Editing Hakka Chinese (section)

== Vocabulary ==

Like other southern Chinese varieties, Hakka retains many single syllable words from earlier stages of Chinese; thus, a large number of syllables are distinguished by tone and final consonant. This reduces the need for compound words. However, like other Chinese varieties, it does have words of more than one syllable.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Monosyllabic words
!Character
!Pronunciation
!Gloss
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh|淨}}
| {{IPA|[tsʰiaŋ˥˧]}}
| 'clean'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh|先}}
| {{IPA|[siɛn˦]}}
| 'formerly'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh|惜}}
| {{IPA|[siak˩]}}
| 'care about'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh|頑}}
| {{IPA|[man˩]}}
| 'naughty'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh|膦}}
| {{IPA|[lin˧˩]}}
| 'penis'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh|屋}}
| {{IPA|[ʋuk˩]}}
| 'house'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh|啜}}
| {{IPA|[tsɔi˥˧]}}
| 'mouth'
|-
| |{{linktext|lang=zh|我}}
| {{IPA|[ŋai˩]}}
| 'I', 'me'{{efn|In literary readings {{linktext|lang=zh|我}} is pronounced {{IPA|[ŋɔ˦]}}.}}

|-
| |{{linktext|lang=zh|渠}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Liu |first=Zhenfa 劉鎮發 |title=Kèyǔ pīnyīn zìhuì |date=1997 |publisher=Xianggang zhongwen daxue chubanshe |isbn=962-201-750-9 |page=xxvi |language=zh |script-title=zh:客語拼音字彙 |trans-title=Hakka Pinyin Vocabulary}}</ref> or {{linktext|lang=zh-Hant|佢}}
| {{IPA|[ki˩]}}
| 'he', 'she', 'it'{{efn|The Standard Chinese equivalents {{linktext|lang=zh|他}}/{{linktext|lang=zh|她}}/{{linktext|lang=zh|它}}/{{linktext|lang=zh|牠}} are pronounced {{IPA|[tʰa˦]}}.}}
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Polysyllabic words
!Character
!Pronunciation
!Gloss
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh-Hant|日頭}}
| {{IPA|[ŋit˩ tʰɛu˩]}}
| 'sun'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh|月光}}
| {{IPA|[ŋiat˥ kuɔŋ˦]}}
| 'moon'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh|屋下}}
| {{IPA|[ʋuk˩ kʰa˦]}}
| 'home'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh-Hant|電話}}
| {{IPA|[tʰiɛn˥ fa˥˧]}}
| 'telephone'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh-Hant|學堂}}
| {{IPA|[hɔk˥ tʰɔŋ˩]}}
| 'school'
|-
| {{linktext|lang=zh|筷子}}
| {{IPA|[kʰuai˥ tsɹ̩˧˩]}}
| 'chopsticks'
|}

Hakka, as well as numerous other Chinese varieties such as Min and Cantonese, prefers the verb {{IPA|[kɔŋ˧˩]}} {{linktext|lang=zh-Hant|講}} when referring to 'saying', rather than the Mandarin {{Transliteration|zh|shuō}} {{linktext|lang=zh|說}} (Hakka {{IPA|[sɔt˩]}} / {{IPA|[ʃɔt˩]}}).

Hakka uses {{linktext|lang=zh|食}}({{IPA|[sɘt˥]}} / {{IPA|[ʃit˥]}}) for the verb 'to eat' and 'to drink', unlike Mandarin which prefers {{Transliteration|zh|chī}} {{linktext|lang=zh|吃}} (Hakka {{IPA|[kʰɛt˩]}} / {{IPA|[kʰiɛt˩]}}) as 'to eat' and {{Transliteration|zh|hē}} {{linktext|lang=zh|喝}} (Hakka {{IPA|[hɔt˩]}}) as 'to drink' where the meanings in Hakka are different, 'to stutter' and 'be thirsty' respectively.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Examples
!Character
!Pronunciation
!Gloss
|-
| {{lang|hak|阿妹，若母去投墟轉來毋曾？}}
| {{IPA|[a˦ mɔi˥, ŋia˦ mɛ˦ hi˥ tʰɛu˩ hi˦ tsɔn˧˩ lɔi˩ m˩ tsʰiɛn˩]}}
| Has your mother returned from going to the market yet, child?
|-
| {{lang|hak|厥老弟捉倒隻蛘葉來搞。}}
| {{IPA|[kia˧˥ lau˧˩ tʰai˦ tsuk˩ tau˧˩ tsak˩ iɔŋ˩ iap˥ lɔi˩ kau˧˩]}}
| His/her younger brother caught a butterfly to play with.
|-
| {{lang|hak|好冷阿，水桶个水都凝冰阿。}}
| {{IPA|[hau˧˩ laŋ˧˥ ɔ˧, sui˧˩ tʰuŋ˧˩ kɛ˥ sui˧˩ du˦ kʰɛn˩ pɛn˦ ɔ˧]}}
| It's very cold, the water in the bucket has frozen over.
|}