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Thursday, March 14, 2013

How woulod you say "we like Jesus, need to do Jehovahs will first" or "we need to be like him by putting His fathers will above our own" ? I use Google Translate but it does not seem to be using words that are simply understood.

Here's a couple of ways to translate both sentences accurately:

"We like Jesus, need to do Jehovahs will first"
"Nou menm, tankou Jezi, dwe mete volonte Jewova anvan volonte pa nou."
"Nou, menm jan ak Jezi, dwe fè volonte Jewova an premye"

"We need to be like him by putting His fathers will above our own" 
"Nou dwe fè tankou Li e mete volonte Papa li anvan volonte pa nou."
"Nou dwe fè tankou Jezi, e fè volonte Papa a an premye."

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Kijan yo di: "I heard you took a big exam! How did you do? When do you get the results?" Mesi

"I heard you took a big exam! How did you do? When do you get the results?"
"Mwen tande ou sot pran yon gwo egzamen!  Kouman ou te konpoze?  Kilè y'ap ba ou rezilta yo?"

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Good morning, I thank you so much ! ( Your work and this blog ) Can you translate 'vole' in detail ? "Mak 10:50 Avèg la voye rad li jete, se vole li t'ap vole pou l' te vin bò kot Jezi. kamsa hamnida !

Dakò :)
Mèsi zanmi. Mwen apresye remèsiman ou.

voleto fly, to take flight, to fly away, to leap, bounce or jump.
The noun for "vole" is "vòl" which means a jump, a flight, a bounce, a leap

"vole" should not be confused with "volè n." (with an accent on the "e") which means robber or crook

1. Zwazo ap vole anwo tèt nou.
    Birds are flying over our head.

2.  Avyon an vole deja.
     The plane already took flight.
     in this case, we may also say "pran vòl → take flight"

3.  Timoun nan te tèlman kontan wè manman l, li te vole sou janm li.
     The kid was so happy to see his mom that he leaped into her lap.

In the sentence in your question, it seems that the blind person was probably happy or overjoyed that he was leaping toward Jesus.
4. Avèg la voye rad li jete, se vole li t'ap vole pou l' te vin bò kot Jezi.
    The blind person threw his clothes aside, he was just leaping to get near Jesus.

and don't forget Se vole li t'ap vole is an expression which means "he was JUST leaping/flying".  See the embedded link #21 for more examples like this.

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Hi, Madaly ! What is okontre ? here. "Men, se pa konsa pou sa fèt nan mitan nou. Okontrè, si yonn nan nou ta vle vin grannèg, se pou l' sèvi nou tout." kamsa hamnida

Bonjou :)
okontrèon the contrary

"Men, se pa konsa pou sa fèt nan mitan nou. Okontrè, si yonn nan nou ta vle vin grannèg, se pou l' sèvi nou tout." 
"But that's not the way it's done among us.  On the contrary, if one of you wants to be a great man, he must serve all of us."


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What is KASE here? "Mwen we ou fe yon ti kase."

kase, here, is most likely to have lost weight
We also say desann, pèdi pwa, megri (all verbs)

Li fè yon ti kase.
Li fè yon ti desann.
Li megri.
Li pèdi pwa.
He's lost some weight.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

First draft? rough draft? final draft? "We have a research paper to do in this class. The first draft is due in two weeks, a second draft in four weeks, a third draft in six weeks a rough draft in eight weeks and the final draft in twelve weeks."

rough draft (first draft?) → bouyon 
travay obouyon → make a rough draft of your work
final draft → kopi final

I am making a rough draft before I make a final copy.
M'ape travay obouyon anvan m mete l opwòp.

Mwen te sèlman ekri l obouyon.
I only made a rough draft

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Tou won san fon?

Where I am right now it's about 5 PM.  It's still too early for tire kont :)
I'd have to bury my toes in the ground before I could give you an answer.  And I don't feel like going outside to do this.  (LOL! You know how the superstition goes :)

Did you really need to know the answer?

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How does one translate 'to snuggle(up)?

snuggle up → akokiye, plòtonnen

They snuggled up on the chair to watch the movie.
Yo te plòtonnen kò yo sou chèz la pou gade fim nan.

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Do you know any rhyming quotes in Creole?

What type of quotes????  :)
1.
Si w pa gen kè
Ou pa ka jwe pokè

2.
Wè pa wè,
Antèman pou katrè.

3.
Si w manje manje san sòs
ou pap gen fòs

4.
Alèz kon blèz
ki chita sou chèz san pinèz

5.
demwazèl san zèl

6.
Tou won
san fon

I'm not sure about #5 and 6 being a quote :)

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What's a baka exactly? does it mean zombi

baka (move lespri, movèzespri, espri malveyan) evil spirit

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where would you place "must" in creole in "There must be an easier way to do this" and also in "There should be an easier way to this" and "There could be an easier way to do this? Do you use TE or TA? thanks

There must be an easier way to do this.
Dwe gen yon fason pi fasil pou fè sa.
Fò gen yon fason pi fasil pou fè sa

There should be an easier way to do this.
Ta dwe gen yon fason pi fasil pou fè sa.
Fò ta gen yon fason pi fasil pou fè sa.
Some people use "te dwe" instead of "ta dwe"

There could be an easier way to do this.
Ka gen yon fason pi fasil pou fè sa.

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what does "to spit three times" mean?

As in someone says  m krache twa fwa (I spit three times)?
It's an expression that means you have sworn off "something", you will abstain from doing "something".
I'm not sure whether people do the action of spiting three times - I have not met anyone that have actually done that.

Here's an example:
1. Lavi New York te tèlman rèd pou mwen, apre m te kite l, m te krache twa fwa m p'ap janm met pye m la ankò.
     Life in New York was so tough for me, after I left, I swore I'd never set foot there again.

2. Apre divòs la, Bènadèt te krache twa fwa, li te di l "M p'ap janm marye ankò!"
    After the divorce, Bernadette swore, she said, "I'll never get married again!"

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Monday, March 11, 2013

just because? "Just because the grammar is correct doesn't mean people won't think it's not quite right." or "Just because I didn't go to school this week doesn't mean that I dropped out."

Isn't this the same as saying because?
I would say paske, senpman paske, senpleman paske

"Just because I didn't go to school this week doesn't mean that I dropped out." 
"Paske m pa't al nan klas semèn sa a pa vle di m kite lekòl."

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Sa li ye la? (what does it mean?)

Sa li ye la?
Sa li ye la a?
or 
Sa'l ye la a?
What is this? (What's going on?)

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is the word kokobe used for "handicapped" or "sick"

It's used for a "physically handicapped".  But use the word "enfim" as noun or adj. if you want to be politically correct.

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