The Diminutive Suffix -仔 — Sixian Hakka Grammar

A great many Hakka nouns end in a syllable that is not part of the root: (eˋé). It attaches to a noun and marks it as small, familiar or everyday. For a large number of words it has stopped being optional and is simply part of how the word is said, so it is best treated as a normal feature of vocabulary rather than as something added for effect.

佢兜个細人仔當吵。
giˇ deuˊ ge se nginˇ eˋ dongˊ cauˇkì têu ke se ngìn é tông chhàu
Their children are very noisy.
𠊎有一隻狗仔同貓仔。
ngaiˇ iuˊ idˋ zagˋ gieuˋ eˋ tungˇ meu eˋngài yû yit chak kiéu é thùng meu é
I have a dog and a cat.
𠊎駛等一台又遽又貴个車仔。
ngaiˇ siiˋ denˋ idˋ toiˇ iu giagˋ iu gui ge caˊ eˋngài sṳ́ tén yit thòi yu kiak yu kui ke chhâ é
I drive a car that is both fast and expensive.

Part of the Ordinary Word

For most of these nouns the suffix carries no sense of smallness at all. A car is not a little anything, a song is not a small song, and a (diam eˋtiam é) is a shop of any size — the ending is simply how the noun is built.

聽麼人个歌仔？
tangˊ maˋ nginˇ ge goˊ eˋthâng má ngìn ke kô é
Whose songs are you listening to?
鳥仔在花園裡肚唱歌仔。
diauˊ eˋ di faˊ ienˇ diˊ duˋ cong goˊ eˋtiâu é ti fâ yèn tî tú chhong kô é
The birds are singing songs in the garden.
𠊎兜个妹仔讀大學了。
ngaiˇ deuˊ ge moi eˋ tug tai hog leˋngài têu ke moi é thu̍k thai ho̍k lé
Our daughter is in college now.
這間店仔既經關門了。
iaˋ gienˊ diam eˋ gi ginˊ guanˊ munˇ leˋyá kiên tiam é ki kîn kôan mùn lé
This shop has already closed.

Marking Something Small or Young

Where the root already names a category, the suffix picks out the small or young member of it. Combined with a word meaning small in front, it gives the ordinary words for children and young people.

吾三個細人仔都平大。
ngaˊ samˊ ge se nginˇ eˋ du piangˇ taingâ sâm ke se ngìn é tu phiàng thai
My three children are all the same age.
𠊎兜个細人仔同佢兜个細人仔都係學生仔。
ngaiˇ deuˊ ge se nginˇ eˋ tungˇ giˇ deuˊ ge se nginˇ eˋ du he hog sangˊ eˋngài têu ke se ngìn é thùng kì têu ke se ngìn é tu he ho̍k sâng é
Our children and their children are all students.

In Adverbs of Small Degree

The same syllable closes several adverbs meaning a little or for a moment, where the sense of smallness is doing real work — softening a request or reducing a quantity.

你做得降低兜仔無？
nˇ zo dedˋ gong daiˊ deuˊ eˋ moˇǹ cho tet kong tâi têu é mò
Can you lower it a little?
你做得分𠊎看一下仔相片無？
nˇ zo dedˋ bunˊ ngaiˇ kon idˋ ha eˋ xiong pienˋ moˇǹ cho tet pûn ngài khon yit ha é siong phién mò
Can you let me look at the photo for a moment?

Recognising It

When meeting a new noun that ends in this syllable, the safe assumption is that it belongs to the word. Stripping it off usually leaves something that is not a word at all, or that means something quite different.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Sixian Hakka course

103 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 2. A few of them, with the words “The Diminutive Suffix -仔” is about in bold:

這係吾个朋友，Anna。佢係一個學生仔。
iaˋ he ngaˊ ge penˇ iuˊ, Anna. giˇ he idˋ ge hog sangˊ eˋ.yá he ngâ ke phèn yû, Anna. kì he yit ke ho̍k sâng é.
This is my friend, Anna. She is a student.
Lesson 2
𠊎有兩台車仔，兩輛自行車，三台機車。
ngaiˇ iuˊ liongˋ toiˇ caˊ eˋ, liongˋ liongˇ cii hangˇ caˊ, samˊ toiˇ giˊ caˊ.ngài yû lióng thòi chhâ é, lióng liòng chhṳ hàng chhâ, sâm thòi kî chhâ.
I have two cars, two bicycles, and three motorbikes.
Lesson 33
你試著仰仔？好抑係毋好？
nˇ cii doˋ ngiongˋ eˇ? hoˋ ia he mˇ hoˋ?ǹ chhṳ tó ngióng è? hó ya he m̀ hó?
How are you feeling? Good or bad?
Lesson 61

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