People who go to church more

Chò lé-pài khah chia̍p8 ê lâng

Have to

Hó has a number of meanings, and one that can be a little confusing–especially for Mandarin Chinese speakers–is “have to; should“:

Góa hó lâi-khì ah.

I should be going.

Góa hó khí tha̍k8 chu ah.

I need to go study.

Lí hó khì sé sin-khu ah.

You need to go take a bath.

A note about yesterday’s cartoon

In the second frame, the father says:

Chiūⁿ-kiā ū-kàu thiám-thâu… (Going uphill is really tiring)

This sounds a little strange to me (and most people I’ve asked).  It’s much more common to hear peh for “go up” instead of chiūⁿ, as in peh soaⁿ (go up/climb the mountain) or peh kiā /peh khiā (go uphill).

Chiūⁿ, on the other hand, turns up more in expressions like “get on the bus/get in the car” (chiūⁿ chhia) or “get up on stage” (chiūⁿ-tâi).

I’m gonna go

For speakers of Mandarin Chinese, lâi-khì can be confusing.  Despite its literal meaning of “come-go”, it means “to go”, but it can only be used in the first person (single or plural) future tense.  For example:

Sî-kan í-keng bô chá ah, lán tio̍h8 lâi-khì ah.

It’s getting late, (so) we should be going.

Góa bîn-á-chài beh lâi-khì Thài-kok.

I’m going to go to Thailand tomorrow.

But you can’t say:

*I bîn-á-chài beh lâi-khì Thài-kok.

She’s going to go to Thailand tomorrow.

or

*Góa téng-lé-pài lâi khì Thài-kok.

I went to Thailand last week.

Also, note that the opposite of lâi-khì is bô beh khì :

Góa bîn-á-chài bô beh khì Thài-kok.

I’m not going to Thailand tomorrow.

Saturday evening at 7:30

Paì-la̍k8-àm chhit-tíam-pòaⁿ

Wait for a while more

Koh tán chi̍t8 tōaⁿ sî-kan

I only sleep at home on Wednesday nights

Chi̍t lé-pài kan-taⁿ pài-saⁿ ū tī chhù kòe mê nā-tiāⁿ

Before you came to Taiwan …

Lí iáu bōe lâi Tâi-ôan í-chêng …

[Pay close attention to the grammar pattern here.  For English speakers, it can be a bit confusing to add "(not) yet" (iáu) to a sentence including "before" (í-chêng). At least it is for me.]