Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Contractions: Contracting the Haitian Creole object pronouns "mwen, ou, li, nou"

In Haitian Creole you may contract the object pronoun if the word that precedes it ends with a vowel (nasal or non nasal vowels included)

Examples:
1. Leave me.
You may say: Kite mwen. or Kite m.

2. Write to me.
You may say: Ekri mwen. or Ekri m.

3. Kiss me.
You may say: Bo mwen. or Bo m.

*4. Talk to me.
You may say:  Pale avè mwen.   or  Pale avè m.

5. Look at her.
You may say: Gade li. or Gade l.

6. Walk under it.
You may say:  Pase anba li.  or  Pase anba l.

7. Save us.
You may say: Sove nou. or Sove n.

8. Turn it on.
You may say: Limen li. or Limen l.

9. I hear you. 
You may say: Mwen tande ou. or Mwen tande w.

10. Bring it back.
You may say: Retounen li. or Retounen l.

11. Give me one.
You may say: Ban mwen youn. or Ban m youn.

12. Give him one.
You may say: Ba li youn. or Ba l youn.

13. I was here before you.
You may say: Mwen te la anvan ou.   or  Mwen te la anvan w.


But if the word that precede the pronoun ends with a consonant, do not use contractions.

Examples:
1. I understand you.
Mwen konprann ou. (Do not say: Mwen konprann w.)

2. They beat her.
Yo bat li. (Do not say: Yo bat l.)

*Look back to example #4 above. There are three ways to say the word "with" in Creole: ak, avè, & avèk.  See how a contraction may follow the word "avè" (in number 4 above), but not "ak" and "avèk" (in number 3 below).  That's because the words "ak" and "avèk" end with a consonant.

*3. Talk to me.
Pale avèk mwen. (Do not say: Pale avèk m)

4. He's waiting for me. 
L'ap tann mwen. (Do not say: L'ap tann m.)

5. We submitted it.
Nou remèt li. (Do not say: Nou remèt l.)

6. I survived it.
Mwen siviv li. (Do not say: Mwen siviv l.)


* In the next four examples, you will see that we do not use contracted pronouns after the prep: nan, *pou, san, sou.
7. This is for you.
Sa se pou ou.  (Do not say:  Sa se pou w.)

8. I'm going without you.
Mwen prale san ou. (Do not sayMwen prale san w.)

9. Put your hand on it.
Mete men w sou li. (Do not say:  Mete men w sou l.)

10. Believe in Him.
Kwè nan li. (Do not say: Kwè nan l.)

*There's one instance when Creole speakers may have a contracted pronoun after the preposition "pou".  This would be when "pou" is used as conjunction and is equivalent to: "in order to", "so that" "to" "due to".

1.  Call me so that we can talk.
     Rele m pou n ka pale. (you may contract the pronoun that comes after "pou" if you wish)

2.  Open the door so that I may enter.
     Ouvè pòt la pou m ka rantre.

3.  In other to be saved, you must believe in Him.
     Pou w sove, fòk ou kwè nan Li.

4. He needs to wear his glasses to drive.
    Li bezwen mete linèt li pou l kondui.

5.  Turn up the volume  so I can hear.
     Monte volim nan pou m ka tande.

6. I will ask her to do this for me.
    Ma mande l pou l fè sa pou mwen.
Other Creole contractions

1 comment:

  1. Bonjou! So you’re saying you can’t say for example: Eske m ka tounen Vandredi? Oubyen: m ta renmen vizite w deman?

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