Learn how to describe a person
Back in lesson 9, we have learned how to describe a person in terms of height, body type, skin color, attitude, and personalities. From lesson 10, we also know how to say color words in Burmese.
What's next? We will now learn to describe a person in terms of clothing items that he or she is wearing, and also learn more words on general descriptions of people such as "pretty lady", "old man", "small girl", and so on.
On top of that, we will learn to combine those words into a sentence about a person right in front of you.
For fun as well as for exercise, I have written a Burmese Phrase Maker / Translator in PHP, so you can construct the combinations on your own, and see the output sentence.
Remember from the previous lesson which says, "the man who is wearing a white shirt"?
a-pfyu2 youn2
— white color (noun)
ain3-ji2
— shirt (noun)
woot
— wear (verb)
hta3 deare1
— present participle [~ing] (particle)
lu2
— man (noun)
We will now add the physical description of that person.
a-pfyu2 youn2 — white (noun)
ain3-ji2 — shirt (noun)
woot — wear (verb)
hta3 deare1 — [~ing] (particle)
lu2 — man (noun)
wa1 — fat (adjective)
ji3 — "big" used as a suffix particle for emphasis
lu2 wa1 ji3
means "big fat man" and it will be taken here as a noun "lu2-wa1 ji3" without breaking it.
"White" is an adjective to describe the shirt. E.g.,
pfyu2 dthau3 ain3-ji2 — shirt that is white.
a-pfyu2 youn2 ain3-ji2 woot hta3 deare1 lu2-wa1-ji3
the big fat man who is wearing a white shirt.
The important word you should remember in this lesson is the particle
hta3 deare1
equivalent to the English present participle [~ing], which converts the verb "wear" to "wearing" the item of clothing. In the literary
form, the word is
hta3 dthau3 (or)
hta3 dthi1.
wa1 la2 deare2 — You have become fat,
which is a compliment. On the other hand, the opposite
pain2 thwa3 deare2 — You have become skinny
is a show of concern for someone's health.
The General Format
Here's a general formula that will work with other physical descriptions, persons and items of clothing. You just have to substitute the required Burmese words as needed.
xxxx youn2 +
clothing +
wear +
hta3 deare1
ho2 +
person +
physical description of the person
ho2 (pronoun)
means "that" in English. You can substitute
xxxx youn2 (adjective)
with the list of colors provided in the previous lesson. Remember,
hta3 deare1 (particle)
is the present participle which adds [~ing] to the verb.
Here's a list of other words you can substitute in the above phrase:
clothing
shut ain3-ji2
— shirt
ain3-ji2 let-toh2
— short-sleeves shirt (shirt+ hand + short)
ain3-ji2 let-shay2
— long-sleeves shirt (shirt+ hand + long)
pa1-hso3
— men's sarong
hta1-main2
— women's sarong
tite-pone2 ain3-ji2
— Burmese-style jacket
ja2-kin2
— Western-style jacket
soot-kjeare2
— T-shirt
mo3-ga2
— rain coat
hti3
— umbrella
oat-htoat
— hat
pfa1-nut
— footwear, usually refers to slippers.
boun3-be2
— trousers, pants
jin3 boun3-be2
— a pair of jeans
boun3-be2 doh2
— shorts, Bermuda shorts
to wear
woot
— wear all types of clothings
si3
— wear shoes, slippers, and all other footwear.
hsoun3
— wear hats and use umbrellas
Person
lu2
— man
main3-ma1
— woman
a-myo3-dtha1-mi3
— lady
poat-go2
— gentleman
a-pfo3 ji3
— old man
a-pfwa3 ji3
— old woman
kha1-lay3
— baby; child
kha1-lay3-ma1 lay3
— small girl
koun2-lay3
— boy
koun2-ma1 lay3
— girl
beare3
— dude, guy (slang)
a-chout
— effeminate man, sissy, unmanly person
yout-kja1-sha2
— a girl or a woman who behaves like a man; a gay woman; dyke
koun2
— guy (street talk; impolite. "koun2" is also a measure word for animals.)
hsau2
— chick (slang)
Physical description of people (ending words)
wa1 wa1 ji3
— fat, plump, chubby
pain2-pain2-lay3
— thin, slim, skinny
lun2-ba3 ji3
— tall and big (male)
a-yut a-myin1-ji3
— tall (height + tall + to the high degree, level, or class)
pu1-pu1-lay3
— short, shorty
hla1-hla1 lay3
— pretty, beautiful (reference to a girl or a woman.)
chit sa1-ya2 lay3
— cute and lovely
yoat hso3-zo3 ji3
— ugly (can be used for both sexes.)
Example
pan3 youn2 — pink color
hti3 — umbrella
hsoun3 — wear hats and use umbrellas.
hta3 deare1 — present participle [~ing]
ho2 — that
beare3 — dude, guy (slang)
pain2-pain2 lay3 — thin, slim, skinny
pan3 youn2 hti3 hsoun3 hta3 deare1
ho2 beare3 pain2-pain2 lay3
That skinny dude with pink umbrella.
Burmese Phrase Maker / Translator
Please make sure that you get the matching items. For example, if you select "slippers/shoes" for clothing, you must select "footwear" from the pull down menu.
And finally, if you would like to know who is that skinny dude with pink umbrella, just append beare2 dthu2 leare3 to the general formula.
pan3 youn2
hti3
hsoun3 hta3 deare1
ho2
beare3
pain2-pain2 lay3
beare2 dthu2 leare3
Who is that skinny dude with pink umbrella?
Answer: It's the bird! It's the fly! No, its' Super A-CHOUT JI3!!!