{Present}, Eating, \chuh/ (吃), {Past}, Having eaten, \chuh-°ts/ (吃仔).
A few words of explanation are necessary. The use of \{leh-°li}/ and
\{leh-la°}/ are a little difficult to understand at first. As stated
\{°ngoo leh-°li chuh}/ (我拉裏吃) means, “I am eating.” If, however, a
third person asked your servant \{Sien-sang van° chuh meh?}/ (先生飯吃
末), “Has the Teacher eaten his rice?”, the servant would answer, if
you were still eating, \{yi leh-la° chuh}/ (伊拉拉吃) meaning “he is
eating.” If you yourself said \{°ngoo leh-la° chuh}/, it would mean,
“I was eating.” In the Perfect Tense the word \{koo°}/ (過) means
literally “to pass over.” In the Past Perfect the words \{°i-kyung}/
(已經) mean “already.”
The real force of \{leh-°li}/ (拉裏) is “here,” and the real force of
\{leh-la°}/ (拉拉) is “there.”
There are a great many ways of expressing completed action in Chinese.
These will be explained later. In this lesson one of the most common
will be explained. It is by the use of the adjective \{°hau}/ after
the verb. Thus \{chuh °hau tse}/ (吃好哉) means, “I have finished
eating.” \{Dok °hau tse}/ (讀好哉) means, “I have finished reading.”
\{°Hau}/ (好), “good,” is also used before the verb to qualify it.
Thus we have the expressions \{°hau chuh kuh}/ (好吃個) meaning “good
to eat.” \{°Hau dok kuh}/ (好讀個), “Easy to read.” \{°Hau tsoo° kuh}/
(好做個), “Easy to do,” etc.