114
K. M. A. BARNETT
The commonest of these are like 叫醒92 to awaken, 打發96 to send, where the former half is a verb showing the basic action and the latter half a verb or adjective showing the result; generally these are treated like paradigm 30; or like 寫字94 to write, 游水95 to swim, in which the second syllable is a noun, object of the first; generally these are treated like single-syllable verbs after hacking off the second syllable, which has then either to wait to the end, get lost altogether, or occasionally is rescued by repeating the whole verb first. But there are other classes of compound verbs like 打發96 to send, 攪擾... to disturb, 依賴... to depend on, which are resistant to separation and require quite lengthy study. So to avoid turning the appendices into a book I leave them there.
There are many other delightful verbal patterns, indicating for example whether a thing happened once or more than once, was observed or not observed by the speaker, and in reported speech even whether the report is believed or disbelieved. But these 92 patterns once mastered will guide you to the others. These groups serve the purpose of tenses, just as the English auxiliary verb groups serve such a purpose. And it is as permissible, and as useful, for those accustomed to formal grammar to study them as such.
But observe, that as the basic form of the Chinese noun is general, from which particular is differentiated by showing the class, singular and plural not being indicated; so with the verb the basic, root form which in English (like Latin) is imperative, in Chinese is the wish, thought or intention. 佢打我99 does not mean (unless the context so requires, or other words are added) "he hits me, hit me, is hitting me, will hit me” or "they hit us" etc., since the pronouns too do not specify number — but "he, she or they have the thought, wish or intention of hitting me or us.
This is why a phrase like 我打佢唔醒100 is used quite naturally either in the past, present or future to mean either that the attempt to awaken was actually
92 叫醒
93 **
94 寫字
95 游水
96 打發
97 #12
98 ...
99 佢打我
100 我打佢唔醒