Lesson 15 - Asking Questions with the "WH" words [Part 1]

Asking questions with the WH- words using the auxiliary verbs. In order to start a conversation in any language, you have to use some key question words. Asking questions with the WH-words is formulated with the help of auxiliary verbs (do, did, will, should, etc.) In Trinidadian French Creole, most WH- questioning words are formed using “KI” (kee).


What - Kisa? (kee-sa)


When - Kilè or Ki tan (kee-leh / kee-ta[n])


Where - Ki koté or Ki bò (kee-ko-tay / kee-boh)


Which - Ki or Kilès <--- [which one] (kee / kee-lehs)


Who - Ki moun, Kilès, Kilès ki (kee-moon / kee-lehs / kee-lehs-kee)


Why - Pouki, Poukisa <--- [for emphasis] (poo-kee / poo-kee-sa)


In Trinidadian French Creole, WH-words must be placed at the beginning of a questioning sentence, in the correct tense; there are no exceptions to this rule.


1. Kisa ou anvi?
What do you want?


2. Ki lè nou k'alé nan New York?
When are we going to New York?


3. Ki koté mwen té ka alé?
Where was I going?


4. Ki bò lékòl-li yé?
Where is his school?


5. Ki mwa ou vlé pati?
In which month do you want to leave?


6. Ki moun mwen yé?
Who am I?


7. Kilès ou vlé?
Which one you want?


8. Kilès ki volè lajan-yo?
Who stole their money?


9. Pouki ou bwizé vaz-la?
Why did you shatter the vase?


10. Poukisa ou té manti ba yo?
Why did you lie to them?

Lesson 14 - Tell me about yourself

In today's lesson, we will learn how to give others information about yourself and get information from the person you are speaking to.


1. Kouman non-ou? - What is your name?
A. Non-mwen sé Riko. - My name is Rico.


2. Koté ou fèt? - Where are you from?
A. Mwen té fèt an Biche, Twinidad. - I was born in Biche, Trinidad.


3. An ki mwa ou fèt? - In what month were you born?
A. Mwen fèt an Mas. - I was born in March.


4. Ki laj ou ni? - How old are you?
A. Mwen tini twant lanné - I am thirty years old.


5. Ès ou mayé? - Are you married?
A. Non, mwen pa mayé. - No, I'm not married.


6. Ès ou an fiyansé? - Are you engaged?
A. Wi, mwen fiyansé. - Yes I am engaged.


7. Ès ou tini zanfan? - Do you have children?
A. Wé, mwen tini tifi jimo. - Yeah, I have twin daughters.


8. Kisa ou ka fè adan lavi-a? - What do you do for a living?
A. Mwen sé yon politisyen. - I am a politician.


9. Kisa ou enmen fè? - What do you like to do?
A. Mwen enmen ékwi listwa kout. - I like to write short stories.


10. Ki kalité manjé ou enmen? What kind of food do you like?
A. Mwen enmen manjé Bwazilyen. - I like Brazilian food.


11. Ki nasyonalité ou yé? - What is your nationality?
A. Mwen sé yon Twinidadyen. - I am Trinidadian.


12. Ès ou enmen wvayajé? - Do you like to travel?
A. Mwen vizité plizyè péyi déja. - I have visited several countries already.


13. Ki koté ou té apwann palé Kwéyòl? - Where did you learn to speak Creole?
A. Mwen té apwann palé Kwéyòl an Twinidad - I learned to speak Creole in Trinidad.

Lesson 13 - Prepositions

Prepositions

A preposition is a function word that combines with a noun or pronoun or noun phrase to form a prepositional phrase that can have an adverbial or adjectival relation to some other word. Put simply, they are placed in front of nouns in order to indicate a relationship between nouns and the verbs, adjectives, adverbs and nouns that come after it.


E.g. Mété poulé-a asou yon zasyèt. – Put the chicken on a plate.



In the above sentence the preposition used is asou which means on was placed between two nouns it also appears between a noun and a verb linking the two parts of the sentence.



The noun that follows the preposition can be replaced by an object pronoun.


E.g Bonbon-an ka gouté bon dapwè mwen. – The cake tastes good (according) to me.


The following list contains prepositions used in Creole.

