啥人
siá-lâng
The English word "who" is translated into Hokkien as 啥人 (siá-lâng).
啥人 is an interrogative pronoun used to ask the question "who?" in a sentence.
Meaning: who? (interrogative pronoun) (pron)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of 啥, meaning "what" and 人, meaning "person".
How does it change in a sentence?
啥人 functions as an interrogative pronoun to identify a person.
How do you pronounce it?
siá-lâng
Did you know?
- In Hokkien, the word 啥 used in 啥人 can be used alone to mean 'what', but in some dialects it is also used as an intensifier to express surprise or disbelief, similar to saying 'What!' in English.
- The word 啥 (siá) is a cognate with the Mandarin 'shénme' (what), showing the deep linguistic links between these branches of Chinese.
- In certain Southern Min dialects, you might hear 誰 (siá) used instead of 啥人. Even though the characters look different, they function as the same interrogative pronoun.
Examples in context
- 啥人來敲門？siá-lâng lâi khah bûn?Who is knocking at the door?
- 你知影是啥人無？lí chai-iáⁿ sī siá-lâng bô?Do you know who it is?
Example conversation
Meiling and Zhiming are looking at a photo.
- 美玲 Mei-ling這張相片內向是啥人？che chāng siàng-phiàn lāi-hiòng sī sián-lâng?Who is in this photo?
- 志明 Chi-ming彼是我佇學校的老師。phí sī guá tī háu-hāu ê láu-sư.That is my teacher from school.
- 美玲 Mei-ling他真像啥人，我想袂記。i chin chhoung sián-lâng, guá sióng bē-kì.He looks like someone, but I can't remember who.
- 志明 Chi-ming你應該認得他的。lí êng-kai jîn-tit i ê.You should recognize him.
