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Most requested translations added here for your convenience: I love you → Mwen renmen w. I miss you → Mwen sonje w. My love!Lanmou mwen!

Friday, December 28, 2012

I've seen the number one spelled "youn" and "en". What's the difference?

Yeah, you have en, youn, and yon
The only one you can most comfortably use before a noun (modifying a noun) is YON.
example:
Yo gen yon pititThey have one child.
Ou gen sèlman yon chansYou only have one chance.

You use "EN" when counting
example:
en - de- twa
one-two-three

"YOUN" does not usually modify a noun.
for example, we don't say YOUN liv, we say YON liv (one book)
We use YOUN instead of YON at the end of sentences, and as an object pronoun.
example:
Mwen rete youn.
I have one left.
You cannot say Mwen rete YON or Mwen rete EN.

Mwen va chwazi youn ladan yo.
I will choose one of them.
so, you cannot use EN or YON here.

So, you'll say:
Ban m youn.
Give me one.
or 
Ban m yon pòm.
Give me an/one apple.

YOUN is also used in the expressions:
Youn apre lòt → one after the another
Youn dèyè lòt → one after the other
youn sou lòt → one on top of the other
youn pa youn → one by one
youn ou lòt → one or the other
youn lòt → one another
youn di lòt → one tell the other
youn te ede lòt → one helped the other, they helped each other
etc...

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

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