Travel Tips 24 >
Minnan phrasebook
Min nan hua or Southern Min is the Chinese dialect of the Southern part of Fujian province, the area around Xiamen and Quanzhou. A variant is widely spoken in Taiwan where it is referred to as Taiwanese. In Singapore and Malaysian English, the Min dialects are called Hokkien, the Min-nan pronunciation of Fujian.
Pronunciation guide
Vowels
Consonants
Common diphthongs
Phrase list
Here are a few very basic phrases:
Hello - li ho (LEE-HO)
Thank you - to sia å¤šè¬ (DAW-SHEEAH)
You are beautiful - li chiu sui (LEE-JOE-SWEE)
Don't lie to me! - mai ke (MY-GAY)
This is delicious (for beverage) - ho lim
This is delicious (for food) - ho chiah 好食 (HO JEEYAH)
Have some tea - lim te 飲茶
Make tea - pao te
That's OK/You're welcome - m-ben kekki
Basics
Problems
Numbers
Note: the following uses unconventional romanization and 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. Also to note is the author learned Taiwanese from one parent from the south, and one parent from the north.
- Asterisk precedes words that are very hard to phonetize. It would be nice to get some audio on here for these.
- Also to note is the phoneme for "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.
Basic Phrases
Hello - Li huh -- literally, "you good?"
How are you - Li ho-bo; OR Jia bah bo -- literally, "eat full?"
Not bad - Mbay mbai
Good, Thank you - Informal: Huh, duh shiah. Formal: Huh, gahm shiah
What is your name - Li-ay myah shee sa?
My name is - Wah-ay mya shee
Please - Pbai toh
That's OK / Your Welcome - Me-en Kayki
Excuse me - Pai say
Sorry - Informal: Pai say. Formal: shit leh
Goodbye - tzai chien
I don't know how to speak English - Wah mbay hyow gong eng-yee
Do you know how to speak English? - Li gah-ay hyow gong eng-yee
Is there someone here who speaks English? - Jiah gah oo lahng ay hyow gong eng-yee
I don't understand - Wah tyah bo
Where's the bathroom? - Ben so dee-da
Problems
Go Away - Tzow
Don't touch me! - Mai gah-wah mbong
I'll call the police. - Informal: Wah kah gien tsah. Formal: Wah ay kah hoh gien tsah.
Police! - Gien tsah
Stop! - Dohng
I need your help. - Wah soo-yow * dee-ay bahm-mahng
I'm lost. - Wah mbo-key
I lost my purse/wallet. - Wah pahng-key wah-ay pay bow
I'm sick. - Wah pwah bee or Wah gahng koh
I've been injured. - Wah dyuh shohng
I need a doctor. - Wah dah-ai ee-sheng
Can I use your phone? - Wah gah-ay sai yen * li-ay dyeng-way
Numbers
1 - jeet
2 - nun
3 - sa
4 - shee
5 - go
6 - * lahk
7 - cheet
8 - bway
9 - gow
10 - tsahp
11 - tsah-eet
12 - tsah- * dee
13 - tsah-sa
14 - tsah-she
15 - tsah-go
16 - tsah-lahk
17 - tsah-cheet
18 - tsah-bway
19 - tsah-gow
20 - * lee-tsahp
21 - * leetsahp-eet
22 - * leetsahp- * dee
23 - * leetsahp-sa
...
30 - sa-tsahp
40 - she-tsahp
50 - go-tsahp
60 - * lahk-tsahp
70 - cheet-tsahp
80 - bway-tsahp
90 - gow-tsahp
100 - jee-bah
200 - nun-bah
300 - sa-bah
1000 - jee-cheng
2000 - nun-cheng
10,000 - jee-mahng
100,000 - tsahp-mahng
1,000,000 - jeebah-mahng
1,000,000,000 - jeecheng-mahng
1,000,000,000,000
half - * bwah
less - kah jyuh
more - kah tsay
Ordinal Numbers
first - day-eet
second - day- * dee
third - day-sa
fourth - day-she
fifth - day-go
...
twentieth
...
hundredth - day jee-bah
...
