EXERCISE XIV.
1 Tell him to wipe the cups and saucers. 2 Many small vessels foundered. 3 Ask those boys to come here. 4 That man has bought a great many large houses. 5 Those policemen came here from Penang. 6 How many pigs do you keep? 7 Tell the cook to boil two eggs. 8 Go and buy two or three planks. 9 How many houses have you bought in that street? 10 How many coats do you keep in that box? 11 That man was wearing two coats when he was caught by the policeman. 12 Ask the baker to bring five loaves of bread to-morrow morning.
LESSON XV.
Gender.
87. Gender is expressed in Malay by placing the words laki-laki, man, and prempuan, woman, after the noun, in the case of rational beings, and similarly the words jantan, male, and btina, female, in the case of animals. Jantan is, however, commonly used in speaking of male children, and even sometimes of grown-up persons.
88. A few words of Sanskrit origin have retained the terminations indicating gender which belong to that language, as, putra, prince, putri, princess; etc.
Comparison of Adjectives.
89. The comparative of superiority is expressed by the use of lbeh, more, placed before the adjective, and the preposition deri-pada or deri, than, following it. Thus,
lbeh bsar kerbau deri-pada lmbu,
buffaloes are larger than oxen.
tuan itu lbeh tinggi deri-pada bapa-nya,
that gentleman is taller than his father.
Lagi is frequently used in place of lbeh, or in addition to it, if the conjunction deri-pada or deri is not expressed, as,
angkat lagi tinggi or angkat lbeh tinggi lagi, lift it higher.
90. The comparative of inferiority is expressed by the use of the adverb kurang, less; deri-pada or deri being used if necessary, as in the comparative of superiority.
orang ini kurang pandai deri-pada yang lain,
this man is not so clever as the others.
