The Chinese dialect that originated in Southern part of Fujian province — the area around Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou — has several names. In the language itself, it is bân-lâm-ōe. In Mandarin, it is Minnan hua (閩南話), which translates as Southern Min (Fujian) speech. The same language is widely spoken in Taiwan where it is referred to as Taiwanese (臺彎話 tâi-oan-ōe), in the Philippines where it is referred to as Lan Nang Oe (咱人話 lán-lâng-ōe), and in Southeast Asia where it is called Hokkien (福建話 hok-kiàn-ōe), the Minnan pronunciation of 'Fujian'.

"Minnan", "Hokkien" and "Taiwanese" are all used in English, and all refer to basically the same language. This article calls it Minnan, and is based on the language as spoken in Xiamen, often considered the standard version.

All these variants are mutually intelligible but have some differences, due to borrowing of words from different languages and sometimes language evolution due to relative isolation. Most notably, Taiwanese has borrowed some words from Japanese, so "uncle" would be known as "ojisan" in Taiwan instead of 阿伯 "a-pek" (father's elder brother), 阿叔 "a-chek" or 阿舅 "a-kū" (mother's brother) as in Xiamen. The variant spoken in Zhangzhou has some subtle differences from the Xiamen variant but is largely mutually intelligible (eg. kiam nui instead of kiam neng for salted egg). The variants spoken in Singapore and Malaysia have extensive borrowing from Malay and to a lesser extent Cantonese and English.

Linguists consider Minnan to include other Chinese dialects — Hainanese, spoken on the island of Hainan, and Teochew (or Chiuchao) spoken around Chaozhou and Shantou in Guangdong — but the differences are significant and these are only marginally, or sometimes not mutually intelligible. e.g. Teochew has chı̍t-kâi-nâng instead of chı̍t-ê-lâng for '一個人').

Minnan is not mutually intelligible with standard Mandarin or other Chinese dialects, not even other Min (Fujian) dialects such as Mindong (Fuzhou Hua), Minbei and Puxian. This is not only due to the pronunciation differences but also because of the irregular word/character conversion i.e. a non-native Minnan speaker can only understand the dialect to a small extent even when it is presented in written form (e.g. "吃甲尚好驚血壓高,水姆兌人走" : 《陳雷.歡喜就好》).

Pronunciation

Like all other Chinese languages and their dialects, Minnan uses Chinese characters but employs its own 'unique' pronunciation. However, it should be noted that similar to Japanese kanji, most characters have two or more pronunciations in Minnan, which means that many characters would be pronounced differently depending on context, even if their Mandarin pronunciation remains the same in both instances. A Romanized written language, known as Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ) was created by Christian missionaries in the 19th century, and is useful for foreign language learners trying to learn the pronunciation of words. It is virtually never used by native speakers though, so Chinese characters is what you should stick to for written communication.

This is partly due to the fact that, because standard written Chinese is based on Mandarin, many words in Minnan are written with characters of the same meaning in standard written Chinese.

For example, the words ài and beh both roughly mean 'want', so they are usually written with the character 要 (although they are also written with 愛 and 欲 respectively). Consequently, the pronouncation of the character 要 can change between ài, beh and iàu depending on context.

The ordinary word for person, lâng, is usually written with the character 人, which also has the reading jı̂n or lîn. The character 生 is pronounced seⁿ or siⁿ as a verb used alone, but the word 人生 is pronounced lı̂n-seng.

Also, note how the words m̄ (is not, does not) and bē/bōe (cannot) are all often written with 不, so while 不要 might be read as m̄-ài or m̄-beh, 不能/不可 can be read as bē-sái or bōe-sái.

For referring to oneself, 我 góa is used in more informal context while 阮 gún is more formal and 恁爸 lı́n-pē is very derogatory but used very commonly. (No cognates exist in Mandarin or Cantonese although phrases with the same meaning do.) Similar to Malay, there are two equivalents of the English word "we", with lan-nang including the listener in the group, and goa-nang used to exclude the listener from the group.

Pronunciation varies from region to region (e.g. 你 (you) can be either lı́ and lú). This can make comprehension difficult sometimes even between 'native' speakers from different regions. It should also be kept in mind that most speakers of the dialect often mix Mandarin phrases into their speech due to the influence of Standard Mandarin.

