Note that this list is based on the Xiamen version of Minnan. The dialects spoken in Taiwan, other parts of mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, Medan and other Chinese communities have some differences, due to borrowing of words from different languages and sometimes language evolution due to relative isolation. Most notably, Minnan spoken in Taiwan has borrowed some words from Japanese, so "uncle" would be known as "ojisan" in Taiwan instead of "Ah Pek" (father's elder brother), "Ah Chek" (father's younger brother) or "Ah Ku" (mother's brother) as in Xiamen. The variant spoken in Zhangzhou, Fujian province has some subtle differences from the Xiamen varient but is largely mutually intelligible (eg. ''kiam nui'' instead of ''kiam neng'' for salted egg). Yet another well known variant is the Teochew dialect spoken around Chaozhou and Shantou in Guangdong, and by large foreign Chinese Teochew communities around the world including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and France which is significantly different (eg. ''tsit kai nang'' instead of ''tist e lang'') but is still mutually intelligible with the Xiamen variant to a small degree. The variants spoken in Singapore and Malaysia are also known to have extensive borrowing from Malay and to a lesser extent Cantonese and English.
While the Hainanese dialect spoken on the island of Hainan is grouped under Minnan by many linguists, it differs more significantly and is not mutually intelligible with any of the other variants of Minnan.
It can be said to be '''mutually unintelligible''' with standard Mandarin and other dialects not only due to the pronounciation differences but also because of the irregular word/character convertion 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. "_h_b___D?__?__,___^_[_l__" - _s____.?___A_D_t) It is also not mutually intelligible with the other branches of the Min dialect family such as Mindong, Minbei and Puxian.
Like all other Chinese dialects, Minnan uses Chinese characters but employs its own 'unique' pronounciation. 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.
For example:
_l is pronounced ''lang2'' and __ ''si-ee1 / xh-e1'' (as verb) when used alone, but when used as _l__ they is pronounced as ''lim3 sim1''
Also compare: _s - _s_v (mm-mai3) and _s_\/_s____ (bwuei3/bei3 sai4) ).
_v - changeable between ai3 / ai4 / be4 / bei4 depending on context
__ (wah4/gua4) is used in more informal context while __ (gun2) is more formal and ?? (lim2 bpei3) is very derogatory but used very commonly. (This variation does not exist in Mandarin or Cantonese)
The minnan dialect is tonal and the tones must be correct in order to convey the correct meaning. Tone sandhi is particularly common and not standardised in the minnan dialect, which makes it a little harder to learn than say Mandarin, where tone sandhi is standardised and Cantonese where tone sandhi is used sparingly.
Pronounciation varies from region to region (? ''You'' - Lee4/Lu4/Lle4) mainly due to lack of standardisation making comprehension difficult sometimes even between 'native' speakers from different region. It should also be kept in mind that most dialects are 'incomplete' in comparison to Mandarin, hence for uncommon words/characters standard 'Mandarin' pronounciation are employed when the 'sound-conversion' is not possible/too difficult (e.g. __). The variation of the pronounciation from standard Mandarin also reduces the more uncommon the word is.
Here are a few very basic phrases:
Hello - ''li ho'' ?_D (LEE-HO)
Thank you - ''kum sia'' ____ (KUM-SHEEAH)
You are beautiful - ''li chin sui'' ?_^__ (LEE-CHIN-SWEE)
Don't lie to me! - ''mai ke'' ?__ (MY-GAY)
This is delicious (for beverage) - ''ho lim'' _D__
This is delicious (for food) - ''ho chiah'' _D_h (HO JEEYAH)
Have some tea - ''lim te'' ____
Make tea - ''pao te'' _A__
That's OK/You're welcome - m-ben kekki ___q__
Note: the following uses unconventional romanization and 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. Also to note is the author learned Taiwanese from one parent from the south, and one parent from the north.
Hello - Li huh ?_D -- literally, "you good?"
How are you - Li ho-bo ?_D?_H; OR Jia bah bo _h?__? -- literally, "eat full?"
Not bad - Buay pai _s__
Good, Thank you - Informal: Hoh, duh shiah. _D_C__? Formal: Hoh, gahm shiah _D_C__?
What is your name - Li-ay myah shee sa? ?_I_____r?_H
My name is - Wah-ay mya shee ___I____
Please - Pbai toh _`__
That's OK / Your Welcome - Me-en Kayki _____q__
Excuse me - Pai say _s_D___v
Sorry - Informal: Pai say. Formal: ''shit leh''
Goodbye - tzai chien __?
I don't know how to speak English - Wah mbay hyow gong eng-yee
Do you know how to speak English? - Li gah-ay hyow gong eng-yee
Is there someone here who speaks English? - Jiah gah oo lahng ay hyow gong eng-yee ?___L_l?__?_p?_H
I don't understand - Wah tyah bo _____v_L
Where's the bathroom? - Ben so dee-da
Go Away - Tzow / Zao4 __?
Don't touch me! - Mai gah-wah mbong / Mai4 Mo1 Wa4 ?____
I'll call the police. - Informal: Wah kah gien tsah. Formal: Wah ay kah hoh gien tsah. / Wa4 Kio4 Ma2 Ta2
Police! - Gien tsah / Ma2 Ta2
Stop! - Dohng / Tng2 __
I need your help. - Wah soo-yow * dee-ay bahm-mahng / Li4 Ai3 (Sai4) Ga3 Wa4 Dao4 Chiu4 Bei3 _____v...?_I?_Z
I'm lost. - Wah mbo-key
I lost my purse/wallet. - Wah pahng-key wah-ay pay bow ___s?___I____
I'm sick. - Wah pwah bee or Wah gahng koh
I've been injured. - Wah dyuh shohng ____?
