Minnan phrasebook

Southern Min, Minnan , Hokkien-Taiwanese (Mainland China : 闽南方言 Bân-lâm-hong-giân : Min Nan Dialect ; Taiwan (Kuomingtang, KMT) : 臺灣閩南語 Tâi-uân-Bân-lâm-gí Min Nan Language ; Taiwan (Democratic Progressive Party, DPP and other Opposition Political Parties) : 臺語 tâi-gí Taiwanese Language), is a Chinese Min language subgroup of dialects that is mainly spoken in the southern region of Fujian province and in Taiwan. It is the most well-known and the largest Min Chinese subgroup and the major Min Chinese Language group of Fujian and Taiwan today, it is also spoken by certain overseas Chinese populations whose ancestral families hail from Southern Fujian, particularly in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and The Philippines, where they make up the largest Chinese non-Mandarin language group before Cantonese. In Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, the overseas Chinese call it Hokkien (福建話 Hok-kiàn-ōe), while in the Philippines, the overseas Chinese call it "Our People's Language" (咱儂話 Lán-lâng-ōe).

The four mutually intelligible Min Nan dialects are Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Xiamen and Taiwanese. All the mutually intelligible Min Nan dialects spoken in Southern Fujian and Taiwan are collectively known as Hokkien-Taiwanese Quanzhang Min Nan language (闽台泉漳片闽南语). The Overseas Min Nan dialect variants spoken in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, The Philippines and some other Southeast Asian countries are influenced by Malay, English, Cantonese or other local languages spoken in the Southeast Asian countries, while the Min Nan dialects spoken in Western countries are mostly the Taiwanese Min Nan Language.

There are non-Mandarin/non-Cantonese Chinese varieties spoken in some areas in Guangdong Province that are related to Min Nan dialects. Generally, the Hokkien-Taiwanese Quanzhang (闽台泉漳片) type of Min Nan spoken in Southern Fujian and Taiwan is the mainstream form of Min Nan because it has the largest number of speakers among all the Min Nan dialects in Mainland China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia and the influence of Taiwanese Min Nan after the post martial law period during the late 1980s in Taiwan today. The variants of Min Nan spoken in Guangdong and Hainan bear more differences with the mainstream Min Nan dialects compared to the smaller differences between the mainstream Min Nan dialects.

Although the variants of Min Nan have a historical linguistic relationship with Hokkien-Taiwanese Quanzhang (闽台泉漳片) Min Nan, they differ significantly in pronunication and use of slang which are unique to the region, so they are not easily mutually intelligible with the Hokkien-Taiwanese Quanzhang Min Nan. For example, Teochew (Chaoshan) has low mutual intelligibility with Mainstream Min Nan, while the Hainanese variant of Min Nan has no mutual intelligibility with Mainstream Min Nan.

The modern standard dialect pronunciations of Min Nan are Xiamen dialect accent and Taiwanese Min Nan dialect (Tainan prestige accent). The Tainan prestige accent of the Taiwanese Min Nan dialect is the dialect accent that is mostly used in Minnan television broadcasting and Minnan song production in Taiwan. The Taiwanese Min Nan dialect is influential as the Taiwanese Min Nan Television shows today and Taiwanese Min Nan songs are well known among the native Min Nan Chinese speakers in Southern Fujian, Taiwan, overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and Western countries. Although native Min Nan Chinese speakers do not adopt the standard Min Nan pronunciation themselves, the standard Min Nan pronunciation is generally understood by most. Xiamen dialect's accent is very similar to the Taiwanese Min Nan dialect (Tainan prestige accent), both are mixtures of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou Min Nan dialect accents. The Xiamen dialect and Taiwanese Min Nan dialect (Tainan prestige accent) are highly mutually intelligible (98% phonetically similar; 90% lexically similar). The difference between the two standard Min Nan dialects is that the Xiamen dialect accent is slightly inclined towards the Quanzhou dialect accent while Taiwanese Min Nan dialect (Tainan prestige accent) is slightly inclined towards the Zhangzhou dialect accent. The mainland Min Nan dialects and Taiwan Min Nan dialect also differ in lexicon to a small extent. Furthermore, Taiwanese Min Nan has borrowed some terminology from Japanese, due to the legacy of the Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan during the late 18th century till the Kuomintang takeover of Taiwan.

