What does 有 + Verb mean to you? (Singaporean/Malaysian Mandarin)
Hi. I'm trying to learn Singaporean and Malaysian Mandarin. I hired someone to translate some dialogues from Singlish/Manglish to the local Mandarin dialect, but now I'm under the impression some of these translations is wrong.

Does the construction 有 + verb mean "have Verb-ed" in English?
E.g.:
SG Mandarin: 你有看到Harry吗？他应该有在这里咧。
Singlish: You got see Harry? He supposed to be here leh.

My guess is that this means "Have you got to see Harry?/Have you seen Harry? He was supposed to be already here.". I'm under the impression this construction occurs in Taiwanese Mandarin too, perhaps influenced by Hokkien.

That said, what about this sentence:
你有看football啊？
Does it mean "have you watched football/soccer?" ?

The source sentence in Singlish was "You watching football ah?" (Are you watching football [here/right now]?), which I think was supposed to be either "你在看football啊？" or "你看football啊？", so I think the translator got it wrong.

Thanks in advance

Question

What does 有 + Verb mean to you? (Singaporean/Malaysian Mandarin)
Hi. I'm trying to learn Singaporean and Malaysian Mandarin. I hired someone to translate some dialogues from Singlish/Manglish to the local Mandarin dialect, but now I'm under the impression some of these translations is wrong.

Does the construction 有 + verb mean "have Verb-ed" in English?
E.g.:
SG Mandarin: 你有看到Harry吗？他应该有在这里咧。
Singlish: You got see Harry? He supposed to be here leh.

My guess is that this means "Have you got to see Harry?/Have you seen Harry? He was supposed to be already here.". I'm under the impression this construction occurs in Taiwanese Mandarin too, perhaps influenced by Hokkien.

That said, what about this sentence:
你有看football啊？
Does it mean "have you watched football/soccer?" ?

The source sentence in Singlish was "You watching football ah?" (Are you watching football [here/right now]?), which I think was supposed to be either "你在看football啊？" or "你看football啊？", so I think the translator got it wrong.

Thanks in advance

Answer

It is a great question. I am glad that you notice this.

In my opinion, I believe it is influenced by the sentence structure of "Have+pp" in English. But my professor believe it is influenced by Hokkien, a dialect spoken in Taiwan, as you also mentioned in your text.

1. 你有看到Harry吗？他应该有在这里咧。
Have you seen Harry? He is supposed to be here. In Taiwan, we will say 你有看到Harry嗎? 他應該在這裡啊。

2. 你有看football啊？It will be more natural if you say 你也有在看football啊? / 你也看football啊?
This means: Do you also watch football? This sentence shows surprise, meaning the speaker didn't expect the listener watches it. 有 in this situation means more like "experience" to me. That is, you have done something as well.

However, I am not sure if the translator made a mistake or not. It will be more clearer if we get the meaning from the context.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer

The translations are correct.  The Chinese language in 南洋 are heavily influenced by Malay, English and other Chinese dialects.  Most locals are multilingual but usually master of none for oral communication.  When they are unable to express in a language, they use elements of the other language they know to do so.  This is called language switching.  Unless you plan to live there or are studying linguistics, it is best not to foray into it as you can be easily influenced by bad habits considered by the "pure" language and become neither here nor there.

Answer

Hey ,

These expressions are very much influenced by the way they speak Mandarin in Taiwan, and would be classified as technically wrong in mainland China (although I must say that it is commonly used by young people in China now). 有 comes from "have" in English, so your sentences mean:
你有看到Harry嗎？Have you seen Harry? - the standard Mandarin version would be 你看到過Harry嗎？
他應該有在這裡 I think he was here - the standard Mandarin version would be 他應該來過這裡 or 他好像剛才在這裡.

你有看football嘛？literally means "have you watched football? - in standard Chinese that would be 你有看過足球嗎？ But I think the speaker wants to ask "do you watch football", which is often said as 你有在看football嘛？

To express "you're watching football!", as in the person is currently doing this, you'd say one of:
你正在看football呢！
你在看football呢！
你在看football啊！
Depending on the tone you want to pick.

I hope that helps.