Chinese Without a Teacher (1922)/Grammar

by Herbert Allen Giles

GRAMMAR.

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SUBSTANTIVES AND ADJECTIVES
are not declined: the same word expresses both the singular and plural.

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PRONOUNS.

I, me	我	Waw.
My, mine	我的	Wawty.
We, us	我們	Wawmun.
Our, ours	我們的	Waymunty.
Thou, thee and you	你	Nee.
Thy, thine, your, yours	你的	Neety.
You (plural)	你們	Neemun.
Your, yours	你們的	Neemunty.
He, she, it, him, her	他	Tah.
His, her, hers, its	他的	Tahty.
They, them	他們	Tah mun.
Their, their	他們的	Tahmunty.

VERBS

remain the same in all moods, tenses numbers and persons, with the exception of the past tense, which is formed by adding la, layow or kwo to the original word.

To come	來	Li.
I have come	我來咯	Waw li-la.
Has he come?	他來了沒有	T‘ah li-la mayo?
He will not come	他不來	T‘ah poo li
Will he come?	他來不來	T‘ah li poo li?
They cannot come	他們不能來	T‘ah mun soo nung li.
You (plural) needn't come	他們不用來	Neemun poo yoong li.
Don't you come!	你別來	Nee peeay li!