Indicative.
The Indicative sense is readily discerned. The construction is simple. There is a Subject and a Predicate, or a Subject, a Predicate, and an Object. As in English, so in Chinese, when the subject precedes the verb, the latter is in the active voice; when the object precedes, it is in the passive. A striking idiomatic characteristic of sentences of this class, is the frequency with which the object of the verb’s action is pressed into the foreground. We have analogies in English, “The fathers, where are they, and the prophets, do they live forever?” This construction, infrequent with us, is very common among Chinese. A Chinaman would say, “The anchor, where is it?” and he might also prefer to use the form, “The axe, he took it away.” “The house, he has rented it,” “The letter, he has written it.”
- húe sie-chhù,
- fire burns, or burned the house.
- chhù khṳt-húe sie--khṳ̀,
- the house was burned by the fire.
- chhù—i pàng-húe sie--khṳ̀,
- the house—he applied fire and burnt it.
- hóuⁿ chia̍h iêⁿ,
- the tiger ate the lamb.
- iêⁿ khṳt-hóuⁿ chia̍h--khṳ̀,
- the lamb was eaten by the tiger.
- iêⁿ—hóuⁿ chia̍h i liáu,
- the lamb—a tiger ate it.
- nâng hiâm-tãi-kong,
- people blamed the steersman.
- tãi-kong khṳt-nâng-hiâm,
- the steersman was blamed by people.
- tãi-kong—i pun nâng-hiâm--liáu,
- the steersman—he was blamed by people.
- hõu ak-tie̍h-saⁿ,
- the rain wet the jacket.
- saⁿ khṳt-hõu ak-tie̍h,
- the jacket was wet by the rain.
- i ap-siàu chheng-chhó,
- he paid the account in full.
- siàu ap-chheng-chhó--liáu,
- the account was paid in full.
- i ji̍h-bí cha̍t-cha̍t,
- he pressed down the rice closely.
- bí khṳt-i ji̍h-cha̍t-cha̍t,
- the rice was by him pressed down closely.
- bí—i ji̍h-cha̍t-cha̍t,
- the rice—he pressed it down closely.
- i nãuⁿ-tie̍h-kha,
- he sprained his ankle.
- kha—i nãuⁿ tie̍h,
- the ankle—he sprained it.
- i bōi-tiāu i kâi-chhù,
- he sold off his house.
- chhù—i bōi-tiāu liáu,
- the house—he sold it off
- i tǹg-i kâi-chhân,
- he mortgaged his fields.
- chhân—tǹg khṳ̀ liáu,
- the fields—he mortgaged.
- i khṳ̀ thó-siàu-ba̍k,
- he went to collect an account.
- siàu-ba̍k khṳt-i thó--khṳ̀-liáu,
- the account was collected by him.
- siàu-ba̍k—i thó-bô-chîⁿ,
- the account —he collected not a cash.