Tones

Like other varieties of Chinese, Minnan is tonal; tones must be correct in order to convey the correct meaning. Tone sandhi is particularly common and non-standardised in Minnan, which makes it a little harder to learn than Mandarin, where tone sandhi is standardised, and Cantonese, where tone sandhi is used sparingly.

The following table shows the values of the different tones in some places, and does not show the pronuncation of the tones or tone sandhi of many areas, but may give an idea of the approximate values.

Tones of Minnan

Number	Name	POJ	Pitch	Description	After tone sandhi
1	yin level	a	55	high	7
2	yin rising	á	51	falling	1
3	yin departing	à	31~21	low falling	2
4	yin entering	ah	32	mid stopped	2 (h final), 8 (otherwise)
5	yang level	â	14~24	rising	3 (Taipei), 7 (Tainan)
6	yang rising	á	51	falling	1
7	yang departing	ā	33	mid	3
8	yang entering	a̍h	4	high stopped	3 (h final), 4 (otherwise)

Consonants

Minnan has many different consonants, even more so than standard Mandarin or Cantonese, and pronouncing them all correctly is a challenge for English, or even Mandarin speakers. While Mandarin only distinguishes between aspirated and unaspirated (unvoiced) consonants, and English only distinguishes between voiced and unvoiced consonants meaning-wise, Minnan makes a distinction in both cases. This means that aspirated unvoiced (pʰ, tʰ, kʰ), unaspirated unvoiced (p, t, k), and unaspirated voiced (b, d, g) are all separate phonemic consonants in Minnan.

To highlight the distinction, the words for "open" (開) and "close" (關), in some pronuncations (khui and kui respectively) sound almost identical to a native English speaker, only difference being that "open" uses an aspirated initial k while "close" uses an unaspirated initial k! The j sound in English is also used along with the j sound in Mandarin hanyu pinyin. Labial initials such as the m sound are also present. However, unlike in Mandarin, there is no "tongue rolling" (pinyin zh, ch, sh, r) initial consonant.

Initial consonanats of POJ

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
b	b	ban	voiced pinyin 'b'
p	p	span	pinyin 'b'
ph	pʰ	pan	pinyin 'p'
j	dz/ʑ	jam	voiced pinyin 'z'
ch	ts/tɕ	cats	pinyin 'z' or 'j'
chh	tsʰ/tɕʰ	-	pinyin 'c' or 'q'
s	s/ɕ	sun	pinyin 's' or 'x'
g	g	get	voiced pinyin 'g'
k	k	skin	pinyin 'g'
kh	kʰ	kin	pinyin 'k'
t	t	Stan	pinyin 'd'
th	tʰ	tan	pinyin 't'
h	h	hat	English 'h'

Like Cantonese but unlike Mandarin, Minnan retains all the final consonants (m, n, ŋ, p, t, and k) of Middle Chinese. In POJ, the nasal consonants m, n and ng are pronounced the same as English, but the others are different.

The stop consonants p, t and k are unreleased. This means that the mouth moves into the position of making the consonant, but no burst of air is released.

Furthermore, an h at the end of a syllable in POJ represents a glottal stop (ʔ); this is the sound in the middle of the English word 'uh-oh'.

Vowels

The vowels a, e, i, o, u are pronounced as they are in many languages, such as Spanish. Minnan also has the vowel [ɔ] written as o͘ (with a dot) or oo.

Vowels of POJ

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
a	a
e	e	whey
i	i	see
o	o	soap
o͘	ɔ	law	also written 'oo'
u	u	goose

Vowels in Minnan can be nasalized, and in POJ this is indicated with a superscript n 'ⁿ' after the vowel. It can also be indicated with a capital n (N) or a double n (nn). IPA notes this with a tilde (~) above the last vowel.

Common diphthongs

There are many diphthongs in Minnan, and there pronunciation from the POJ spelling is generally fairly obvious. However, note that oe is "ui/uei" and oai is "uai".

