and influential Hokkien-speaking communities, such that most ethnic Chinese (and a good number of non-Chinese) can converse in Hokkien regardless of their native language/dialect. It is one of the official languages of Taiwan.

Each of the major cities of Fujian’s Minnan-speaking areas — Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou — as well as each part of Taiwan and each overseas region where the language is spoken has its own slightly different variant. The overseas variants are influenced by other local languages; Taiwanese has some Japanese loanwords, Hokkien has some from Indonesian and Javanese, Teochew and Cantonese, and so on. All these variants, however, are mutually intelligible to a great extent. The prestige dialect of Minnan is the Xiamen dialect in mainland China, and the Tainan dialect in Taiwan.

Minnan is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin, Cantonese or other Chinese “dialects”, not even with the other Min (Fujian) languages such as Mindong (Fuzhou Hua), Minbei and Puxian. Languages classified as closely related to Minnan are Teochew, which has only partial mutual intelligibility with Minnan, and Hainanese which has almost none.

All Chinese languages, in general, use the same set of characters in reading and writing in formal settings, based on standard Mandarin. This means that a Minnan speaker and a Mandarin speaker cannot talk to each other, but either can generally read what the other writes. However, when writing Minnan in a more colloquial form, there are significant lexical differences from standard Mandarin, sometimes necessitating the use to extra non-standard characters, meaning that a Mandarin speaker will not be able to make everything out. Use the Chinese phrasebook for reading most writing in Minnan-speaking areas.

Mandarin is an official language in China, Taiwan and Singapore, and widely used in education and media. Today, most Minnan speakers in mainland China and Taiwan also speak Mandarin, and most foreign residents of those areas choose to learn Mandarin rather than Minnan.

Minnan is written with simplified Chinese characters in mainland China, and with traditional Chinese characters in Taiwan. In this phrasebook, where differences exist, traditional characters are written before the slash (/), and simplified characters after the slash.

Pronunciation

Like all other Chinese languages and their dialects, Minnan uses Chinese characters but employs its own ‘unique’ pronunciation. However, similar to Japanese kanji, most characters have two or more pronunciations in Minnan, which means that many characters would be pronounced differently depending on context, even if their Mandarin pronunciation remains the same in both instances. The two different pronunciations of characters are often called the literary reading (文讀/文读 bûn tha̍k), which is based on the pronunciation of Tang Dynasty Chinese, and the colloquial reading (白讀/白读 pe̍h tha̍k), which is based on the pronunciation of Han Dynasty Chinese.

But while different pronunciations for characters are a minor phenomenon in Mandarin or Cantonese, colloquial and literary pronunciations are a prevalent feature of Minnan. Most characters have at least two pronunciations, and some have more:

“一”： 白 [chi̍t] vs. 文 [it]

“大”： 白 [tōa] vs. 文 [tāi]

“學/学”： 白 [o̍h] vs. 文 [ha̍k]

An example with 3 readings : “石頭/石头” [chio̍h thâu]，“石榴” [sia̍h liû]，“藥石/药石” [io̍k se̍k]. That is, “石” can be read “chio̍h”, “sia̍h” or “se̍k”.

For example, the words ài and beh both roughly mean ‘want’, so they are usually written with the character 要 (although they are also written with 愛 and 欲 respectively). Consequently, the pronunciation of the character 要 can change between ài, beh and iàu depending on context.

The ordinary word for person, lâng, is usually written with the character 人, which also has the reading jı̂n or lîn. The character 生 is pronounced seⁿ or siⁿ as a verb used alone, but the word 人生 is pronounced lı̂n-seng.

Words written with the same Chinese characters often employ different pronunciations to convey different meanings; for instance, in Xiamen (but not in Taiwan, which only uses the latter reading), 大學/大学 is pronounced tōa-o̍h to mean “university”, but pronounced tāi-ha̍k to refer to one of the Four Books of Confucianism.

Also, note how the words m̄ (is not, does not) and bē/bōe (cannot) are all often written with 不, so while 不要 might be read as m̄-ài or m̄-beh, 不能 or 不可 can be read as bē-sái or bōe-sái.

