- ) A banana which is short and fat, not a plantain and not a conventional banana; regionally called "hog banana" or "sugar banana" in English.
(#) The relationship shared between a child's parents and godparents.
(@) The gap between a person's two front teeth.
Many
Trade Mark s have become common nouns in Haitian Creole (as happened in English with "aspirin" and "biro", for example).
- ''koget'' ( Colgate ) — "toothpaste"
- ''jilet'' ( Gillette ) — "razor"
- ''pamper'' ( Pampers ) — "nappy" or ( Am ) "diaper"
- ''kodak'' ( Kodak ) — "camera"
The term ''neg'' strictly means a dark-skinned man, as in ''gen yon neg e gen yon blan'' ("there is a black man and a white man"). However, it is also generally used for any man, regardless of skin color (i.e. like "guy" in American English).
Etymologically, the word derives from
Spanish ''negro'' ("black", both the
Color and the
People ), and is therefore
Cognate of English "negro". In Haitian Creole, however, ''neg'' does not have pejorative connotations.
There are many other Haitian Creole terms for specific tones of skin, such as ''grimou, brin, woz, mawon,'' etc. However, such labels are considered offensive by some Haitians, because of their association with racial discrimination and the Haitian class system.
Haitian Creole grammar differs greatly from French and is much simpler; for example, verbs are not inflected for tense or person, and there is no
Grammatical Gender — meaning that adjectives and articles are not inflected according to the noun. The same primary word order (SVO) is the same as French, but the variations on the verbs and adjectives are miniscule compared to the complex rules employed by French.
Many grammatical features, particularly pluralization of nouns and indication of possession, are indicated by appending certain suffixes (
Postposition s) like ''yo'' to the main word. There has been a debate going on for some years as what should be used to connect the suffixes to the word: the most popular alternatives are a dash, an apostrophe, or a space. It makes matters more complicated when the "suffix" itself is shortened, perhaps making only one letter (such as ''m'' or ''w'').
There are six pronouns, one pronoun for each person/number combination. There is no difference between direct and indirect. Some are obviously of French origin, others are not.
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1/singular |
''mwen'' |
''m'' or ''m‘'' or ''‘m'' |
''je'', ''moi'', ''me'' |
"I", "me" |
2/singular |
''tu'', ''te'', ''vous'' |
"you" (sing.) |
3/singular |
''li'' |
''l‘'' |
''il'', ''elle'', ''lui'', ''le'', ''se'' |
"he", "she", "it" |
1/plural |
''nou'' |
''n‘'' |
''nous'' |
"we", "us" |
2/plural |
''ou'' or ''nou'' (@) |
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''vous'' |
"you" (pl.) |
3/plural |
''yo'' |
''y‘'' |
''ils'', ''elles'', ''eux'' |
"they", "them" |
- )sometimes ''ou'' is written as ''w''- in the sample phrases, the ''w'' indicates ''ou''.
(@) depending on the situation.
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Nouns are pluralized by adding ''yo'' at the end.
Possession is indicated by placing the possessor after the item possessed. This is similar to the French construction of ''chez moi'' or ''chez lui'' which are "my home" and "his home" respectively.
The language has an indefinite article ''yon'', roughly corresponding to English "a"/"an" and French ''un''/''une''. It is placed before the noun:
There is also a definite article, roughly corresponding to English "the" and French ''le''/''la''. It is placed the noun, and the sound varies by the last sound of the noun itself. If the last sound is a non-nasal consanant, it becomes ''la'':
If the last sound is a vowel, it becomes an ''a'':
If the last sound is a nasal (usually an "n" sound) it becomes ''nan'':
There is a single word ''sa'' that corresponds to French ''ce''/''ceci'' or ''ça'', and English "this" and "that". As in English, it may be used as a demonstrative, except that it is placed the noun it qualifies:
As in English, it may also be used as a pronoun, replacing a noun:
Many, many verbs in Haitian Creole are the same spoken words as the French infinitive, but they are spelled phonetically. As indicated above there is no conjugation in the language.
The concept expressed in English by the verb "to be" is expressed in Haitian Creole by two words, ''se'' and ''ye''.