Diphthongs of POJ

Letter	IPA	English example	Notes
ai	aɪ	my	pinyin 'ai'
au	aʊ	cow	pinyin 'ao'
ia	ɪa	-
iu	iu	-
io	ɪo	-
oa	ua	-	pinyin 'wa'
oe	ui	way	pinyin 'wei'
iau	ɪaʊ	-	piyin 'yao'
oai	uai	why	pinyin 'wai'

Phrase list

For some of the following phrases, there is an unconventional romanization shown in parentheses and this does not describe tones, but just tries to be phonetically accurate from an (American) English speaking standpoint. Goal is to have an English speaker's first try be fairly close, without reading a bunch of rules for phonetization nor trying to distinguish between the 7 tones in Taiwanese. Unfortunately, it is difficult to cover all tones this way, especially nasal and breath differences, and thus cannot be completely accurate.

• Asterisks precede words that are very hard to phonetize. It would be nice to get some audio on here for these.

• Also to note is the sound of "l" used below. Linguists call this sound a "flap": it is similar to the "tt" sound in Standard American pronunciation of "butter". It is also similar to the Japanese "r" and the Spanish "single-r" sounds.

Basics

Hello.

你好。 lı́ hó (Li huh)

Hello (informal)

How are you?

你好無？ lı́ hó bô?

How are you?

食飽無？ chia̍h-pá-bô (jia bah bo) ("have you eaten?")

Not bad

不歹 bōe-phái (buay pai)

Fine, thank you. (informal)

好，多謝 hó，to͘-siā (Hoh, duh shiah.)

Fine, thank you. (formal)

好，感謝 hó，kám-siā. (Hoh, gahm shiah)

Thank you

多謝 to͘-siā

What is your name?

你叫啥物名？ lı́ kiò siáⁿ-mı̍h miâ?

My name is ... .

我的名是... góa ê miâ sı̄...

Nice to meet you.

Please... (before a request)

請... chhiáⁿ...

Please.

拜託 Pài-thok (Bai-toh)

You're welcome

免客氣 bián kheh-khı̀ ("don't be polite")

Yes.

是 sı̄ (Note: Only some questions are answered with this. As with other varieties of Chinese, affirmation is generally done by repeating the verb in the question.)

No.

毋是 m̄-sı̄

Excuse me. (getting attention)

勞駕 lô-kà

Excuse me. (begging pardon)

否勢 phái-sè (pai say)

I'm sorry. (informal)

否勢 phái-sè (pai-say)

I'm sorry. (formal)

失禮。sit lé. (shit-leh)

Goodbye

再見 chài-kiàn (tsai gian).

Goodbye (informal)

I can't speak... [well].

我袂曉講... góa bōe-hiáu kóng...

I don't know how to speak English

我[?]曉講英語 (Wah mbay hyow gong eng-yee)

Do you speak English?

你敢會曉講英語？ lı́ kám-ē-hiáu kóng eng-gı́? (Li gah-ay-hyow gong eng-yee)

Is there someone here who speaks English?

遐敢有人會曉講英語？chia kám-ū lâng ē hiáu kóng ing-gú? (Jiah gam ou lung eh hiao gong eng gyi?)

Help!

救人！ kìu-lâng!

Look out!

小心！ sió sim!

Good morning.

賢早。 gâu-chá.

Good evening.

好暗暝。 hó-àm-mî (Amoy Hokkien)

Good night.

Good night (to sleep)

好睏。 hó khùn (sleep well)

I don't understand.

我聽無。góa thiaⁿ bô.

Where's the bathroom?

便所佇佗? Piān-só· tī toh? (Ben so dee-da)

You are beautiful

你真媠 lı́ chin suí

Problems

Go away

走 cháu/chó͘ (tzow/zao)

Don't touch me!

莫摸我 mài mo góa (mai mo1 wa) / (Mai gah-wah mbong)

I'll call the police. (Informal)

我叫警察 (Wah kah gien tsah.)

I'll call the police (Formal)

(Wah ay kah hoh gien tsah.)

Police!

警察 kéng-chhat (gien tsah) / ma-ta (from malay)

Stop!

擋 tòng (dohng) / 停 thêng (tng2)

I need your help.

我需要你的幫忙 góa su-iàu lı́-ê pang-bâng (Wah soo-yow *dee-ay bahm-mahng)

I'm lost.

(Wah mbo-key)

I lost my purse/wallet.