For referring to oneself, 我 góa is used in more informal contexts while 阮 gún is more formal and 恁爸 lı́n-pē (male) / 恁母 lı́n-bú (female) is very derogatory but used very commonly. (No cognates exist in Mandarin or Cantonese although phrases with the same meaning do.) Unlike in Mandarin, there are two equivalents of the English word “we”, with 咱 lán used when the subject includes the listener(s), and 阮 goán used when the subject excludes the listener(s).

Pronunciation varies from region to region (e.g. 你 (you) can be either lı́, lú or lír). This can make comprehension slightly difficult sometimes even between ‘native’ speakers from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. It should also be kept in mind that most speakers of the dialect often mix Mandarin phrases into their speech due to the influence of Standard Mandarin.

Pronunciations in this guide will make use of the Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) Romanization system, which was developed by Christian missionaries working in Xiamen, Tainan and overseas Chinese communities in the 19th century. While learning POJ is useful for foreigners trying to learn Minnan, it is virtually never learned by native speakers, so stick to Chinese characters for written communication.

Tones

Like other varieties of Chinese, Minnan is tonal; tones must be correct in order to convey the correct meaning. Like other Min dialects, Minnan has a complex tone sandhi system, which makes it harder to learn than Mandarin. In general, all syllables other than the final syllable of a word undergo tone sandhi in Minnan.

The following table shows the values of the different tones in some places, and does not show the pronunciation of the tones or tone sandhi of many areas, but may give an idea of the approximate values.

Number	Name	POJ	Pitch	Description	After tone sandhi
1	yin level	a	55	high	7
2	yin rising	á	51	falling	1 (Zhangzhou), 5 (Quanzhou)
3	yin departing	à	31~21	low falling	2
4	yin entering	ah	32	mid stopped	2 (h final), 8 (otherwise)
5	yang level	â	14~24	rising	3 (Taipei, Quanzhou), 7 (Tainan, Zhangzhou)
6	yang rising	ǎ	51	falling	unchanged
7	yang departing	ā	33	mid	3
8	yang entering	a̍h	4	high stopped	3 (h final), 4 (otherwise)

Consonants

While Mandarin only distinguishes between aspirated and unaspirated (unvoiced) consonants, and English only distinguishes between voiced and unvoiced consonants meaning-wise, Minnan makes a distinction in both cases. This means that aspirated unvoiced (pʰ, tʰ, kʰ, tsʰ), unaspirated unvoiced (p, t, k, ts), and unaspirated voiced (b, g, dz) are all separate phonemic consonants in Minnan. This means that pronouncing everything correctly is going to be a challenge for native English or Mandarin speakers. However, unlike in Mandarin, there is no “tongue rolling” (pinyin zh, ch, sh, r) initial consonant.

To highlight the distinction, the words for “open” (開/开) and “close” (關/关), in some pronunciations (khui and kuiⁿ respectively) sound almost identical to a native English speaker, the difference being that “open” uses an aspirated initial consonant, and “close” uses an unaspirated initial consonant with a nasalised vowel.

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
b	b	ban	English ‘b’
p	p	span	pinyin ‘b’
ph	pʰ	pan	pinyin ‘p’
j	dz/ʑ	jam	English ‘j’
ch	ts/tɕ	cats	pinyin ‘z’ or ‘j’
chh	tsʰ/tɕʰ	-	pinyin ‘c’ or ‘q’
s	s/ɕ	sun	pinyin ‘s’ or ‘x’
g	g	get	English hard ‘g’
k	k	skin	pinyin ‘g’
kh	kʰ	kin	pinyin ‘k’
t	t	Stan	pinyin ‘d’
th	tʰ	tan	pinyin ‘t’
h	h	hat	English ‘h’
m	m	map	English ‘m’
n	n	net	English ‘n’
l	l	line	English ‘l’
ng	ŋ	sing	English ‘ng’

Like Cantonese but unlike Mandarin, Minnan retains all the final consonants (m, n, ŋ, p, t, and k) of Middle Chinese. In POJ, the nasal consonants m, n and ng are pronounced the same as English, but the others are different.

The stop consonants p, t and k are unreleased. This means that the mouth moves into the position of making the consonant, but no burst of air is released.

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
p	p	span	pinyin ‘b’
k	k	skin	pinyin ‘g’
t	t	Stan	pinyin ‘d’
m	m	map	English ‘m’
n	n	net	English ‘n’
ng	ŋ	sing	English ‘ng’

Furthermore, an h at the end of a syllable in POJ represents a glottal stop (ʔ); this is the sound in the middle of the English word ‘uh-oh’.

