According to my reference, both 綴 (tuè/tè) and 共 (kā) can translate from Hokkien (alias Min Nan) to 跟. What is the difference between the two?
1 Answer
The word tuè/tè in Taiwanese Hokkien is used in contexts where 跟 in Mandarin more explicitly refers to the action of "following"; in the 台灣閩南語常用詞辭典 you can find the word kin-tuè/kun-tè, as written 跟綴. In the 台文/華文線頂辭典, a fuller list of words with 綴 can be found. Perhaps most indicative of its use is the Taiwanese Hokkien equivalent of 跟得上, which is 綴會著 tòe/tè-ē-tio̍h.
The function of 共 kā is more grammatical, and often marks an "additional valency" as expressed on page 23 of Written Taiwanese; in practice this means another verb must follow 共 + noun phrase at some point, for example in that most famous of Hokkien utterances 我共你講.
answered Sep 15, 2014 at 12:06
