Lesson 11 - Review Lessons 1 to 5

Pronunciation exercises.

Say the following sentences out loud.

1. John fè yon bonbon pou tonton-li. - John made a cake for his uncle.


2. Fanm-lan kontan kontan. - The woman is very happy.


3. Mwen vlé chanté. - I want to sing.


4. Nou palé ba'w yè. - We spoke to you yesterday.


5. Yo sé sòlda. - They are soldiers.


6. Li sé yon dansè. - She is a dancer.


7. Sa sé yon motoka. - That is a car.


8. Sé Twinidadyen zòt yé. - You (all) are Trinidadians.


9. Ki moun ou yé? - Who are you?


10. Syèl-la bawé. - The sky is overcast.


11. Yon nonm - A man


12. On tifi - A girl


13. Sa bon. - That is good.


14. Sa pa bon. - That is not good.


15. Pyè sé an tonton. - Pierre is an uncle.


16. Jann sé yon tantan. - Jeanne is an aunt.


17. Mango sé yon fwi. - Mango is a fruit.


18. Sé Kwéyòl nou yé. - We are Creole.


19. Li sé djabal-mwen. - She is my girlfriend.


20. Li sé zonm-mwen. - He is my boyfriend.

Lesson 10 - The Negative Present Tense

In Trinidadian French Creole, pa is used to make a sentence negative; the negative present tense is formed by placing pa BEFORE the verb or adjective or adverb in the sentence.


1. Yo vlé yon liv wouj - They want a red book.
2. Yo pa vlé yon liv wouj - They don't want a red book.


3. Mwen enmen lavé chyen-an - I like to wash the dog.
4. Mwen pa enmen lavé chyen-an - I don't like to wash the dog.


5. Nou swèf - We are thirsty.
6. Nou pa swèf - We are not thirsty.


7. Mamay-la jòlòt - The child is cute.
8. Mamay-la pa jòlòt - The child is not cute.


Note: Remember that when we speak in the Simple Present Tense, no verbal markers are used.


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Let's practise. Please translate the following


1. We don't have money.

2. Annette is not beautiful.

3. They do not see us.

4. The priest is not married.

5. The apples are not green.

6. You don't want that?

7. I don't need glasses.

8. Do not speak like that.

9. Don't touch that.

10. John is not short.

You'll find find the answers directly below:


1. Nou pa tini lajan 2. Annette pa bèl. 3. Yo pa wè nou. 4. Pwèt-la pa mayé. 5. ponm-fwans-la pa vèt.


6. Ou pa vlé sa? 7. Mwen pa bizwen linnèt. 8. Pa palé kon sa. 9. pa touché sa. 10. John pa kout.

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Enmen an does it mean the love excuse my spelling

Don't worry, you spelled the word correctly the word enmen is a verb it means "To love"

e.g.

Mwen enmen madanm-mwen. - I love my wife.

Jan enmen manjé. - Jean loves to eat.

Fanm-lan enmen sé zanno-a. - The woman loves the earrings.

Chéwi, mwen enmen ou! - Darling, I love you!

Ask me anything

Lesson 9 - The Simple Present Tense

In Creole, there is no variation for verbs. The infinitive verb (basic form) does not change according to person or tense; as such, we cannot say that in Creole verbs are conjugated. In the Creole language, the verb does not agree with the subject, so there are NO irregular verbs to learn.

Simple Present Tense

The Simple present and the Simple Past Tense is indicated by the absence of any verbal particles (or the “zero marker”).

Maché (mah-shay) the verb "to walk"

Mwen maché - I walk.

Ou maché - You (singular) walk.

Li (i) maché - He, she or it walks.

Nou maché - We walk.

Zòt maché - You (plural) walk.

Yo maché - They walk.

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Soté (so-tay) the verb "to jump"

Mwen soté - I jump.

Ou soté - You (singular) jump.

Li, (i) soté - He, she or it jumps.

Nou soté - We jump.

Zòt soté - You (plural) jump.

Yo soté - They jump.

What is "sa ka fet"?