Vowels

The vowels a, e, i, o, u are pronounced as they are in many languages, such as Spanish and Italian. Minnan also has the vowel [ɔ] written as o͘ (with a dot) or oo.

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
a	a	father
e	e	whey
i	i	see
o	o	soap
o͘	ɔ	law	also written ‘oo’
u	u	goose
ee	ɛ̃	tent	Zhangzhou dialect only, nasalised
ir	ɯ	no equivalent in English	Quanzhou dialect only
er	ə	her	Quanzhou dialect only

Vowels in Minnan can be nasalized, and in POJ this is indicated with a superscript n ‘ⁿ’ after the vowel. It can also be indicated with a capital n (N) or a double n (nn). IPA notes this with a tilde (~) above the last vowel.

Common diphthongs

There are many diphthongs in Minnan, and their pronunciations from the POJ spellings are generally fairly obvious. However, note that oe is “ui/uei” and oai is “uai”.

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
ai	aɪ	my	pinyin ‘ai’
au	aʊ	cow	pinyin ‘ao’
ia	ɪa	-
io	ɪo	-
iu	iu	-
oa	ua	-	pinyin ‘wa’
oe	ue	way	pinyin ‘wei’
ui	ui	-	pinyin ‘ui’
iau	ɪaʊ	-	piyin ‘yao’
oai	uai	why	pinyin ‘wai’

Phrase list

Basics

Pronouns Minnan pronouns are somewhat more complicated than in Mandarin. 我 góa is the standard first person pronoun, 汝 lı́ is the standard second person pronoun, and 伊 i is the standard third person pronoun. Unlike English, Minnan has only one third person pronoun, and does not distinguish between “he”, “she” and “it”. Unlike in English, Minnan makes a distinction between the inclusive and exclusive first person plurals, so the equivalent of “we” is 阮 goán/gún in you want to exclude the person(s) you are addressing, and 咱 lán if you want to include the person(s) you are talking too. The other plurals are more straightforward; 恁 lín is the equivalent of the plural “you”, while 𪜶 in is the equivalent of “they”.

To be or not to be? Minnan, as in Mandarin, does not have words for “yes” and “no” as such; instead, questions are typically answered by repeating the verb. Common ones include: To be or not to be : 是 sı̄, 毋是 m̄-sı̄ To have or not have / there is or is not : 有 ū, 無/无 bô To be right or wrong : 著/着 tio̍h, 毋著/毋着 m̄-tio̍h

Hello.

: 汝好。 lı́ hó (General Taiwanese and Xiamen)/ lú hó (Zhangzhou and Penang)?

How are you?

: 汝好無？/汝好无？ lı́ hó bô? Lú hó bô?

How are you?

: 食飽未？/食饱未？ chia̍h-pá-bē (General Taiwanese, Quanzhou and Xiamen)/ chia̍h-pá-bōe (Zhangzhou and Penang) (“have you eaten?”)

Not bad

: 袂歹 bōe-phái/bē-phái

Fine, thank you.

: 好，多謝。/好，多谢。 hó，to͘-siā (Taiwan) / 好，感謝。/好，感谢。 hó，kám-siā. (Xiamen, Indonesia, and Singapore) (Her, toh see-ya) (ho, come see-ya)

Thank you

: 感谢/感謝 kám-siā (Xiamen, Indonesia, and Singapore) / 多谢/多謝 to͘-siā (Taiwan)

What is your name?

: 汝叫什物名？ lı́ kiò sím-mi̍h miâ? (Xiamen, Singapore) / 汝叫啥物名？ lı́ kiò siáⁿ-mı̍h miâ? （Taiwan) /lír kiò sím-mi̍h miâ? (Klang, Singapore) Lú kiò hà-mi̍h miâ? (Northern Malaysia or northern Sumatra, Indonesia) (Lee key-yo seem me me-ah) (Lee key-yo see-ya me me-ah) (L-uh key-yo seem me me-ah) (Loo key-yo hah-Mick me-ah)

My name is … .

: 我的名是… góa ê miâ sı̄… Óa ê miâ sī…: 我叫。。。Góa kiò… óa kiò… (goo-ah eh mee-ah see) (woo-ah eh mee-ah see) (goo-ah key-yo) (woo-ah key-yo)

Nice to meet you.