I need a doctor. - Wah dah-ai ee-sheng ___i_j____
Can I use your phone? - Wah gah-ay sai yen * li-ay dyeng-way _______p?_I??
first - day-eet
second - day-ji
third - day-sa
fourth - day-si
fifth - day-go
...
twentieth
...
hundredth - day chit-pah
...
thousandth - day chit-chien
now - jeemah or jeetzoon
later - kah dahng-ay or shuh dahng
before - ee jun
early - dtsah
earlier - kah dtsah
morning - tao dtsah
in the morning - tzai kee
tomorrow morning - miyah tsai kee tao dtsah
afternoon - ay boh
in the afternoon -
evening - ay ahm
in the evening -
night - ahm
in the night - ahm-sheea
tonight - kim mi ____
one o'clock AM - tao tza jeet/yi4 diam
two o'clock AM - tao tza nen/di3 diam
noon - dyong dow / ey3 bpo1
one o'clock PM - ay boh jeet/yi4 diam
two o'clock PM - ay boh nen/di3 diam
midnight - bpua4 mi2
minute - whhun
2 minutes - nun whhun
hour - diam jun
2 hours - nun diam jun
day - * leet
5 days - go * leet
week - * lay bai
5 weeks - go * lay bai
month - whay * leet
5 months - go whay * leet
year - nee
5 years - go nee
today - gyah * de * deet
the day before yesterday - tzuh * leet
yesterday - dtsah-ung
tomorrow - miyah tsai
the day after tomorrow - ow * leet
this week - tsi * day bai
last week - den * day bai
the week before last week - jen * lay bai
next week - ow * lay bai
the week after next week - ow ow * lay bai
Monday - bai-eet
Tuesday - bai- * dee
Wednesday - bai-sa
Thursday - bai-shee
Friday - bai-go
Saturday - bai- * lahk
Sunday - * lay-bai
January - ee-gay
February - * lee-gay
March - sa-gay
April - shee-gay
May - go-gay
June - * lahk-gay
July - chee-gay
August - bway-gay
September - gow-gay
October - tsahb-gay
November - tsahb-eet-gay
December - tsahb- *de-gay
color - shitd
black - oh shitd
white - bay shitd
grey - whey shitd - literally "ash color"
red - ahng shitd
blue - na shitd
yellow - ung shitd
green - chyee shitd
orange - gahmah shitd
purple - gyuh shitd - literally "eggplant color"
brown - toh-shitd - literally "dirt color"
ticket - dyu pyuh
on ticket - jeet-pyuh
How much is one ticket? - Jeet-pyuh shee gwee-koh? - literally "one ticket is how many dollars?"
bus - kay-wun
train - whey-chiah
Where does this bus go? - 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! - Pbai-toh, dong!
Taxi - gay-dyen chiah
Drive me to ____ - dzai wah kee ____
How much to go ____ - mbay kee ____ gwee koh?
How do I get to ____? - mbay ahndswah kee ____?
...the train station? - whey chiah dyoo?
...the bus station? - kay-wun dyoo?
...the airport? - whey-deng-gee dyoo?
...downtown? - chee dyong sheemg?
...the hotel? - * lee-guang?
...the restaurant? - bung-diam?
Where are there a lot of ____? - Dway oo jote-tsay ____?
Do you have a map? - * lee gah-oo day-doh?
street/road - * loh
left - duh
right - jyah
turn left - duh wah
straight ahead - dee-deet kee or dee-deet gyah
Do you have any rooms available? - Oo bahn-gyun mbo?
How much for one room? - Jeet gyun, wah-tsay gyee?
One person - dzeday lahng
Two persons - nungay lahng
Does it have... - Gah oo
...bathroom? - beng soh?
...phone? - dyung way?
...television? - dyung ah?
May I see it first? - Gah-ay-dahng shung kwah?
Do you have something... - Gah oo kah
...bigger? - dwah-ay
...cheaper? - shohg-ay
Ok I'll sleep here for ____ nights. - Huh, mbay-kuhng ____ ahm.
Is there another hotel? - Gah oo bahg-ay * lee-guang?
What time is breakfast? - Dzah-dun gwee-diam?
Please clean my room - Pbai toh kyeng wah-ay bahn-gyun
Can you wake me at ____ ? - ____ gah-way gyuh kiah, huhbuh?
credit card - swah kah
Where can I exchange money? - Dway ay-dahng wah gjee?
Breakfast - dzah-den
Lunch - dyong-den
Snack - diam-shing
Tea - day / tay2
Coffee - gah-bee
Dinner - ahm-den
I want - wah-mbay
Chicken - ga-mbah / gkwuei1 bah4
Beef - goo-mbah
Fish - hee-ah / hhu2 / hhhhw2 (right-most sounds like a long 'huh' without the vowel)
Eggs - nun / gkuei1 neng3 _i?_`_j
Vegetables - chtsai
Fruit - dzwee-guh / gge2 chjee4 (___q)
Bread - pahng (For you linguists, this is from Portugese)
Noodles - mee
Rice - bi-ee4 (short) _i___j
(cooked) Rice - buhng / bpeng3 / b-pui23 _i___j
Beer - bee- * doo
Salt - yahm
Pepper - hyahm / hhoh3 chjio1 hun4 _i_______j
Done eating - jyah- (bpah4) lyow _i_h_O___j
Good to eat - huh-jyah _i_D_h_j
How much? - Gwee koh/Wah dzay jyee/Luaaa3-Zwuei3?
Too much - shyoo-(gke4) zwuei3
Don't want - mbwai / mmm...-mai3
I need - Wah dah-ai
...toothbrush - kee-mbeeng
...soap - day koh
...shampoo - suay tow-mun - literally "wash hair"
...paper - dzwah4
...pen - mbeetd / pbeet4
...books - dzoo / tz-cheh4