Kwéyòl Nouns & Articles

Review (Part 1)

In the Kwéyòl language, nouns function differently from English and French. Generally speaking, Kwéyòl nouns do not have gender and although there are some gender specific nouns for human beings and some animals; the number of these nouns is so small that they can be memorised in a short space of time.
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When speaking English or French, the definite article (''the'' in English) will always appear before the noun.
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la guerre = (the) war
le basket = (the) basketball
la voiture = (the) car
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The exact opposite happens in Kwéyòl, with the definite being placed AFTER the noun. When written the noun is attached to its definite article by a hyphen. There are several definite articles, but for now, I will only use examples requiring the most common article (la) which is used with nouns ending in regular consonants.
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liv-la = the book
kay-la = the house
papay-la = the papaya (paw-paw fruit)
tab-la = the table
sik-la = the sugar
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There is only one form of the noun, it will never change form to reflect the singular or plural. There are 2 ways to pluralise a noun in Kwéyòl.
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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.
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2) When speaking of a specific plural number, the number is placed before the noun in order to quantify it.
Yon montay = A/one mountain.
Kat montay = four mountains.

The plural is also indicated by the plural marker (sé) which is placed before the noun with the definite article being placed after the noun.

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive Adjectives.

In the previous post, we learned how to demonstrate possession when speaking Trinidad French Creole.  Possessive adjectives are the words used in place of articles to indicate to whom or to what something belongs. Today we will learn more about Possessive Adjectives, these adjectives always follow the noun, and most of the time a definite article will follow the possessive adjective.

Possessive Adjectives

My - mwen (mweh)

Your (singular) - ou (oo)

His, hers, its - li (lee)

Our - nou (noo)

Your (plural) - zòt (zaut)

Their - yo (yoh)

Important! - Sometimes a definite article is added after the possessive adjective like this:

My car - motoka mwen an

The definite article can be omitted when using demonstratives (this is, that is, these are, those are).

The definite article can be omitted when using nouns  in such a specific way that there is no way of having more than one: father, mother, grandpa, grandma, husband, wife, heart, etc...

My darling - Doudou mwen instead of Doudou mwen an

My heart - Tjè mwen instead of Tjè mwen an

My head - Tèt mwen instead of Tèt mwen an

This is my chair - sa sé chèz mwen instead of sa sé chèz mwen an

Those are my books  Sé sala sé liv mwen

Very Important - You know that Trinidad French Creole has up to five definite articles: a, an, la, lan, nan.  Just follow the rules before you place them in a sentence.

Examples:

His chant - chan li a

My cocoa - kako mwen an

Your book - liv ou a

Their friend - zanmi yo a

Our family - fanmi nou a

Your (plural) priest - pwèt zòt la

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