:

Please… (before a request)

: 請…/请… chhiáⁿ… (Cheah)

Please.

: 拜託/拜托 Pài-thok (Bye-talk) or 好心兮(hó-sim ē) (Hoe SIM, eh!) Or 多嚨 （to-lông）(Toh-long) in northern Malaysia.

You’re welcome

: 免客氣/免客气 bián kheh-khı̀ (“don’t be polite”)

Excuse me. (getting attention)

: 勞駕/劳驾 lô-kà

Excuse me. (begging pardon)

: 歹勢/歹势 phái-sè

I’m sorry. (informal)

: 歹勢/歹势 phái-sè

I’m sorry. (formal)

: 失禮。/失礼。sit lé.

Goodbye

: 再見/再见 chài-kiàn

I can’t speak Minnan.

: 我袂曉講閩南話。/我袂晓讲闽南话。 góa bōe-hiáu kóng Bân-lâm-ōe. Óa bē-hiáu kóng Hok-kiàn-ōa.

I don’t know how to speak English

: 我袂曉講英語。/我袂晓讲英语。 góa bōe-hiáu kóng Eng-gú (Goo-ah boo-ay he-ow kong eng-goo) 我袂曉講紅毛 Óa bē-hiáu kóng âng-mô͘ (Woo-ah beh-hee-ow kong ahng-more)

Do you speak English?

: 請問汝會曉講英語袂？/请问汝会晓讲英语袂？ chhiáⁿ-mn̄g lı́ ē-hiáu kóng Eng-gú bōe? (Cheah mung Lee ay-he-ow kong eng-goo boo-ay)。汝會曉講紅毛無？(Loo aye he-ow kong ahng-more bore?)

Is there someone here who speaks English?

: 請問有人會曉講英語無？/请问有人会晓讲英語无？ chhiáⁿ-mn̄g ū lâng ē hiáu kóng Eng-gú bô? (Cheah mung oo lahng ay-he-ow kong eng goo bore?) 這pêng有hà-mi̍h-lâng／hà-mang 會曉講紅毛？(Cheap-eng oo huh-me-lahng/huh-mahng aye-he-ow kong ahng-more?)

Help!

: 救命！ kiù-miā! (Key-you me-ah)

Look out!

: 小心！ sió sim! (See-oh seem)

Good morning.

: 賢早。 gâu-chá. (Gau cha)

Good evening.

: 好暗暝。 hó-àm-mî (Amoy Hokkien) (Her uh me)

Good night.

:

Good night (to sleep)

: 好睏。 hó khùn (sleep well)

I don’t understand.

: 我聽無。/我听无。góa thiaⁿ bô. (when listening) (Goo-ah tee-ah bore); 我看無。/我看无。góa khòaⁿ bô. (when reading)

Where’s the bathroom?

: 廁所佇佗落？/厕所佇佗落？ chheh-só͘ tī tó-lo̍h? (in Xiamen) (Che sore tee tuh-lock)/ 便所佇佗位 piān-só͘ tī tó-ūi? (in Taiwan) (pee-Ann sore tee tuh-oo-ee)／染蠻蹛佗落？Jiám-bân tòa tá-lo̍h? (in northern Malaysia)／染蠻去佗落？Jiám-bân khì tá-lo̍h? (in northern Sumatra, Indonesia)

You are beautiful

: 汝真媠 lı́ chin suí／lú chin suí 汝按呢媠 lú án-ne suí

Problems

Go away

: 走 cháu/chó͘: 行開 kiâⁿ-khui: 閃 siám

Don’t touch me!

: 莫掽我 mài phòng góa: 莫共我掽 mài kā góa phòng

I’ll call the police. (Informal)

: 我叫警察 (Goo-ah key-yo ghee-eng-chat) 我叫mà-tá （óa kiò mà-tá）(Woo-ah key-yo Ma Tah)

I’ll call the police (Formal)

: 我愛敲予警察 (Óa aì khah hō͘ kéng-chhat)

Police!

: 警察 kéng-chhat / mà-tá (from Malay)

Stop!

: 擋 tòng (thong) / 停 thêng (teng)

I need your help.

: 我需要你的幫忙 góa su-iàu lı́-ê pang-bâng or 我需要你替我斗相共 óa su-iàu lú tek óa tau saⁿ kang

I’m lost.