thousandth - day jee-chien
Time
now - jeemah or jeetzoon
later - kah dahng-ay or shuh dahng
before - ee jun
early - dtsah
earlier - kah dtsah
morning - tao dtsah
in the morning - tzai kee
tomorrow morning - miyah tsai kee tao dtsah
afternoon - ay boh
in the afternoon -
evening - ay ahm
in the evening -
night - ahm
in the night - ahm-sheea
Clock time
one o'clock AM - tao tza jeet diam
two o'clock AM - tao tza nen diam
noon - dyong dow
one o'clock PM - ay boh jeet diam
two o'clock PM - ay boh nen diam
midnight
Duration
minute - whhun
2 minutes - nun whhun
hour - diam jun
2 hours - nun diam jun
day - * leet
5 days - go * leet
week - * lay bai
5 weeks - go * lay bai
month - whay * leet
5 months - go whay * leet
year - nee
5 years - go nee
Days
today - gyah * de * deet
the day before yesterday - tzuh * leet
yesterday - dtsah-ung
tomorrow - miyah tsai
the day after tomorrow - ow * leet
this week - tsi * day bai
last week - den * day bai
the week before last week - jen * lay bai
next week - ow * lay bai
the week after next week - ow ow * lay bai
Monday - bai-eet
Tuesday - bai- * dee
Wednesday - bai-sa
Thursday - bai-shee
Friday - bai-go
Saturday - bai- * lahk
Sunday - * lay-bai
Writing time and date
Months
January - ee-gay
February - * lee-gay
March - sa-gay
April - shee-gay
May - go-gay
June - * lahk-gay
July - chee-gay
August - bway-gay
September - gow-gay
October - tsahb-gay
November - tsahb-eet-gay
December - tsahb- *de-gay
Colors
color - shitd
black - oh shitd
white - bay shitd
grey - whey shitd - literally "ash color"
red - ahng shitd
blue - na shitd
yellow - ung shitd
green - chyee shitd
orange - gahmah shitd
purple - gyuh shitd - literally "eggplant color"
brown - toh-shitd - literally "dirt color"
Transportation
Bus and train
ticket - dyu pyuh
on ticket - jeet-pyuh
How much is one ticket? - Jeet-pyuh shee gwee-koh? - literally "one ticket is how many dollars?"
bus - kay-wun
train - whey-chiah
Where does this bus go? - 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! - Pbai-toh, dong!
Taxi
Taxi - gay-dyen chiah
Drive me to ____ - dzai wah kee ____
How much to go ____ - mbay kee ____ gwee koh?
Directions
How do I get to ____? - mbay ahndswah kee ____?
...the train station? - whey chiah dyoo?
...the bus station? - kay-wun dyoo?
...the airport? - whey-deng-gee dyoo?
...downtown? - chee dyong sheemg?
...the hotel? - * lee-guang?
...the restaurant? - bung-diam?
Where are there alot of ____? - Dway oo jote-tsay ____?
Do you have a map? - * lee gah-oo day-doh?
Driving
street/road - * loh
left - duh
right - jyah
turn left - duh wah
straight ahead - dee-deet kee or dee-deet gyah
Lodging
Do you have any rooms available? - Oo bahn-gyun mbo?
How much for one room? - Jeet gyun, wah-tsay gyee?
One person - dzeday lahng
Two persons - nungay lahng
Does it have... - Gah oo
...bathroom? - beng soh?
...phone? - dyung way?
...television? - dyung ah?
May I see it first? - Gah-ay-dahng shung kwah?
Do you have something... - Gah oo kah
...bigger? - dwah-ay
...cheaper? - shohg-ay
Ok I'll sleep here for ____ nights. - Huh, mbay-kuhng ____ ahm.
Is there another hotel? - Gah oo bahg-ay * lee-guang?
What time is breakfast? - Dzah-dun gwee-diam?
Please clean my room - Pbai toh kyeng wah-ay bahn-gyun
Can you wake me at ____ ? - ____ gah-way gyuh kiah, huhbuh?
Money
credit card - swah kah
Where can I exchange money? - Dway ay-dahng wah gyee?
Eating
Breakfast - dzah-den
Lunch - dyong-den
Snack - diam-shing
Tea - day
Coffee - gah-bee
Dinner - ahm-den
I want - wah-mbay
Chicken - ga-mbah
Beef - goo-mbah
Fish - hee-ah
Eggs - nun
Vegetables - tsai
Fruit - dzwee-guh
Bread - pahng (For you linguists, this is from Portugese)
Noodles - mee
Rice - buhng
Beer - bee- * doo
Salt - yahm
Pepper - hyahm
Done eating - jyah- * lyow
Good to eat - huh-jyah
Minnan phrasebook nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs.
Shopping
How much? - Gwee koh/Wah dzay jyee?
Too much - shyoo-gwee
Don't want - mbwai
I need - Wah dah-ai
...toothbrush - kee-mbeeng
...soap - day koh
...shampoo - say tow-mun - literally "wash hair"
...paper - dzwah
...pen - mbeetd
...books - dzoo
Authority
Learning more
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