Wednesday, August 7, 2013

I woke up this morning constructing sentences in my head in Kreyol. One of them was "Yon vreman gran machin." and "Vreman gran machin nan." What I was wondering is on this last sentence could or should it be "Machin nan vreman gran. Mesi. Jan Rachal

You can pretty much use all three examples in a sentence.  They are all different.
The first two examples aren't complete sentences,but they definitely can be incorporated in a sentence.
The third sentence is complete - correct - and anfòm.

As for the word 'gran', it does translate great, awesome, wonderful, mighty, etc....
You might instead use the word 'bon' for "reliable and great" car; and the word 'gwo' for "big size" car; and 'gran' for a reputable brand of a car for example: "Toyota se gran mak machin."

Dakò, here are your examples:

#1 - "Yon vrèman gran machin...." - "a really great car...."
        Did you mean "Sa se vrèman yon gran machin" - "This is truly a 'great' car"?

#2 - "Vrèman gran machin nan..." - "The truly great car ......"

#3 - "Machin nan vrèman gran." - The car is really 'great'.

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


2 comments:

  1. Mandaly,

    I was trying to say "a really big car, or "a really huge car"; as in "yon gran gason". So I should not use "gran" in this case? Mesi.

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    Replies
    1. If that's what you were trying to say, then your first example "yon vrèman gran machin" is the best one to use.
      Yes, in this case, you'd use "gwo".

      "gran" can mean important, wonderful, spacious, older, vast, etc...

      You gran Bondye - a wonderful God
      Gran sè mwen - my older sister
      yon gran gason - a grown child (boy)
      yon gran nèg (grannèg) - a rich/important man

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