The Durative -等 and the Completive -忒 — Hailu Hakka Grammar

Two syllables attach to the end of a verb to say something about how the action unfolds: one holds it open, the other closes it off. Both are written with characters that are ordinary words in their own right, and both are recognised by their position immediately after the verb.

-等 — Held Open

(denˊtén) following a verb marks the action as sustained — going on while something else happens. It is the same character as the verb to wait, and the sense of waiting is where the meaning comes from: the action is held rather than completed.

佢駛等一台當細个車仔。
gi siiˊ denˊ rhid toi dongˋ seˇ gaiˇ chaˋ erkì sṳ́ tén yit thòi tông se kai chhâ èr
She is driving a very small car.
該儕人牽等厥狗走。
gai sa ngin kienˋ denˊ gia gieuˊ zeuˊkài sà ngìn khiên tén kià kiéu tséu
That man is running with his dog.
𠊎做得拿等佢。
ngai zoˇ ded naˋ denˊ gingài tso tet nâ tén kì
I can hold it.

A verb carrying this suffix usually sets the scene for the main event of the sentence, which is why it so often appears in the first half.

-忒 — Carried Through

(tedthet) after a verb marks a change of state carried right through to its end. It is the same word as the degree adverb meaning too much, and position alone separates the two: before an adjective it is a degree, after a verb it is a completion.

𠊎个舊辦公椅壞忒了。
ngai gaiˇ kiu+ pan+ gungˋ rhiˊ fai+ ted leˋngài kai khiů phån kûng yí fåi thet lê
My old office chair has broken.

Because it reports a state newly arrived at, it regularly appears with the particle that marks a changed situation closing the sentence.

Telling the Two Apart

Both follow the verb, but they point in opposite directions. (denˊtén) leaves the action running; (tedthet) finishes it. Neither is a tense — the time of the event comes from elsewhere in the sentence.

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