不著 in Teochew Uê

In this drama, the little sister said to her elder brother “zhua1 bu4zhao2 抓不著｜抓不着” i.e. her brother was unable to catch her. How does one say this in Teochew Uê?

We say this as liah8 m6dioh4 掠唔著｜掠唔着

Do note that m6dioh8 唔著｜唔着 means “not correct” which is “bu4dui4 不對｜不对” in Mandarin.

There is another phrase in Mandarin “shui4 bu4zhao2 睡不著｜睡不着” which means unable to sleep. We say this as “bhoi6 ngh8 𠁞夗｜𠀾夗” and if you are from . . . you would say the following:

Teochew City  潮州府城	bhoi6 ug8
Têng5hai2 澄海	bhoi6 ngh8
Riao'pêng  饒平	bhoi6 ngh8
Swatow 汕頭	bhoi6 ngh8
Dio'Ion  潮陽	bhoi6 inh8
Due to huge number of people of Dio'Ion 潮陽 living in Swatow, many people that city say inh8 for sleep.
Gig'Ion 揭陽	bhoi6 in6

And there is another Mandarin expression “zhao3bu5zhao2 找不著｜找不着” which means unable to find and we say this in Teochew Uê as “cuê7bho5 覓無｜觅无”

And another Mandarin expression “mo1bu5zhao2 摸不著｜摸不着” which means cannot touch and we say this as “mo2 tang6 孬動｜孬动”

A Mandarin phrase “yong4bu5zhao2 用不著｜用不着” which means “have no use for” and we say this as “bho5biang3 êng7 無變用｜无变用”

Another “guan3bu5zhao2 管不著｜管不着” which means “have no right or ability to interfere, to control or to interfere in something” we say this as “bho5biang3 guang2 無變管｜无变管”

And I hope you get an understanding that there is just no way that Mandarin is a dialect of Teochew for these two languages are so different in their construction and use - one a relatively new 500 years old language and another, thousands of years old.