Min Nan can be said to be mutually unintelligible with standard Mandarin and other dialects not only due to the pronunciation differences but also because of the irregular word/character conversion, i.e. a non-native Minnan speaker can only understand the dialect to a small extent even when it is presented in written form (e.g. "食甲尚好驚血壓懸,媠毋綴人走" : 《陳雷.歡喜就好》) It is also not mutually intelligible with the other branches of the Min dialect family such as Mindong, Minbei and Puxian. That said, virtually all yonunger Minnan speakers in mainland China and Taiwan able to speak Mandarin as well.

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.

This is partly because standard written Chinese is based on Mandarin: many words in Minnan are written with characters of the same meaning in standard written 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 (闽南). Every word has at least two pronunciations, and some have more:

“一”：白 [tsit8] vs. 文 [it4]

“大”：白 [tua7] vs. 文 [tai7]

“学”：白 [ oh8] vs. 文 [hak8]

An example with 3 readings : “石头” [chioh8 tau5]，“石榴” [siah8-liu6]，“药石” [iok8-sek8]. That is, “石” can be read “chioh8“, “siah8” or “sek8”.

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 is pronounced seⁿ or siⁿ as a verb used alone, but the word 人生 is pronounced lı̂n-seng.

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/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 is very derogatory but used very commonly. (No cognates exist in Mandarin or Cantonese although phrases with the same meaning do.) Similar to Malay, there are two equivalents of the English word "we", with lan-nang including the listener in the group, and goa-nang used to exclude the listener from the group.

Pronunciation varies from region to region (e.g. 你 (you) can be either lı́ and lú). 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.

Tones

Like other varieties of Chinese, Minnan is tonal; tones must be correct in order to convey the correct meaning. Tone sandhi is particularly common and non-standardised in Minnan, which makes it a little harder to learn than Mandarin, where tone sandhi is standardised, and Cantonese, where tone sandhi is used sparingly.

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.

Tones of Minnan
Number	Name	POJ	Pitch	Description	After tone sandhi
1	yin level	a	55	high	7
2	yin rising	á	51	falling	1
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), 7 (Tainan)
6	yang rising	á	51	falling	1
7	yang departing	ā	33	mid	3
8	yang entering	a̍h	4	high stopped	3 (h final), 4 (otherwise)

Consonants

Minnan has many different consonants, even more so than standard Mandarin or Cantonese, and pronouncing them all correctly is a challenge for English, or even Mandarin speakers. 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), unaspirated unvoiced (p, t, k), and unaspirated voiced (b, d, g) are all separate phonemic consonants in Minnan.

To highlight the distinction, the words for "open" (開) and "close" (關), in some pronunciations (khui and kui respectively) sound almost identical to a native English speaker, only difference being that "open" uses an aspirated initial k while "close" uses an unaspirated initial k. The j sound in English is also used along with the j sound in Mandarin hanyu pinyin. Labial initials such as the m sound are also present. However, unlike in Mandarin, there is no "tongue rolling" (pinyin zh, ch, sh, r) initial consonant.

Initial consonanats of POJ
Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
b	b	ban	voiced pinyin 'b'
p	p	span	pinyin 'b'
ph	pʰ	pan	pinyin 'p'
j	dz/ʑ	jam	voiced pinyin 'z'
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	voiced pinyin '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'

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.

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. Minnan also has the vowel [ɔ] written as o͘ (with a dot) or oo.

Vowels of POJ
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

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".