: (Wah mbo-key)

I lost my purse/wallet.

: 我不見[?]我的皮包 Wah pahng-key wah-ay pay-bow

I’m sick.

: 我破病了 góa phòa-pīⁿ liáu (Wah pwah pee liao) or Wah gahng koh

I’ve been injured.

: 我著傷 Oá (Wah tee-yuh shohng)

I need a doctor.

: 我[?]醫生 (Wah dah-ai ee-sheng)/我愛看盧君（wah ai kuã loh-coon)

Can I use your phone?

: 我甘可用你的電話[?] (Wah gah-ay sai yen * li-ay dyeng-way) 我會用汝的電話無？(wah A éng loo A dee-an wah bo)

Don’t lie to me!

: 勿假死！ Mài ké-sí!

Numbers

0

: 空 khòng

1

: 一 chi̍t / it

Note: “it” is used in the ones and tens place (except the number 1 itself) and for ordinal numbers, whereas “chi̍t” is used for multiples of numbers 100 and greater, as well as before counter words.

2

: 兩/两 nn̄g (nng) nō͘ / 二 jī/lī

Note: 二 jī is used in the ones and tens place (except the number 2 itself) and for ordinal numbers, whereas 兩/两 nn̄g is used for multiples of numbers 100 and greater, as well as before counter words.

3

: 三 saⁿ

4

: 四 sì

5

: 五 gō͘

6

: 六 la̍k

7

: 七 chhit

8

: 八 poeh / peh

9

: 九 káu

10

: 十 cha̍p

11

: 十一 cha̍p-it

12

: 十二 cha̍p-jī

13

: 十三 cha̍p-saⁿ

14

: 十四 cha̍p-sì

15

: 十五 cha̍p-gō͘

16

: 十六 cha̍p-la̍k

17

: 十七 cha̍p-chhit

18

: 十八 cha̍p-poeh/peh

19

: 十九 cha̍p-káu

20

: 二十 jī-cha̍p

21

: 二十一 jī-cha̍p-it

22

: 二十二 jī-cha̍p-jī

100

: 一百 chi̍t-pah

200

: 兩百/两百 nn̄g-pah/nō͘-pah

222

: 兩百二十二/两百二十二nō͘/nn̄g-pah-jī-cha̍p-jī

1000

: 一千 chi̍t-chheng

2000

: 兩千/两千 nn̄g-chheng

Like Mandarin, Minnan groups numbers starting from 10,000 into units of four digits starting with 萬/万 bān. “One million” would therefore be “one hundred ten-thousands” (一百萬/一百万) and “one billion” would be “ten hundred-millions” (十億/十亿).

10,000

: 一萬/一万 chi̍t-bān

20,000

: 兩萬/两万 nn̄g-bān

100,000

: 十萬/十万 cha̍p-bān

1,000,000

: 一百萬/一百万 chi̍t-pah bān

10,000,000

: 一千萬/一千万 chi̍t-chheng bān

100,000,000

: 一億/一亿 chi̍t-ik

1,000,000,000

: 十億/十亿 cha̍p-ik

10,000,000,000

: 一百億/一百亿 chi̍t-pah ik

100,000,000,000

: 一千億/一千亿 chi̍t-chheng ik

1,000,000,000,000

: 一兆 chi̍t-tiāu

number _____ (train, bus, etc.)

: _____號 hō

half

: 半 pòaⁿ

less

: 少 chió

more

: 濟 chōe chē

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers in Chinese are expressed by prepending the number with ‘第’, pronounced tē in Minnan. Note that there is also an alternative form for “first”.

First

: 第一 tē-it (day-it) / 頭一/头一 thâu-chi̍t

Second

: 第二 tē-jı̄ (day-gee)

Third

: 第三 tē-saⁿ (day-sa)

Fourth

: 第四 tē-sı̀ (day-si)

Fifth

: 第五 tē-gō͘ (day-gaw)

And so on, for any number:

Twentieth

: 第二十 tē-jı̄-cha̍p (day gee-tzap)

Hundredth

: 第一百 tē-chı̍t-pah (day chit-pah)

Thousandth

: 第一千 tē-chı̍t-chheng (day chit-cheng)

Time

what time is it?

