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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Creole plural of miracle

mirak → miracle or miracles


God makes miracles
Bondye fè mirak.
Bondye konn fè mirak.


Jesus made a lot of miracles.
Jezi te fè anpil mirak.


When indicating a plural noun in Haitian Creole, we add the article yo as in mirak yo the miracles, only when the noun is specified.
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i like you just the way you are (Creole)

I like you just the way you are.
Mwen renmen ou jan ou ye a
or
Mwen renmen ou egzakteman jan ou ye a.
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Friday, July 27, 2012

how to say 'You are special."

You are special.
Ou espesyal.


You are a special person.
Ou se yon moun espesyal.


You matter.
Ou konsekan.
Ou konte.
Ou enpòtan.
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mwen manke l 'tèlman

yeah... Someone's trying to say: I miss him/her so much.
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how do u say theres my wife

There's my wife.
Men madanm mwen.


Here I am.
Men mwen.


There they are.
Men yo.


Here it is.
Men li.
Sometimes you will hear:  Men ni.


There they come.
Men y'ap vini.


See more on There it goes


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Does this sentance make sense? "Akoz de Bondye renmen nou, li te voye Jezikri sou te a pou nou." Or is "paske Bondye renmen nou, li te voye Jezikri sou te a pou nou." OR is "poutet lanmou Bondye pou nou, li te voye Jezikri sou te a pou nou," better?

The second one is the overall BEST one.
Paske Bondye renmen nou, Li te voye Jezikri sou tè a pou nou.

The third one is also correct.  But if you can find a way not to use ...pou nou twice in that sentence, it would flow better.
Poutèt lanmou Bondye pou nou, Li te voye Jezikri sou tè a pou nou.
Maybe you can have it as:
Poutèt lanmou Bondye pou nou Li te voye Jezikri sou tè a.

The first one can remediated if we phrase it like this:
Akoz lanmou Bondye pou nou Li te voye Jezikri sou tè a.

Kout chapo!
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In your opinion, what is/are the best book/s for learning Kreyol. Also, what is the best pocket/small dictionary?

I do take frequent trips to Miami's Haitian bookstores.  The Libreri Mapou owned by Mr Mapou in Miami along with EducaVision have a great collection of Creole learning books.  The most complete book I've come upon so far is Ann Pale Kreyòl An Introductory Course in Haitian Creole by Albert Valdman.

The problem with the small pocket Haitian Creole → English pocket dictionaries that I know is that they are missing a lot of the English language high frequency words and Creole's mostly used words in conversation.
Wally Turnbull's Creole Made Easy Creole learning book happens to have a better selection of words in its glossary than these pocket dictionaries.
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how do you spell signature in creole?

What is the opposite of twòp, meaning "few" or "too few"?

The oposite of twòp (too much) can be twò piti, ensifizan or pa ase (too little, insufficient, or not enough)
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

what does this mean "gro tet" and "ti tet"

gwo tèt → big head
ti tèt → big head


Some school children may be called gwo tèt if they being bullied.
Some peole may be called ti tèt if they have trouble learning or retaining what they learn.

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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Ou se Anyo a, e w'se kris la ??

Ou se Anyo a, e ou se Kris la.
You are the Lamb, and you are the Christ.
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Kit se Ayisyen kit se etranje k'ap aprann Kreyòl, yo pa ka fè li san yo pa konnen istwa peyi a. Sa ou panse?

What does this mean" Twòp filè, la pa bon pou ou"?

You know, my aunt used to say that all the time.
She'd say, "Sa fè'l difisil pou pran desizyon."
I wonder if there's any truth to that.


Twòp filè pa bon pou ou.
Too many suitors is not good for you.


suitors (as in a man who courts a woman)
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Eske te asosi bon pour medam yo ki ansent?

Ah! ou poze mwen yon gwo kesyon.
Men mwen pa kapab di'w ni wi ni non.
Li ta pi bon pou yon doktè ki lisansye reponn kesyon sa a.

Anpil moun Ayiti, ak anpil Ayisyen k'ap viv nan peyi Etazini itilize plant sa a pou anpil maladi.
Men si yon fanm ansent, pi gwo pwoteksyon li te kapab bay bebe a, se kite yon doktè pran desizyon sou ki remèd li dwe pran ak remèd li pa kapab pran.

Dakò zanmi :)
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Remind me or Give me a reminder (in Creole)

Remind me.
Raple'm.
Fè'm sonje.


Remind me to call your mom and thank her.
Fè'm sonje pou'm rele manman'w pou'm remèsye'l.
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