Yes you're right, it does. It sounds French.
The Creole language is spoken mostly in an active voice:
Example
1. The book was read by Lisa.
Lisa li liv la.
2. The chairs are donated by the John family.
Se fanmi John ki te bay chèz yo.
3. That box was delivered by FedEx.
Se Fedex ki te delivre bwat sa a.
Even when we don't know who's behind the "action" in Creole, you should continue to use the passive voice with the pronoun "yo".
Example:
4. My car was stolen.
Yo volè machin mwen.
5. I'm being cheated on.
Y'ap twonpe m.
6. The letter was sent.
Yo te voye lèt la.
7. You're being lied to.
Y'ap ba w manti.
8. A new president was elected.
Yo te chwazi yo nouvo prezidan.Some rare exceptions:
9. I saw houses being destroyed, marriages being broken, and children left alone.
Mwen wè kay ap detwi, maryaj ap kraze, and timoun abandone
The first three examples in this one don't use "te" even though it is past tense? The next 5 match what HaitiHub teaches.
ReplyDeleteThe HaitiHub course teaches to use "te" before a verb to indicate past tense.
So you have:
Lisa li liv la - which I would understand as "Lisa reads the book"
Then I would use:
Lisa te li liv la - Lisa read the book
Lisa ap li liv la - Lisa is reading the book
Lisa pral li liv la - Lisa will read the book
Then all the negative forms of those. I'm really confused now. How do you tell between "Lisa reads the book" and "Lisa read the book" if they both use the same words.
Bonswa Shane,
DeleteI have numbered the examples (1-9) so that we can differentiate them better.
YES, What Haitihub teaches is right. God bless Carlo :)
"te" before a verb always indicates past tense.
But it's not unusual for Haitians to omit "te" in a sentence when they talk of the past.
You could use "te" in sentences 1 and 4.
The rest of the sentences (in this post) are kind of switched around to translate the passive in Creole.
Chapo ba!