Creole	English	French
a	at, on, to	à
asé pou	as to, with regard to	à propos de
asou, lasou, asi	on	sur
anwò	above, up	en haut
anlè	on, atop, over	en l’air
anmitan	in the middle	en mitan
anba	under, down, below	en bas
andji	instead of, rather than	en guise de
anfas	facing, across from	en face de
atwavè	across	à travers
anvè	towards	envers
alantou, lantou	around, about	alentour
apwè	after	après
avan	before	avant
andidan	inside	en dedans
ant	between	entre
apami, pami	among	parmi
bò	by	au bord de
dan	within	dans
dapwè	according to [someone], to	d’après
déwò	outside of	dehors
dèyè	behind	derrière
dépi	since	dépuis
douvan	in front of	devant
di	of	de
disi	from here	d’ici
diwan, diwan tan	while, during	durant, pendant
épi	with	et puis
èvè, avèk	with	avec
pa	through, by [something]	par
pwè	near to	près de
pwè disi	near here	près d’ici
hòd	from, away from	hors de
jis, jik, jis tan	until	jusque
jis la, jik la	until then	jusque là
jous	up to	jusque
lòtbò	beyond	à l’autre bord de
malgwé	in spite of	malgré
pandan	during	pendant
pou	for	pour
san	without	sans
sòv	save, except for	sauf
silon	according to [someone]	selon
swivan	in accordance with, following	suivant

Lesson 12 - Adjectives

In Trinidadian French Creole, the verb "To be" is omitted, when using attributes. There are no exceptions to this rule.


1. Mwen kontan. - I am happy.


2. Lanmou-nou fèb. - Our love is weak.


3. Manjé-a bon. - The food is good.


4. Mango-a dou. - The mango is sweet.


5. Brad byen fò. - Brad is very strong.


6. Fanm-lan fidèl. - The woman is faithful.

Adjectives have only ONE form, and they usually follow the noun.

Phrases

1. Yon zowanj si. - A sour orange.

2. Dé nonm kout. - Two short men.

3. Twa sèpan lonng. - Three long snakes.

Sentences

4. Mwen wè yon fanm ho. - I saw a tall woman.

5. Mèw-la tini yon lanmen pòk. - The nun has a withered hand.

6. Nonm-lan indou. - The man is Hindu.

There are some adjectives that appear before the noun, you can memorise these kinds of adjectives by the acronym B.A.G.S.

Beauty

Age

Good & Bad

Size

1. Fout, sa sé an bèl potwé! - Oh my, that's a beautiful portrait!

2. Mwen achté an gwo mont. - I bought a big watch.

3. Ou tini bon mès. - You have good manners.



4. Miguel sé yon bèl jenn gason. - Miguel is a handsome young man.


5. Lopinot sé yon ti vilaj. - Lopinot is a small village.

6. Dé vyé chat. - Two old cats.

Note: All colours appear after the noun!

1. Pantalon vèt-la - The green pants.

2. Niyaj blan-an - The white cloud.

What is DE MIL DOUZ?

Dé Mil Douz (day-meel-dooz) means 2012

Dé Mil Douz is the Kwéyòl equivalent to French:

deux-mille douze (duh-meel-dooz) which means two thousand and twelve.

Ask me anything

Greetings for the New Year!!!!

Bon Lanné Dé Mil Douz

Mi yondé fwaz an Kwéyòl pou salyé moun pou Lanné Nèf-a.

(Here are a few phrases for greeting people in the New Year)

Happy New year! I love you. Wishing you peace, good health and happiness in this New Year.

Bon Lanné! Mwen enmen ou. Mwen ka swété ou lapé, bon santé épi kontanman nan Lanné Nèf-sala.

We wish you good health, overflowing joy, and lots of love for The New Year!

Nou swété ou bon santé, lajwa an débòd, épi anpil lanmou pou Lanné Nèf-la!

Have a happy New Year!

Pasé an Bon Lanné!

All the best for the new year!

Mwen swété tout ké maché byen pou ou an lanné nèf-la!



Season's greetings!

Bon Lafèt!

Peace, love and joy to you all for the new year!

Lapè, lanmou é lajwa pou zòt nan lanné nèf-la!