我不見[?]我的皮包 Wah pahng-key wah-ay pay-bow

I'm sick.

Wah pwah bee or Wah gahng koh

I've been injured.

我著傷 (Wah dyuh shohng)

I need a doctor.

我[?]醫生 (Wah dah-ai ee-sheng)

Can I use your phone?

我甘可用你的電話[?] (Wah gah-ay sai yen * li-ay dyeng-way)

Don't lie to me!

勿假！ mài ké!

Numbers

Numbers in Minnan are basically the same as numbers in other varieties of Chinese.

Please note the rules about when to use the two different words for 2 (nn̄g and jī). Jī is used in the ones, tens and hundreds place, whereas nn̄g is used for multiples of numbers 100 and greater. This is analogous to the use of 兩 and 二 in mandarin.

0

空 khong (kong)

1

一 it / chi̍t (chjit)

2

二 jī (li/ji/di) / 兩 nn̄g (nng)

3

三 saⁿ (sa)

4

四 sì (si)

5

五 gō (go)

6

六 la̍k (lak)

7

七 chhit (chit)

8

八 pueh / peh (bpui)

9

九 káu (kau)

10

十 cha̍p (tzhap)

11

十一 cha̍p-it (tzhap-it)

12

十二 cha̍p-jī (tzhap-li)

13

十三 cha̍p-saⁿ (tzhap-sa)

14

十四 cha̍p-sì (tzhap-si)

15

十五 cha̍p-gō· (tzhap-go)

16

十六 cha̍p-la̍k (tzhap-lak)

17

十七 cha̍p-chhit (tzhap-chit)

18

十八 cha̍p-peh (tzhap-peh)

19

十九 cha̍p-káu (tzhap-kau)

20

二十 jī-cha̍p (li-tzhap)

21

二十一 jī-cha̍p-it (li-tzhap-it)

22

二十二 jī-cha̍p-jī (li-tzhap-li)

100

一百 chi̍t-pah (chit-pah)

200

兩百 nn̄g-pah (nng-pah)

222

兩百二十二 nn̄g-pah-jī-cha̍p-jī (nng-pah-li-chap-li)

1000

一千 chi̍t-chhien (chit-chien)

2000

兩千 nn̄g-chhien

10,000

一萬 chi̍t-bān

20,000

兩萬 nn̄g-bān

100,000

十萬 cha̍p-bān

1,000,000

一百萬 chi̍t-pah bān

10,000,000

一千萬 chi̍t-chhing bān

100,000,000

一億 chi̍t-ik

1,000,000,000

十億 cha̍p-ik

10,000,000,000

一百億 chi̍t-pah ik

100,000,000,000

一千億 chi̍t-chhing ik

1,000,000,000,000

一兆 chi̍t-tiāu

number _____ (train, bus, etc.)

_____號 hō

half

半 pua

less

少 síu

more

多 tzui

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers in Chinese are expressed by prepending the number with '第', pronounced tē in Minnan.

First

第一 tē-it (day-it)

Second

第二 tē-jı̄ (day-ji)

Third

第三 tē-saⁿ (day-sa)

Fourth

第四 tē-sı̀ (day-si)

Fifth

第五 tē-gō͘ (day-go)

And so on, for any number:

Twentieth 第二十 tē-jı̄-cha̍p (day ji-tzap)

Hundredth

第一百 tē-chı̍t-pah (day chit-pah)

Thousandth

第一千 tē-chı̍t-chhian (day chit-chien)

Time

what time is it?

幾點 kúi tiám (kwee tiam)?

now

這馬 chit-má (jeemah) / 這陣 chit-tsūn (jeetzoon)

later

kah dahng-ay or shuh dahng

before

ee jun

early

早 chá (dtsah)

earlier

較早 kah chá (kah dtsah)

morning

下晡 / (tao dtsah)

in the morning

早起 chá-khí (tzai kee)

tomorrow morning

明仔載 bîn-á-tsá-khí miyah tsai kee tao dtsah

afternoon

下晡 (ay boh)

in the afternoon

evening

ay ahm

In the evening

Night

暗 àm

In the night

暗時 àm-sî (ahm-sheea)

Tonight

今暗 kim-àm / 今暝 kim-mı̂ (kim mi)