Sa ka fèt (sah-kah-feht) means

"What's up or what's going on"

Ask me anything

Lesson 8 - Subject Pronouns

There are six pronouns: one pronoun for each person/number combination. There is no difference between direct and indirect pronouns. Subject pronouns function as the subject of the sentence. Simply put, the subject pronoun tell us who or what is being spoken of in any sentence. The six Subject Pronouns are as follows:


Click the link below to hear all of the subject pronouns

Creole Personal Pronouns

1. MWEN (mweh) - I, me, my
2. OU (oo) - you, your (singular)
3. LI or I (lee/ee) - he, she, it [li becomes i after a vowel]
4. NOU (noo) - we, us, our
5. ZÒT (zoht) - you, your (plural)
6. YO (yo) - they, them, their

E.g.


MWEN - I, ME, MY

• Mwen tini yon madanm. - I have a wife.
• Ou ka palé ban mwen? - Are you speaking to me?
• Kawolin sé matant-mwen. - Caroline is my aunt.

OU - YOU, YOUR (singular)

• Kisa ou vlé manjé? - What do you want to eat?
• Kwiyé fwè-ou ban nou. - Call your brother for us.

LI - HE, SHE, IT

• Li ka alé Fòdfwans. - He is going to Fort-de-France.
• Monik, li kontan dansé. - Monique, she likes to dance.
• Kité zwézo-a; i ké déviwé. - Leave the bird alone; it will come back.

NOU - WE, US, OUR

• Nou ké touvé chyen-an. - We will find the dog.
• Vini épi nou souplé. - Come with us please.
• Twinidad épi Tobago sé péyi-nou. - Trinidad & Tobago is our country.

ZÒT - YOU, YOUR (plural)

• Mwen kontan wè zòt - I am happy to see you all.
• Zòt sé fanmi - Jan sé papa-zòt? - You all are family - is Jean your father?

YO - THEY, THEM, THEIR

• Yo ké wivé pli ta. - They will arrive later.
• Ba yo lajan-an. - Give them the money.
• Maman-yo sé yon dòktè. - Their mother is a doctor.

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Let's practise. Please translate the following:

1. She's very pretty.

2. I don't want fish.

3. They are fighting.

4. It is dead.

5. We are walking.

6. You're not ugly.

You'll find the answers directly below:

1. Li joli joli. 2. Mwen pa vlé pwéson. 3. Yo ka goumen. 4. I mò. 5. Nou ka maché. 6. Ou pa lèd.

Lesson 7 - The verb "to have"

There are two forms of the verb "to have" in Trinidadian French Creole. These are:

Tini (tee-nee) - to have


Ni (nee) - to have


Ni and tini are used interchangeably in Trinidadian French Creole.

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Example using "tini" (tee-nee)

1. Ann tini manjé-a - Anne has the food.

2. Nou tini dé zanfan ansanm - We have two children together.

3. Bèwna pa tini tan jòdi-a - Bernard does not have time today.

4. Ou tini lajan épi'w? - Do you have money on you?

5. Non, mwen pa tini lajan - No, I don't have money.

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Example using "ni" (nee)

1. Toma ni dé chat épi yon pwéson - Thomas has two cats and one fish.

2. Doudou, mwen ni yon kado pou'w - Darling, I have a gift for you.

3. Lé Fwanswa ni yon gwan fanmi - The François have a big family.

4. Nou ni sèt kat nan lanmen - We have seven cards in hand.

5. Yo ni twant dòla antout - They have thirty dollars in total.

Lesson 6 - Singular & Plural

In Trinidadian French Creole, the noun has only one form, whether singular or plural. In order to quantify (number) a noun, the number indicated is placed before the noun.


1. Yon zasyèt - One plate


2. Senk zasyèt - Five plates


3. Yon sak - One bag


4. Nèf sak - Nine bags

The Plural marker

There is no plural indefinite article in the Kwéyòl language, and nouns do not have have endings which indicate plurality . In spite of this, there are some rules to consider when speaking of plurality in the Kwéyòl language.

1) When a noun appears alone without the singular indefinite article, or a quantitative number this represents a collective.

Flè - flowers.

