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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

I'm not sure when to use tout and when to use tou. For example I see it both ways in Ps 90 ...ou te fè latè ak tout sa ki ladan l... Fè nou reyisi nan tou sa n'ap fè. Is there a rule or guideline to follow? I know people say tou won and tou nèf. In another psalm I see tout pwoteksyon, tout defans, tout konfyans. It seems like perhaps tou goes with adjectives and tout goes with nouns. Except either one can go with sa...?

Yes.  “TOU” means “ALL” when used with “SA”.  And yes, you can use TOU or TOUT before “sa

Egzanp:

1.        

Mèsi pou tou sa fè pou mwen.  Or

Mèsi pou tout sa ou fè pou mwen

Thanks for all you’ve done for me.

 

When used before adjectives it can be translated as ALL, SO VERY, ALL SO , ABSOLUTELY

2.       Li te achte soulye a tou nèf. – He bought the shoe all brand new.

3.       Li rantre anndan kay la tou tranpe ak dlo lapli a. – He came inside the house all drenched from the rain

4.       Tèt ti bebe a te tou won. – The baby’s head was all so round.

5.       Si w wè sa, kamyonèt la te tou piti enpi li t’ap eseye antre 25 moun ladan l. – you should have seen this the tap tap was very small and he was trying to put 25 people in it.

 

TOU can also mean NOT LONG AGO or JUST THE OTHER DAY

6.       Kijan fè li mouri. Tou lotrejou la mwen te wè l t’ap kouri bisiklèt li.

How come she died.  Just the other day I saw her riding her bike.

 

TOU can be translated as  IN SPITE, DESPITE, GRANTING, or STILL

7.       Li al travay tou malad. – She went to work despite being sick.

8.       Tou fèb la, li kontinye mache  23 kilomèt anvan l resi tonbe. – Still weak she continued walking 23 kilometers before she finally collapsed.

TOU also translates NOW, NOW AND FOR THE LAST TIME or ONCE AND FOR ALL.  You’ll find them usually before verbs

9.       An nou tou ale pandan lapli a sispann.

Let’s go now while the rain has stopped.

10.   Se pou w  tou pale avè li pandan ou la a.

You should talk to her now that she’s here.

11.   Se pou ou tou dòmi legliz la. Li fè nwa ou p’ap ka deplase ale ankenn kote nan kondisyon sa a.

You should sleep at the church once and for all.  It’s already dark and you won’t be able to go anywhere in this condition.

 


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4 comments:

  1. Thanks so much! I see that you used tou in all the examples (2-11). You used tou with adjectives and verbs. Can you use tout with any of these? Does tout perhaps only go with nouns--like mete tout konfyans ou nan Jezi?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Non - you'll find both TOU and TOUT before SA.
      Non - you TOU and TOUT are nor interchangeable in the above examples
      Yes, you 'll use TOUT with nouns and also as a determiner, and adjective :
      Se tout. - That's all.
      Tout bagay mwen gen se pou ou. - Everything I have is yours.
      Li se tout pou mwen. - He is everything to me.
      etc....

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  2. One more question: I hate to be ignorant of an English grammar term, but what is a determiner?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A determiner is a word that modifies.
      such as:
      1. manje a
      2. yon manje
      3. manje sa a


      "a" in #1 is a definite article determiner
      "yon" in #2 is a determiner
      "sa a" in #3 is demonstrative determiner

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