How to speak in the Past Tense [It's very Easy]

Past Perfect tense

The PAST PERFECT TENSE indicates that an action was completed (finished or "perfected") at some point in the past before something else happened. This tense is formed with the past tense form of "to have" (HAD) plus the past participle of the verb (which can be either regular or irregular in form):

I had walked two miles by lunchtime.
I had run three other marathons before entering the Boston Marathon


If you ever took Spanish or French in school, you're more than likely hate the word conjugation. Right?

GOOD NEWS, the beautiful language of Patois (also known as Trinidadian French Creole) does not conjugate its verbs, or in other words the verbs don't change depending on time or condition. Even English conjugates its verbs.

Example: I talk / Yesterday I talked

So how does one speak using the past perfect tense in Trinidadian French Creole / Patois?

It’s as EASY as “Té” (sounds like tay)

Yes, just those 2 letters!

By SIMPLY adding this word “té” before any verb, it makes the sentence past tense.

Even though in English we typically speak in the past tense by adding “ed” at the end of a word, the creole word “té” is easier to remember by relating it to the English word “had”.

Examples:

1. Mwen té palé = I had talked / I talked
2. Mwen té wè = I had seen / I saw
3. Mwen té manjé = I had eaten / I ate
4. Mwen té kouté = I had listened / I listened 
5. Ou té kwéyé = You [singular] had created / you created


So my friends, now you know how to speak in the Past Perfect Tense.

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