: 幾點 kúi tiám (coo-ee tiam)?

now

: 這馬 chit-má (jeemah) / 這陣 chit-tsūn (jeetzoon)／峇lú bālú

later

: kah dahng-ay or shuh dahng

before

: ee jun

early

: 早 chá (dtsah)

earlier

: 較早 kah chá (kah dtsah)

morning

: 早起 chá-khí

afternoon

: 下晡 ē-po͘

evening

: 暗晡 àm-po͘ (around 5-6 pm) / 暗頭仔 àm-thâu-á （around 6-7 pm)

night

: 暗暝 àm-mı̂ / 暗時仔/暗时仔 àm-sî-á

tonight

: 今暝 kim-mı̂

noon

: 中晝 tiong-tàu (dyong dow)

midnight

: 半暝 puàⁿ-mî (bpua mi)

Clock time

1:00

: 一点/一點 i̍t-tiám

2:00

: 二点/二點 jī-tiám

2:30

: 二点半/二點半 jī-tiám-pòaⁿ / 二点三十分/二點三十分 jī-tiám saⁿ-cha̍p-hun

3:00

: 三点/三點 saⁿ-tiám

Duration

_____ minute(s)

: _____ 分鐘/_____ 分钟 hun-cheng

_____ hour(s)

: _____ 點鐘/_____ 点钟 tiám-cheng

_____ day(s)

: _____ 日 ji̍t / _____ 工 kang

_____ week(s)

: _____ 禮拜/_____ 礼拜 lé-pài

_____ month(s)

: _____ 月 goe̍h

_____ year(s)

: _____ 年 nî

Days

today

: 今仔日 kin-á-jit/kin-á-lit

yesterday

: 昨日 chah-jit/chah-lit 昨昏 cha̍h-hūiⁿ

tomorrow

: 明仔載/明仔载 miâ-á-chài / 明仔日 miâ-á-ji̍t/miâ-á-li̍t

the day after tomorrow

: 後日/后日 āu-ji̍t/āu-li̍t

this week

: 這禮拜/这礼拜 chit lé-pài

last week

: 頂禮拜/顶礼拜 téng-lé-pài

next week

: 下禮拜/下礼拜 ē-lé-pài

Sunday

: 禮拜日 lé-pài-jı̍t / 禮拜 lé-pài

Monday

: 拜一 pài-it

Tuesday

: 拜二 pài-jı̄

Wednesday

: 拜三 pài-saⁿ

Thursday

: 拜四 pài-sı̀

Friday

: 拜五 pài-gō͘

Saturday

: 拜六 pài-la̍k

Months

January

: 一月 it-go̍eh

February

: 二月 jı̄-go̍eh

March

: 三月 saⁿ-go̍eh

April

: 四月 sı̀-go̍eh

May

: 五月 gō͘-go̍eh

June

: 六月 la̍k-go̍eh

July

: 七月 chhit-go̍eh

August

: 八月 poeh-go̍eh

September

: 九月 káu-go̍eh

October

: 十月 cha̍p-go̍eh

November

: 十一月 cha̍p-it-go̍eh

December

: 十二月 cha̍p-jı̄-go̍eh

Colors

color

: 色 sek

black

: 乌色/烏色 o·-sek

white

: 白色 pe̍h-sek

grey

: 灰色 hoe-sek

red

: 红色/紅色 âng-sek

blue

: 蓝色/藍色 nâ-sek/lâm-sek

yellow

: 黄色/黃色 n̂g-sek

green

: 青色 chhiⁿ-sek

orange

: 柑仔色 kam-á-sek : (“mandarin orange color”)

purple

: 茄色 kiô-sek : (“eggplant color”)

brown

: 涂色/塗色 thó·-sek (Taiwan) / 棕色 chang-sek (mainland China)

Transportation

Bus and train

Ticket

: [?]票 phiò (dyu pyuh)

One ticket

: 一票 chit phiò

How much is one ticket?

: 一票是幾箍？ chit phiò sī kuí khoo

bus

: 公車 / 客運 (kay-wun)

train

: 火車 hóe-chhia

Where does this bus go?

: chit-ê (Dze-day kay-wun kee-dah?)

Does this train go to ____?

: (Dze-day whey-chiah gah-oo kee ____?)

What time does this train leave?

: (Dze-day whey-chiah gwee diam tsooh-whaht?)

What time will this bus arrive?

: (Dze-day kay-wun gwee diam ay gow-wee?)

Please stop!

