Hi!
I love your question. Why, indeed, are all the stop signs in Haiti in English? Maybe when the Haitian government ordered the stop signs they sent them the wrong batch, and the H. government never thought to return them. No return slip included?
Anyways, the proper terminology for a stop sign on the streets of Haiti should be arè which means to halt. It comes from the French arrêt (noun), the verb is arrêter in French, and rete in Creole.
Other words in Creole that means to stop is kanpe.
Kanpe la! - Stop there!
Kanpe machin nan / Rete machin nan - Stop the car
Kanpe mizik la - Stop the music
It would be hard to use sispann in that sense. Sispann means to cease or to end something.
Li sispann pale. - He stopped talking
Konpani manifakti a sispann fè modèl rad sa a. - The manufacturing company stopped making this type of dress.
To use sispann by itself, you'll need a context.
Li lè pou sispann manje gato. Sispann! - It's time to stop eating cake. Stop!
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words
I love your question. Why, indeed, are all the stop signs in Haiti in English? Maybe when the Haitian government ordered the stop signs they sent them the wrong batch, and the H. government never thought to return them. No return slip included?
Anyways, the proper terminology for a stop sign on the streets of Haiti should be arè which means to halt. It comes from the French arrêt (noun), the verb is arrêter in French, and rete in Creole.
Other words in Creole that means to stop is kanpe.
Kanpe la! - Stop there!
Kanpe machin nan / Rete machin nan - Stop the car
Kanpe mizik la - Stop the music
It would be hard to use sispann in that sense. Sispann means to cease or to end something.
Li sispann pale. - He stopped talking
Konpani manifakti a sispann fè modèl rad sa a. - The manufacturing company stopped making this type of dress.
To use sispann by itself, you'll need a context.
Li lè pou sispann manje gato. Sispann! - It's time to stop eating cake. Stop!
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words
Can you explain the use(s) of "sa"? When should it go before, when should it go after words? Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteIn English you have the demonstrative adjectives and pronouns.
Deletedemonstrative adjectives
this house - kay sa a (some people may say 'kay sa')
that book - liv sa a
these cars - machin sa yo
those houses - kay sa yo
So, in that case 'sa' always goes after the noun.
pronouns
This is my book - Sa se liv mwen.
That is my dad - Sa se papa mwen.
These are not my clothes. - Sa yo se pa rad mwen.
Those are beautiful. - Sa yo bèl.
It's really bad. - Sa vrèman mal.
What is this? - Ki sa sa ye?
Do you want this one? - Èske ou vle sa a?