The verb ''se'' (pronounced as the English word "say") has roughly the same meaning as "to be" (and its inflections "am", "are", "is") in English. It is used like any verb, namely between the subject and the predicate:
The subject ''sa'' or ''li'' can sometimes be omitted with ''se'':
For the future tense, such as "I want to be" usually ''devenir'' is used instead of ''se''.
"Ye" has a similar meaning, but it is placed at the of the sentence,
after the predicate and the subject (in that order):
The verb "to have" is ''genyen'', often shortened to ''gen''.
The verb ''genyen'' (or ''gen'') also means "There is" (or "There are")
Genyen anpil Ayisyen nan Florid
There are two verbs which are often as "to know", but they mean different things.
''Konn'' or ''konnen'' means just about what "to know" means in English.
The other word is ''konn''. It is not easy to translate as a single word, but it most approximately means "to know how", "to have experience", or "to know how to do something". This is similar to the "know" is used in the English phrase "know how to ride a bike": it denotes not only a knowledge of the actions, but also some experience with it.
Another verb worth mentioning is ''fe''. It comes from the French ''faire'' and is often translated as "do" or "make". It has a broad range of meanings.
Kouman ou fe pale kreyol?
Marie konn fe mayi moulen.
The verb ''kapab'' or shortened to ''ka'' means "able to (do something)". It means both "capability" and "availability", very similar to the English "can"
There is no conjugation is Haitian Creole. In the present, non-progressive tense, one just uses the basic verb form:
For other tenses, special "tense marker" words are placed before the verb. The basic ones are:
For the present progressive (I am eating now)- (notice that it is not necessary to say "right now" but it is customary) ''ap'' is used:
Note that ''manje'' means both "food" and "to eat", and ''m'ap manje manje'' is also said and means "I am eating food".
With ''ap'' and ''a'' the pronouns nearly always take the short form (''m'ap'', ''l'ap'', ''n'ap'', ''y'ap''):
Additional time-related markers are:
They are often used to together:
Mwen fek sot antre kay la
Also ''t'ap'' is a combination of ''te'' and ''ap'' and means "was doing":
Mwen t'ap mache e m'we yon chen
Another tense marker is ''ta'', meaning "would":
Mwen ta vini si mwen te gen youn machin
Li ta bliye'w si ou pa't la
The word ''pa'' comes before a verb to negate it:
The most common greeting is ''Sak pase?'' , short for ''Ki sa ki pase?'' ("What's happening?"). Typical replies include
- ''M'ap boule!'' - "I'm great!" (Fr. ''je brule'', lit. "I'm on fire")
- ''Mwen la'' - "I'm here"
- ''Neg la'' - same as above, but in the third person
- ''M'ap kenbe'' - "I'm holding on"
- ''M'ap gade'' - "I am looking"
- ''M'ap swiv'' - "I am following"
- ''Piti-piti'' - "Little by little"
- ''Pa pi mal'' - "Not too bad"
- Hello - ''Salu'' (Fr. ''salut'' )
- Good morning — ''Bonjou'' (Fr. ''bonjour'' )
- Good evening — ''Bonswa'' (Fr. ''bonsoir'')
- Goodbye (See you later)— ''Na wè'' (or ''Nap we'')
- Please — ''Silvouple'' / ''Souple'' (Fr. ''s'il vous plaît'' )
- Thank you (very much) - ''Mèsi'' (anpil) (Fr. ''merci'', )
- How are you? — ''Kijan ou ye?''
- What's your name? — ''Koman ou rele?''
- My name is... — ''M rele...''
- Who's your daddy? — ''Kiyès ki Papa'w?''
- I love you — ''M renmen w''
- How much/how many? — ''Kombyen?'' (Fr. ''combien''
- How? — ''Kijan?'' or ''Koman?'' (Fr. ''quel genre'' ; ''comment'' )
- Who? — ''Ki moun?'' or ''Kiyes?'' (Fr. ''qui'' )
- Which? — ''Ki lès?''
- Where? — (''Ki'') ''Kote?'' / ''Ki bo?'' (Fr. ''quel côté '', ''quel bord'' )
- When? — ''Ki lè?'' (Fr. ''quelle heure'' )
- Why? — ''Pouki''(''sa'')? (Fr. ''pourquoi (ça)'' )