: 拜託，擋！ pài thok，tòng (Pbai-toh, dong!)

Directions

走 or 行 While the character 走 (cháu) means “to walk” in modern Standard Mandarin, Minnan retains the Classical Chinese meaning of the character, in which it means “to run” (a meaning that is also retained in other southern dialects and Japanese). Instead, the character 行 (kiâⁿ) is used to mean “to walk” in Minnan.

How do I get to ____?

: 請問汝按怎去____啊？/请问汝按怎去____啊？ chhiáⁿ-mn̄g lí án-chóaⁿ khì ____ ah?

…the train station?

: 火車站/火车站 hué-chhia-chām

…the bus station?

: (kay-wun dyoo?)

…the airport?

: 飛機場/飞机场 hui-ki-tiûⁿ

…downtown?

: 市區/市区 chhī-khu

…the hotel?

: 旅館/旅馆 lú-kuán

…the restaurant?

: 飯店/饭店 pn̄g-tiàm

Where are there a lot of ____?

: 佗落有真濟____啊？/佗落有真济____啊？ tó-lo̍h ū chin chōe ____ ah?

Do you have a map?

: (*lee gah-oo day-doh?)

street/road

: 路 lō͘/lo̍h

left

: 倒 tò

right

: 正 chiàⁿ

in front of the _____

: _____頭前/_____头前 _____ thâu-chêng

behind the _____

: _____後尾/_____后尾 _____āu-bóe

turn left

: 斡倒手 oat-tò-chhiú

turn right

: 斡正手 oat-chiàⁿ-chhiú

straight ahead

: 直直去 tı̍t-tı̍t khı̀ / 直直行 ti̍t-ti̍t kiâⁿ / 行直 kiâⁿ ti̍t

inside

: 內面/内面 lāi-bīn

outside

: 外口 gōa-kháu

Taxi

Taxi

: 的士 tek-sî (mainland China) / 計程車/计程车 kè-thêng-chhia (Taiwan)

Drive me to ____

: 載我去____ 。/载我去____ 。 chài góa khì ____.

How much to go ____

: 欲去____幾箍？/欲去____几箍？ beh khì ____ kúi kho͘? 愛去＿＿幾箍／鐳？

Lodging

Do you have any rooms available?

: 有房間無？/有房间无？ ū pâng-king bô?

How much for one room?

: 一間[?]? (Jeet gyun, wah-tsay gyee?)

One person

: 一個人/一个人 chı̍t-ê-lâng

Two persons

: 兩個人/两个人 n̄ng-ê-lâng

Does it have ____?

: 敢有____？ kám-ū ____ ? (Gah oo ____ ?) 有____無？

a bathroom

: 便所 piān-só͘? (Taiwan) / 廁所/厕所 chheh-só͘ (mainland China)／染蠻 (northern Malaysia) jiám-bân

a telephone

: 電話/电话 tiān-ōe/tiān-ōa

a TV

: 電視機/电视机 tiān-sī-ki 電視

May I see it first?

: [?]先看？(Gah-ay-dahng shung kwah?)

Do you have something more ____?

: 敢有較____？ kám-ū khah (Gah oo kah)有較____个無？

big

: 大的 tōa-ê (dwah-ay)

cheap

: 俗的 sio̍k-ê (siok-ay) (China and Taiwan) / 偏的 phiⁿ-ê (Singapore)便宜

OK, I’ll sleep here for ____ nights.

: 好，[?]暗 Huh, mbay-kuhng ____ ahm.

Is there another hotel?

: [?]有[?] 旅館 (Gah oo bahg-ay *lee-guang?)

What time is breakfast?

: 早頓幾點？/早顿几点？ chá-tǹg kúi-tiám?

Please clean my room

: 拜託 我的 房間 (Pbai toh kyeng wah-ay bahn-gyun)

Can you wake me at … ?

: ，好無？… gah-way gyuh kiah, huhbuh?

Money

Credit card

: 刷卡 (swah kah)

Where can I exchange money?

: (Dway ay-dahng wah gjee?)Tuì ē-tàng ōaⁿ chîⁿ/Nā ai ōaⁿ lui ē khì tá-lo̍h ōaⁿ? (nah aye wah lui eh key tah lawk wah?)

Do you accept US Dollars/pounds/Euros? (Ē ēng Bí-kim/Eng-pōng/euro hú /hêng lui bô?)

