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Monday, November 12, 2012

How do I know when to use the pronouns 'li' vs 'se' at the beginning of a sentence? Mesi.

li is a personal pronoun.  It refers to a particular subject..
se is an expression which is actually seli se OR sa se.  It is used in many impersonal expressions.

see link: "se" at the beginning of a sentence

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

4 comments:

  1. But I see 'li' used in sentences such as 'li fe lapli'. Is this a personal pronoun in this instance?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, it's not used as a personal pronoun in this instance.
      When talking about the weather, time, or temperature, you may use "li".
      examples:

      L'ap fè lapli. It's raining.
      Li fè cho. It's hot.
      Li fè dizè. It's ten o'clock.
      "li" has become the subject before the verb "fè".

      In other instances (when talking about weather, temperature, and time), you can use "se", but not "li"
      Se lapli k'ap tonbe. It's the rain that's falling
      Se chalè mwen santi.I feel hot
      Se dizè li fè. It's ten o'clock.
      "Se" here can placed before a noun or adj.

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  2. ...or in this recently published sentence: 'Li pi bon pou yo jis kite.'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "li" can be considered an impersonal pronoun if it introduces an impersonal expression:

      Li pi bon pou yo jis kite
      or
      Se pi bon pou yo jis kite.

      other examples /expressions

      Li pa bon pou fè sa.
      or
      Se pa bon pou fè sa.

      It's not good to do that.

      Li pa lapenn pou vini.
      Se pa lapenn pou vini.
      Don't bother coming.

      See more examples of the uses of "se" in the link given above.


      Delete