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Saturday, November 23, 2013

Mandaly. "M te isit la depi kat jou pou kont mwen." "I have been (right) here for four days by myself." Do I have the "M te isit la" right? The speaker on the Pimsleur audio is slurring across the "M te isit la"; It almost sounds like "M se sit la". If I have this right, "M te isit la", can I say it phonetically and be understood? I have also noticed this problem with "dwe" in some cases. I realize that no language is completely phonetic, but I like to be as close as I can be with pronunciation; but I want to sound right. School me on this one. Mesi anpil.


 M te isit la” is definitely right.

If you said “M isit la depi kat jou pou kont mwen”.  That will be right also.

“Dwe” is pronounced (dwe or d-oo-ay) phonetically.

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2 comments:

  1. I had it ALL wrong in the beginning. Sorry. I thought the speaker was saying something else. Anyway, do Creoles say "W isit la.", or "Ou isit la."? Tou,
    ki fom ki itilize plis: "out", "dawou", "dawout" oswa "dout" pou "August"?
    Ki youn ta dwe mwen sevi ak? Yon gran mesi.

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    Replies
    1. When they speak you will hear “W isit la.”. It will sound like “wi-sit-la”.
      But when they write, it’s not common to have "W" at the beginning of the sentence.

      We use “out” and “dout” more.
      Some people say "Dawou or Dawout". It happens often enough. You will see it a lot in songs and poems, etc….
      I don’t think you’ll find “dout” in a dictionary for the month of August. It is from the French pronunciation of "D’Août" which means "of August" --- Le mois D'aout the month of August. Nevertheless we do say “dout” in Creole.

      An example:
      Mwen fè an out.
      Mwen fèt nan mwa out.
      Mwen fèt nan mwa dout.
      Mwen fèt nan mwa Dawou
      .
      Are all correct for "I was born in the month of August."

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