Yon flè - A flower.




2) When speaking of a specific plural number, the number is placed before the noun in order to quantify it.

Yon pyébwa - A/one tree.

Kat pyébwa - four trees.


The plural is generally indicated by the plural marker (sé) which is placed before the noun with the definite article being placed after the noun. Sé is NOT AN ARTICLE. Remember, Kwéyòl nouns do not have plural endings; there is only one form of the noun.

Trinidadian French Creole	French	English
sé tjè-a	les coeurs	the hearts
sé bato-a	les bateaux	the boats
sé liv-la	les livres	the books
sé bag-la	les bagues	the rings
sé kann-nan	les cannes à sucre	the (sugar) canes
sé pen-an	les pains	the (loaves of) bread
sé fanm-lan	les femmes	the women
sé nonm-lan	les hommes	the men

The maker sé is prefixed to the noun and indicates the collective. As we see in the examples above, the word endings of Creole nouns remain the same in the singular and plural.

How would you translate "I miss you" in Kwéyòl?

To say "I miss you" there are 2 ways:

Mwen ka sonjé'w

Mwen mantjé'w

Ask me anything

Lesson 5 - The Singular Indefinite Article

The Singular Indefinite Article

The singular indefinite article corresponds to the English article “a or an.” It always appears before a noun. In Creole, the singular indefinite article is “yon, on or an.” The article always indicates the singular quantity.

The articles yon, on and an are interchangeable in Trinidadian French Creole, with yon being the most common form..

Trinidadian French Creole	Martiniquan French Creole	French	English
yon nonm	an nonm	un homme	a man
yon fanm	an fanm	une femme	a woman
yon kay	an kay	une maison	a house
on tifi	an tifi	une fillette	a little girl
on ti chyen	an ti chyen	un chiot	a puppy
on balkon	an balkon	un balcon	a balcony

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Let's practise. Please translate the following

1. This is a car.

2. He has a bird.

3. I have a son.

4. Janice has a daughter.

5. They want a house.

6. She is a woman.

7. He is a man.

You'll find answers directly below:

1. Sa sé yon motoka 2. Li tini yon zwézo 3. Mwen tini on gason 4. Janice tini on tifi 5. Yo vlé an kay 6. Li sé an fanm 7. Li sé an nonm

Lesson 4 - The Definite Article (Singular)

The Kwéyòl singular definite article corresponds with to “the” in English. There are five up to forms of the Kwéyòl definite article. In the Kwéyòl language, the definite article always appears AFTER the noun, while in English and French the definite article appears BEFORE the noun.

1. la - this article appears after nouns ending in consonants, this is the most common form of the definite article, e.g., lakay-la, bouwik-la, chat-la

2. lan - this form of the definite article appears after nouns ending with the letter “m”, e.g., fanm-lan, kwenm-lan, nonm-lan.

3. a- this form of the definite article appears after non-nasalised vowels, e.g., motoka-a, flè-a, kako-a.

4. an - this form of the definite article appears after nasalised vowels, e.g., gason-an, pan-an, pen-an.

5. nan- This form of the definite article appears after nouns ending in the consonant “n” (not the “n” of a nasalised vowel), e.g., machin-nan, akakoun-nan, babadin-nan

Trinidadian French Creole	Guadeloupean French Creole	French	English
liv-la	liv-la	le livre	the book
bèf-la	bèf-la	le boeuf	the cow/bull
Syèl-la	syèl-la	le ciel	the sky
chan-an	chan-la	la psalmodie	the chant
chyen-an	chyen-la	le chien	the dog
pon-an	pon-la	le pont	the bridge
motoka-a	loto-la	la voiture, l’auto	the car
flè-a	flè-la	la fleur	the flower
kò-a	kò-la	le corps	the body
fanm-lan	fanm-la	la femme	the woman
danm-lan	(ma)danm-la	la dame	the lady
Nonm-lan	nonm-la	l’homme	the man
machin-nan	machin-la	la machine	the machine
lapenn-nan	lapenn-la	la peine	the sorrow
kabin-nan	kabin-la	la cabine	the cabin