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

Phrase list

For some of the following phrases, there is an unconventional romanization shown in parentheses and this does not describe tones, but just tries to be phonetically accurate from an (American) English speaking standpoint. Goal is to have an English speaker's first try be fairly close, without reading a bunch of rules for phonetization nor trying to distinguish between the 7 tones in Taiwanese. Unfortunately, it is difficult to cover all tones this way, especially nasal and breath differences, and thus cannot be completely accurate.

Asterisks precede words that are very hard to phonetize. It would be nice to get some audio on here for these.

Also to note is the sound of "l" used below. Linguists call this sound a "flap": it is similar to the "tt" sound in Standard American pronunciation of "butter". It is also similar to the Japanese "r" and the Spanish "single-r" sounds.

Basics

Hello.: 你好。 lı́ hó (Li huh)
Hello (informal)
How are you?: 你好無？ lı́ hó bô?
How are you?: 呷飽無？ chia̍h-pá-bô (jia bah bo) or 呷飽未？ chia̍h-pá-bē (jia bah be) ("have you eaten?")
Not bad: 不歹 bōe-phái (buay pai)
Fine, thank you. (informal): 好，多謝 hó，to͘-siā (Hoh, duh shiah.)
Fine, thank you. (formal): 好，感謝 hó，kám-siā. (Hoh, gahm shiah)
Thank you: 多謝 to͘-siā
What is your name?: 你叫啥物名？ lı́ kiò siáⁿ-mı̍h miâ?
My name is ... .: 我的名是... góa ê miâ sı̄...
Nice to meet you.
Please... (before a request): 請... chhiáⁿ...
Please.: 拜託 Pài-thok (Bai-toh) or 好心ㄟ(hó-sim ē)
You're welcome: 免客氣 bián kheh-khı̀ ("don't be polite")
Yes.: 是 sı̄ (Note: Only some questions are answered with this. As with other varieties of Chinese, affirmation is generally done by repeating the verb in the question.)
No.: 毋是 m̄-sı̄
Excuse me. (getting attention): 勞駕 lô-kà
Excuse me. (begging pardon): 否勢 phái-sè (pai say)
I'm sorry. (informal): 否勢 phái-sè (pai-say)
I'm sorry. (formal): 失禮。sit lé. (shit-leh)
Goodbye: 再見 chài-kiàn (tsai gian).
Goodbye (informal)
I can't speak... [well].: 我袂曉講... góa bōe-hiáu kóng...
I don't know how to speak English: 我[?]曉講英語 (Wah mbay hyow gong eng-yee)
Do you speak English?: 你敢會曉講英語？ lı́ kám-ē-hiáu kóng eng-gı́? (Li gah-ay-hyow gong eng-yee)
Is there someone here who speaks English?: 遐敢有人會曉講英語？chia kám-ū lâng ē hiáu kóng ing-gú? (Jiah gam ou lung eh hiao gong eng gyi?)
Help!: 救人！ kìu-lâng!
Look out!: 小心！ sió sim!
Good morning.: 賢早。 gâu-chá.
Good evening.: 好暗暝。 hó-àm-mî (Amoy Hokkien)
Good night.
Good night (to sleep): 好睏。 hó khùn (sleep well)
I don't understand.: 我聽無。góa thiaⁿ bô.
Where's the bathroom?: 便所佇佗? Piān-só· tī toh? (Ben so dee-da)
You are beautiful: 你真媠 lı́ chin suí

Problems

Go away: 走 cháu/chó͘ (tzow/zao)
Don't touch me!: 莫摸我 mài mo góa (mai mo1 wa) / (Mai gah-wah mbong)
I'll call the police. (Informal): 我叫警察 (Wah kah gien tsah.)
I'll call the police (Formal): (Wah ay kah hoh gien tsah.)
Police!: 警察 kéng-chhat (gien tsah) / ma-ta (from malay)
Stop!: 擋 tòng (dohng) / 停 thêng (tng2)
I need your help.: 我需要你的幫忙 góa su-iàu lı́-ê pang-bâng (Wah soo-yow *dee-ay bahm-mahng) or 我需要你替我斗相共 óa su-iàu lı́ tek góa tau sann 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.: Wah pwah bee or Wah gahng koh
I've been injured.: 我著傷 (Wah dyuh shohng)
I need a doctor.: 我[?]醫生 (Wah dah-ai ee-sheng)
Can I use your phone?: 我甘可用你的電話[?] (Wah gah-ay sai yen * li-ay dyeng-way)
Don't lie to me!: 勿假！ mài ké!