Eating

I’m a vegetarian.

: 我食齋。/我食斋。 góa chia̍h che. / 我食素。 góa chia̍h sò͘.

drink tea

: 啉茶 lim tê

brew tea

: 泡茶 phàu tê

breakfast

: 早頓/早顿 chá-tǹg/chá-tuìⁿ

lunch

: 中頓/中顿 tiong-tǹg/tiong-tuìⁿ

dinner

: 暗頓/暗顿 àm-tǹg àm-tuìⁿ

snack

: 點心/点心 tiám-sim

I want…

: 我欲 góa beh (gwah beh) 我愛 （oá-aì)

tea

: 茶 tê (teh)

coffee

: 咖啡 ka-pi (in Taiwan) / ko-pi (in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia)

chicken

: 雞/鸡 ke / koe

duck

: 鴨/鸭 ah

beef

: 牛肉 gû-bah

pork

: 豬肉/豬肉 ti-bah / tu-bah / tir-bah

mutton

: 羊肉 iûⁿ-bah / iôⁿ-bah／iaûⁿ-bah

eggs

: 雞卵/鸡卵 ke-nn̄g / koe-nn̄g / ke-nūi / 卵 nn̄g / nūi (the former specifically refers to chicken eggs, the later can be used generally for any type of egg)

fresh

: 鮮/鲜 chhiⁿ

fruit

: 果子 kóe-chí / ké-chí

vegetable

: 菜 chhài

fish

: 魚仔/鱼仔 hî-á: 魚/鱼 hî / hû (hhu2/hhw2; sounds like a long ‘huh’ without the vowel)

bread

: 麵包/面包 mī-pau (mee-bao): pang (in Taiwan, from Japanese): 羅啲 lō-ti (in Singapore and Malaysia, from Malay)

noodles

: 麵/面 mı̄

rice (uncooked)

: 米 bı́

rice (cooked)

: 飯/饭 pn̄g/ puīⁿ

congee / rice porridge

: 糜 bê/môi

milk

: 牛奶 gû-ni / gû-leng (in Penang) or 奶 ni (the former refers specifically to cow’s milk, while the latter can be used for milk in general)

water

: 水 chúi

beer

: 啤酒 pi-chiú

salt

: 鹽/盐 iâm

pepper

: 胡椒粉 hô͘-chio-hún

sugar

: 糖 thn̂g

soy sauce

: 豆油 tāu-iû

butter

: 牛油 gû-iû

done eating

: 食飽了/食饱了 chia̍h-pá-liáu

delicious (eating)

: 好食 hó-chia̍h

delicious (drinking)

: 好啉 hó-lim

The check, please.

: 結數/结数 kiat-siàu

Unpleasant tastes

Bitter 苦 kho͘

Spicy 辣/薟 lua̍h／hiam

sour 酸 suiⁿ/sng

Bars

Shopping

How much?

: 幾錢？/ 几钱？kúi-chîⁿ?: 幾鐳 kúi-lui?

How many dollars/yuan?

: 幾箍？/几箍？ kúi kho͘

Too much

: 傷濟/伤济 siuⁿ -chōe／siauⁿ -chē

Don’t want

: 莫 mài

I need…

: (Wah dah-ai…)

…toothbrush

: 齒抿/齿抿 khí-bín

…toothpaste

: 齒膏/齿膏 khí-ko

…soap

: 茶箍 tê-kho͘ (Taiwan) / 雪文 sap-bûn (mainland China)／sa-bûn (Malaysia, Singapore)

…shampoo

: 洗頭毛 sóe thâu-mn̂g (literally “wash hair”) sé thâu-mô͘

…paper

: 紙/纸 chóa

…pen

: 筆/笔 pit

…books

: 冊/册 chheh

…an umbrella.

: 雨傘/雨伞 hō͘-sòaⁿ

Driving

I want to rent a car.

: 我欲稅車。/ 我欲税车。 (góa beh sè chhia) 我愛稅車（óa ai soè chhia)

Can I get insurance?

: 遮會使買保險袂？/ 遮会使买保险袂？ (chiâ ē-sái bóe pó-hiám bōe)

Authority

I haven’t done anything wrong.

: 我無做歹代誌。 (góa bô chò phái tāi-chì.) Malaysia: 我無做嗄啦（oá bô chò sà-láh）

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