Creole Possessives Part 1

Possessive adjectives are the words used in place of articles to indicate to whom or to what something belongs. In Trinidad French Creole, the possessive adjectives are identical to personal pronouns. There are 6 of them in total. The possessive is always placed after the noun, there are no exceptions to this rule.

1. mwen - my
2. ou, w - your (singular)
3. li, y - his, her, its (y is pronounced "ee")
4. nou - our
5. zòt, zò - your (plural)
6. yo - their

When the possessive ou appears after a noun ending in a vowel, it is shortened to (-w)

When the possessive li appears after a noun ending in a vowel. it is shortened to (-y)

Examples:

Bato mwen.
bah-toh mweh
my boat.

Bato papa mwen.
 bah-toh pah-pah mweh
My father's boat.

Bisiklèt ou.
bee-seek-let oo
Your bicycle.

Bisiklèt maman'w.
bee-seek-let mah-mahnw
Your mother's bicycle.

note:the word maman ends in a nasalised vowel (-an) pronoun shortened to (-w)

Amanda ka palé bay yich-li.
ah-man-dah kah pah-lay bai yeesh lee
Amanda is speaking to her child.

Chapo'y nwè.
sha-poh ee nweh
His hat is black.

Fanm-lan kité chat nou déwò.
fam lahn kee-tay shat noo day-wuh
The woman left our chat outside.

Mwen vlé achté mango zòt apwézan.
mweh vlay ash-tay mango zaut ap-way-zahn.
I want to buy your (plural) mangoes now.

Nou té wè zanmi yo lòt jou-a.
noo tay weh zah-mee yoh lot joo ah
We saw their friend recently.