Numbers

Numbers in Minnan are basically the same as numbers in other varieties of Chinese.

Please note the rules about when to use the two different words for 2 (nn̄g and jī). Jī is used in the ones, tens and hundreds place, whereas nn̄g is used for multiples of numbers 100 and greater, as well as before counter words. This is analogous to the use of 兩 and 二 in mandarin.

0: 空 khong (kong)
1: 一 it / chi̍t (chjit)
2: 二 jī (li/ji/di) / 兩 nn̄g (nng)
3: 三 saⁿ (sa)
4: 四 sì (si)
5: 五 gō (go)
6: 六 la̍k (lak)
7: 七 chhit (chit)
8: 八 pueh / peh (bpui)
9: 九 káu (kau)
10: 十 cha̍p (tzhap)
11: 十一 cha̍p-it (tzhap-it)
12: 十二 cha̍p-jī (tzhap-li)
13: 十三 cha̍p-saⁿ (tzhap-sa)
14: 十四 cha̍p-sì (tzhap-si)
15: 十五 cha̍p-gō· (tzhap-go)
16: 十六 cha̍p-la̍k (tzhap-lak)
17: 十七 cha̍p-chhit (tzhap-chit)
18: 十八 cha̍p-peh (tzhap-peh)
19: 十九 cha̍p-káu (tzhap-kau)
20: 二十 jī-cha̍p (li-tzhap)
21: 二十一 jī-cha̍p-it (li-tzhap-it)
22: 二十二 jī-cha̍p-jī (li-tzhap-li)
100: 一百 chi̍t-pah (chit-pah)
200: 兩百 nn̄g-pah (nng-pah)
222: 兩百二十二 nn̄g-pah-jī-cha̍p-jī (nng-pah-li-chap-li)
1000: 一千 chi̍t-chhien (chit-chien)
2000: 兩千 nn̄g-chhien
10,000: 一萬 chi̍t-bān
20,000: 兩萬 nn̄g-bān
100,000: 十萬 cha̍p-bān
1,000,000: 一百萬 chi̍t-pah bān
10,000,000: 一千萬 chi̍t-chhing bān
100,000,000: 一億 chi̍t-ik
1,000,000,000: 十億 cha̍p-ik
10,000,000,000: 一百億 chi̍t-pah ik
100,000,000,000: 一千億 chi̍t-chhing ik
1,000,000,000,000: 一兆 chi̍t-tiāu

number _____ (train, bus, etc.): _____號 hō
half: 半 pua
less: 少 síu
more: 多 tzui

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers in Chinese are expressed by prepending the number with '第', pronounced tē in Minnan.

First: 第一 tē-it (day-it)
Second: 第二 tē-jı̄ (day-ji)
Third: 第三 tē-saⁿ (day-sa)
Fourth: 第四 tē-sı̀ (day-si)
Fifth: 第五 tē-gō͘ (day-go)

And so on, for any number:

Twentieth 第二十 tē-jı̄-cha̍p (day ji-tzap)
Hundredth: 第一百 tē-chı̍t-pah (day chit-pah)
Thousandth: 第一千 tē-chı̍t-chhian (day chit-chien)