Clock time

One o'clock AM

?一點 (tao tza jeet/yi4 diam)

Two o'clock AM

?兩點 (tao tza nen/di3 diam)

Noon

中晝 tiong-tàu (dyong dow) / (ey3 bpo1)

ē-poo

Midnight

半暝 puàⁿ-mî (bpua mi)

Duration

_____ minute(s)

_____ 分鐘 hun-ching (whhun-ching)

_____ hour(s)

_____ 點鐘 tiám-ching / (diam-jun)

_____ day(s)

_____ 日 ji̍t (*leet)

_____ week(s)

_____ 禮拜 lé-pài (*lay bai)

_____ month(s)

_____ 月 gue̍h (whay)

_____ year(s)

_____ 年 nî (nee)

Days

today

今日 今仔日 kin-á-jit / (gyah *de *deet)

yesterday

昨昏 chah-hng (dtsah-ung)

tomorrow

明仔載 bîn-á-chài (miyah tsai)

the day before last

昨日 cho̍h--ji̍t (tzuh *leet)

the day after tomorrow

後日 āu--ji̍t (ow *leet)

this week

這禮拜 chit lé-pài (tsi *lay bai)

last week

(den *lay-bai)

next week

後禮拜 āu lé-pài (ow *lay-bai)

Sunday

禮拜日 lé-pài-jı̍t (le-bai-*leet)

Monday

拜一 pài-it (bai-eet)

Tuesday

拜二 pài-jı̄ (bai-*dee)

Wednesday

拜三 pài-saⁿ (bai-sa)

Thursday

拜四 pài-sı̀ (bai-shee)

Friday

拜五 pài-gō͘ (bai-go)

Saturday

拜六 pài-la̍k (bai-*lahk)

Months

January

一月 it-go̍eh

February

二月 jı̄-go̍eh

March

三月 saⁿ-go̍eh

April

四月 sı̀-go̍eh

May

五月 gō͘-go̍eh

June

六月 la̍k-go̍eh

July

七月 chhit-go̍eh

August

八月 poeh-go̍eh

September

九月 káu-go̍eh

October

十月 cha̍p-go̍eh

November

十一月 cha̍p-it-go̍eh

December

十二月 cha̍p-jı̄-go̍eh

Colors

color

色 sek

black

烏色 o·-sek

white

白色 pe̍h-sek

grey

灰色 hoe-sek

red

紅色 âng-sek

blue

藍色 nâ-sek

yellow

黃色 n̂g-sek

green

青色 chhiⁿ-sek

orange

柑仔色 kam-á-sek : ("mandarin orange color")

purple

茄色 kiô-sek : ("eggplant color")

brown

土色 thó·-sek : ("dirt color")

Transportation

Bus and train

Ticket

[?]票 phiò (dyu pyuh)

One ticket

一票 chit phiò (jeet-pyuh)

How much is one ticket?

一票是幾箍？ chit phiò sī kuí khoo (Jeet-pyuh shee gwee-koh?)

bus

公車 / [?] (kay-wun)

train

火車 hóe-chhia (whey-chiah)

Where does this bus go?

chit-ê (Dze-day kay-wun kee-dah?)

Does this train go to ____?

(Dze-day whey-chiah gah-oo kee ____?)

What time does this train leave?

(Dze-day whey-chiah gwee diam tsooh-whaht?)

What time will this bus arrive?

(Dze-day kay-wun gwee diam ay gow-wee?)

Please stop!

拜託，擋！ pài thok，tòng (Pbai-toh, dong!)

Directions

How do I get to ____?

[?] 按怎去 (mbay ahndswah kee ____?)

...the train station?

火車站 hué-chhia-chām / (whey chiah dyoo?)

...the bus station?

(kay-wun dyoo?)

...the airport?

(whey-deng-gee dyoo?)

...downtown?

(chee dyong sheemg?)

...the hotel?

旅館 lú-kuán (*lee-guang?)

...the restaurant?

飯店 pn̄g-tiàm (bung-diam?)

Where are there a lot of ____?

(Dway oo jote-tsay ____?)

Do you have a map?