Time

what time is it?: 幾點 kúi tiám (kwee tiam)?
now: 這馬 chit-má (jeemah) / 這陣 chit-tsūn (jeetzoon)
later: kah dahng-ay or shuh dahng
before: ee jun
early: 早 chá (dtsah)
earlier: 較早 kah chá (kah dtsah)

morning: 下晡 / (tao dtsah)
in the morning: 早起 chá-khí (tzai kee)
tomorrow morning: 明仔載 bîn-á-tsá-khí miyah tsai kee tao dtsah
afternoon: 下晡 (ay boh)
in the afternoon
evening: ay ahm
In the evening
Night: 暗 àm
In the night: 暗時 àm-sî (ahm-sheea)
Tonight: 今暗 kim-àm / 今暝 kim-mı̂ (kim mi)

Clock time

One o'clock AM: ?一點 (tao tza jeet/yi4 diam)
Two o'clock AM: ?兩點 (tao tza nen/di3 diam)
Noon: 中晝 tiong-tàu (dyong dow) / (ey3 bpo1)

ē-poo

Midnight: 半暝 puàⁿ-mî (bpua mi)

Duration

_____ minute(s): _____ 分鐘 hun-ching (whhun-ching)
_____ hour(s): _____ 點鐘 tiám-ching / (diam-jun)
_____ day(s): _____ 日 ji̍t (*leet)
_____ week(s): _____ 禮拜 lé-pài (*lay bai)
_____ month(s): _____ 月 gue̍h (whay)
_____ year(s): _____ 年 nî (nee)

Days

today: 今日今仔日 kin-á-jit / (gyah *de *deet)
yesterday: 昨昏 chah-hng (dtsah-ung)
tomorrow: 明仔載 bîn-á-chài (miyah tsai)
the day before last: 昨日 cho̍h--ji̍t (tzuh *leet)
the day after tomorrow: 後日 āu--ji̍t (ow *leet)
this week: 這禮拜 chit lé-pài (tsi *lay bai)
last week: (den *lay-bai)
next week: 後禮拜 āu lé-pài (ow *lay-bai)

Sunday: 禮拜日 lé-pài-jı̍t (le-bai-*leet)
Monday: 拜一 pài-it (bai-eet)
Tuesday: 拜二 pài-jı̄ (bai-*dee)
Wednesday: 拜三 pài-saⁿ (bai-sa)
Thursday: 拜四 pài-sı̀ (bai-shee)
Friday: 拜五 pài-gō͘ (bai-go)
Saturday: 拜六 pài-la̍k (bai-*lahk)

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: 烏色 o·-sek
white: 白色 pe̍h-sek
grey: 灰色 hoe-sek
red: 紅色 âng-sek
blue: 藍色 nâ-sek
yellow: 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: 土色 thó·-sek : ("dirt color")

Transportation

Bus and train

Ticket: [?]票 phiò (dyu pyuh)
One ticket: 一票 chit phiò (jeet-pyuh)
How much is one ticket?: 一票是幾箍？ chit phiò sī kuí khoo (Jeet-pyuh shee gwee-koh?)
bus: 公車 / 客運 (kay-wun)
train: 火車 hóe-chhia (whey-chiah)
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

How do I get to ____?: [?] 按怎去 (mbay ahndswah kee ____?)
...the train station?: 火車站 hué-chhia-chām / (whey chiah dyoo?)
...the bus station?: (kay-wun dyoo?)
...the airport?: (whey-deng-gee dyoo?)
...downtown?: (chee dyong sheemg?)
...the hotel?: 旅館 lú-kuán (*lee-guang?)
...the restaurant?: 飯店 pn̄g-tiàm (bung-diam?)
Where are there a lot of ____?: (Dway oo jote-tsay ____?)
Do you have a map?: (*lee gah-oo day-doh?)
street/road: 路 lō͘/lo̍h (*loh)
left: 倒 tò (duh) / 左 chó
right: 正 chiàⁿ (jyah)
turn left: 倒[?] (duh wah)
straight ahead: 直直去 tı̍t-tı̍t khı̀ (dee-deet kee) / 直直行 ti̍t-ti̍t kiâⁿ (dee-deet gyah)

Taxi

Taxi: 計程車(gay-dyen chiah)
Drive me to ____: 載我去____ 。 dzai wah kee ____
How much to go ____: [?]去幾箍？ mbay kee ____ gwee koh?