(*lee gah-oo day-doh?)

street/road

路 lō͘/lo̍h (*loh)

left

倒 tò (duh) / 左 chó

right

正 chiàⁿ (jyah)

turn left

倒[?] (duh wah)

straight ahead

直直去 tı̍t-tı̍t khı̀ (dee-deet kee) / 直直行 ti̍t-ti̍t kiâⁿ (dee-deet gyah)

Taxi

Taxi

(gay-dyen chiah)

Drive me to ____

[?]我去。 dzai wah kee ____

How much to go ____

[?]去幾箍？ mbay kee ____ gwee koh?

Lodging

Do you have any rooms available?

有房間無 ū pâng-king bô? (Oo bahn-gyun mbo?)

How much for one room?

一間[?]? (Jeet gyun, wah-tsay gyee?)

One person

一個人 chı̍t-ê-lâng (dzeday lahng)

Two persons

兩個人 n̄ng-ê-lâng (nungay lahng)

Does it have ____?

敢有____？ kám-ū ____ ? (Gah oo ____ ?)

a bathroom

便所 piān-só͘? (beng soh?)

a telephone

電話 tiān-ōe (dyung way?)

a TV

電視 tiān-sī

May I see it first?

[?]先看？(Gah-ay-dahng shung kwah?)

Do you have something more ____?

敢有較____？

kám-ū kah|khah (Gah oo kah)

big

大的 tōa-ê (dwah-ay)

cheap

俗的 sio̍k-ê (shohg-ay)

OK, I'll sleep here for ____ nights.

好，[?]暗 Huh, mbay-kuhng ____ ahm.

Is there another hotel?

[?]有[?] 旅館 (Gah oo bahg-ay *lee-guang?)

What time is breakfast?

早頓幾點？ (Dzah-dun gwee-diam?)

Please clean my room

拜託 我的 房間 (Pbai toh kyeng wah-ay bahn-gyun)

Can you wake me at ... ?

，好無？... gah-way gyuh kiah, huhbuh?

Money

Credit card

(swah kah)

Where can I exchange money?

(Dway ay-dahng wah gjee?)

Eating

Have some tea

飲茶 lim tê

Make tea

泡茶 phàu tê

Breakfast

早頓 chá-tǹg (dzah-dun)

Lunch

中頓 tiong-tǹg

Dinner

暗頓 àm-tǹg

Snack

點心 tiám-sim

I want...

我欲 góa beh (gwah beh)

Tea

茶 tê (teh)

Coffee

咖啡 ka-pi (kopi)

Chicken Meat

雞肉 ke-bah/koe-bah (bah = meat)

Beef Meat

牛肉 gû-bah

Eggs

雞卵 ke-nn̄g/koe-nn̄g

Fruit

水果 chúi-kó, 果子 kóe-chí/ké-chí

Vegetable

菜 chhài

Fish

魚仔 hî-á (hee-ah) / 魚 hî/hû (hhu2/hhw2; sounds like a long 'huh' without the vowel)

Bread

pahng (from Portuguese) / (bin taw) / 麵包 mī-pau (mee-bao)

Noodles

麵 mı̄ (mee)

Rice (uncooked)

米 bı́ (bee)

Rice (cooked)

飯 pn̄g (buhng)

Beer

啤酒 (bee chiu)

Salt

鹽 iâm (yahm)

Pepper

hyahm / 胡椒粉 hô͘-chio-hún (hhoh chjio hun)

Done eating

食飽了 chia̍h-pá-liáu (jyah pah lyow)

Good to eat

好食 hó-chia̍h (huh jyah)

Good to drink

好啉 hó-lim (huh lim)

Shopping

How much?

偌濟？ jōa-chōe (luaa zwuei)

How many dollars/yuan?

幾箍？ kúi kho͘ (gwee koh)

Too much

傷 shyoo-(gke4) zwuei3

Don't want

莫/勿 mbwai / mmm...-mai3

I need...

(Wah dah-ai...)

...toothbrush

齒抿 khí-bín (kee-mbeeng)

...soap

茶箍 tê-kho͘ (day koh)

...shampoo

洗頭毛 sóe thâu-mn̂g (suay tow-mun) (literally "wash hair")

...paper

紙 chóa (dzwah)

...pen

筆 pit (mbeetd / pbeet)

...books

書 chu (dzoo) / 冊 chheh (tz-cheh)