Lodging

Do you have any rooms available?: 有房間無 ū pâng-king bô? (Oo bahn-gyun mbo?)
How much for one room?: 一間[?]? (Jeet gyun, wah-tsay gyee?)
One person: 一個人 chı̍t-ê-lâng (dzeday lahng)
Two persons: 兩個人 n̄ng-ê-lâng (nungay lahng)
Does it have ____?: 敢有____？ kám-ū ____ ? (Gah oo ____ ?)
a bathroom: 便所 piān-só͘? (beng soh?)
a telephone: 電話 tiān-ōe (dyung way?)
a TV: 電視 tiān-sī
May I see it first?: [?]先看？(Gah-ay-dahng shung kwah?)
Do you have something more ____?: 敢有較____？

kám-ū kah|khah (Gah oo kah)

big: 大的 tōa-ê (dwah-ay)
cheap: 俗的 sio̍k-ê (shohg-ay)
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？ (Dzah-dun gwee-diam?)
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?)

Eating

Have some tea: 飲茶 lim tê
Make tea: 泡茶 phàu tê
Breakfast: 早頓 chá-tǹg (dzah-dun)
Lunch: 中頓 tiong-tǹg
Dinner: 暗頓 àm-tǹg
Snack: 點心 tiám-sim
I want...: 我欲 góa beh (gwah beh)
Tea: 茶 tê (teh)
Coffee: 咖啡 ka-pi (kopi)
Chicken Meat: 雞肉 ke-bah/koe-bah (bah = meat)
Beef Meat: 牛肉 gû-bah
Eggs: 雞卵 ke-nn̄g/koe-nn̄g
Fruit: 水果 chúi-kó, 果子 kóe-chí/ké-chí
Vegetable: 菜 chhài
Fish: 魚仔 hî-á (hee-ah) / 魚 hî/hû (hhu2/hhw2; sounds like a long 'huh' without the vowel)
Bread: pahng (from Portuguese) / (bin taw) / 麵包 mī-pau (mee-bao)
Noodles: 麵 mı̄ (mee)
Rice (uncooked): 米 bı́ (bee)
Rice (cooked): 飯 pn̄g (buhng)
Beer: 啤酒 (bee chiu)
Salt: 鹽 iâm (yahm)
Pepper: hyahm / 胡椒粉 hô͘-chio-hún (hhoh chjio hun)
Done eating: 呷飽了 chia̍h-pá-liáu (jyah pah lyow)
Good to eat: 好呷 hó-chia̍h (huh jyah)
Good to drink: 好飲 hó-lim (huh lim)

Bars

Shopping

How much?: 偌濟？ jōa-chōe (luaa zwuei)
How many dollars/yuan?: 幾箍？ kúi kho͘ (gwee koh)
Too much: 傷 shyoo-(gke4) zwuei3
Don't want: 莫/勿 mbwai / mmm...-mai3
I need...: (Wah dah-ai...)
...toothbrush: 齒抿 khí-bín (kee-mbeeng)
...soap: 茶箍 tê-kho͘ (day koh)
...shampoo: 洗頭毛 sóe thâu-mn̂g (suay tow-mun) (literally "wash hair")
...paper: 紙 chóa (dzwah)
...pen: 筆 pit (mbeetd / pbeet)
...books: 書 chu (dzoo) / 冊 chheh (tz-cheh)

Authority

I haven't done anything wrong.: 我無做歹代誌。 (góa bô chò phái tāi-chì.)

gollark: Anyway, ABR has a connection open so I could instruct it to do things using the debug interface.

gollark: It's already too late.

gollark: You do realise that if I intended to "bee" you via that I could make ABR do it?

gollark: Oh, is it because I powered my laptop back on and it connected to IRC?

gollark: I didn't even hack your website much.

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