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Saturday, July 20, 2013

What are names for these devices people use when they cannot walk: 'cane', 'crutches', 'walker', 'wheelchair', and 'scooter' respectively in creole?

cane, walker  - baton oubyen badin, also machèt
wheelchair - chèz woulant
crutches - beki
scooter - scooter, twotinèt (pou ti mopèd de pye yo)

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Eske cho devan bann nan se menm bagaille avek cho pase leve danse?

Sa pral depann jan ou vle itilize li.  Toude ekspresyon endike gen yon moun (oubye nenpòt kisa) ki antyoutyout.
Li cho devan bann nan  (li pi prese pase tout moun; li se nimewo en nan yon aktivite l ap antreprann; se limenm ki sesi seli menm ki sela)
Li cho pase leve danse (li pa ka tann; li eksite; li zele, ...)

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How does one translate 'shift' as a noun regarding employment in creole? For example, "We'll work three shifts a day till the job's done." or "She prefers the morning shift." or "The night shift reported." or "One day last June, nine hours into his shift, Mr. Zamora was coughing and asked to go home, complaining of a fever, he said." or "As the night shift leave/leaves, the day shift arrive/arrives." or "Are you on the night shift or the day shift?" or "He's working the afternoon/evening shift this month." or "The morning shift came into work looking sleepy." What are verbs and/or verbal expressions for 'to change shift' or 'to rotate shift' or 'to alternate shift' in creole? For example, "Myself and my colleges currently work a rotating shift pattern of 6am-2pm and 2pm-10pm, alternating between the two shifts every two weeks." or "My friend changes/rotates/alternates shift with me from time to time."

Lè m'ap pale Kreyòl mwen toujou di "pòs"
shift - pòs

"She prefers the morning shift."
Li pito pòs maten an.

"Are you on the night shift or the day shift?"
Eske ou travay pòs aswè oubyen pòs maten?

"My friend changes shifts with me from time to time."
Zanmi mwen boukante pòs travay avèk mwen detanzantan.

Dakò.

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Mandaly. As I am fine-tuning my Kreyol Ayisyen, I have a simple question: In "Ki kote fanmi ou ye (an/nan) Ayiti?" Are both of these Kreyol words interchangeable in brackets? If not, then are there rules in Kreyol on which one to use at a given time? Mesi anpil.

This "an" acts as a preposition and translates in, of, or from
egzanp:
 M'ap rantre an Ayiti demen. → I'm coming to Haiti tomorrow.
Kote frè w la?  Li an Ayiti? → Where's your brother?  Is he in Haiti?
Mwen fèk soti an Ayiti semèn pase a. I just came from Haiti last week.
Li te gen yon bèl bag ki fèt an ajan. She had a beautiful ring made of silver.
etc...

Regarding your question... yes we might say:
Ki kote fanmi ou ye an Ayiti?
or 
Ki kote fanmi ou ye nan Ayiti?

we will also say:
Ki kote fanmi w ye Ayiti?

Dakò?

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hi, i've asked you before about the term 'ou pap sis' ... I understand what it says, but are there other equivalent Creole sentences - I want to understand what I'm saying....

Men wi. ou kapab di "Ou pa ladan l." oubyen "Ou p'ap reyisi" oubyen "Ou p'ap rive." selon kontèks la.

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Friday, July 19, 2013

This is what i read - zafe l pa t korek donk li mouri ko l yon kote pou l pa tonbe nan si m te konnen....so i thought 'mouri' meant to die and 'mouri ko' to kill himself, only to find that he s still alive in the story? Can you explain that please? mesi

Keep in mind I do know the context of what you're reading...

mouri kò is an expression which means to lay low, to take it easy
and Si m te konnen in that sentence means regret

zafe l pa t korek donk li mouri ko l yon kote pou l pa tonbe nan si m te konnen
His affairs weren't right (legal?) so he laid low so that he doesn't regret his actions

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bonjou,to say to die suddenly, how do you translate "suddenly"?

suddenly - sibit, bridsoukou

sudden death → mò sibit, mò frèt

He died suddenly.
Li mouri sibit.
Li mouri mò sibit.
Li mouri sibitman

You can die suddenly.
Ou ka mouri mò sibit.

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pou mo "defi" ou fek ekri, eske ou ka di "M defi ou fe sa" (I challenge you...)

Ou kapab di pito:

M ba w defi fè sa.
oubyen
M defann ou fè sa.

itilize "bay defi" tankou yon vèb.

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please tell me what these things mean 1) sibi 2) byen jwe 3) se jwe pou w genyen thanks

1) sibi - to go through, to suffer
    Li sibi yon move maladi - He suffering from gave disease

2) byen jwe - to play well
     Ou byen jwe jwèt la. - You played the game well.

3) se jwe pou w genyen - you must have a play/game

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what does defi and rasi mean?

defi (n)  is a challenge
rasi (adj) → stale (bread), short (person);
you moun rasi → a short person

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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Is this dialog correct? I've been using your blog to help construct a brief exchange for a story I'm writing in which an amnesiac (K) speaks with a friend (R) who he doesn't remember. K is still a little bit out of it, so it's alright if his dialog is off, but I wanted to know if the rest is correct, and whether it sounded natural: ........


R: "Bonjou, zanmi'm. Depi tanndat m pa wè w."
(Hello, my friend. It's been a long time since I've seen you.)
K: "Zanmi? Eske m konnen w?"
(Friend? Do I know you?)
R: "Ou te konn."
(You did once.)
K: "Oh...eskize mwen. Mwen pa sonje."
(Oh...I'm sorry. I don't remember.)


So far so good :)
On the highlighted part, it's better to write "konnen" instead of "konn".
You may have the sentence as: "Ou te konnen m - You knew me"; or "Ou te konnen m yon lè - You knew me once."
and if you really don't want to have the whole sentence and you want a phrase similar to "You did once", then you could write:  "Wi, yon lè" or "Wi, yon fwa", or simply "....yon lè".

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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Madanm. It is getting somewhat confusing where to place the adjective in sentences. Pou egzanp: Yon tranzaksyon presi. oswa, Yon presi tranzaksyon. Se vreman bon. oubyen, Se bon vreman. What has "thrown" me is: "Gran fi yo ak gran gason yo." I know this is correct, but here the adjective is in front of the noun. Up above it is not. Are there specific rules in Kreyol for this, or is it by sound only? I believe the first examples above are correct, "Yon tranzaksyon presi." for example. Mesi anpil.

Only a handful of adjectives are placed before the noun in Creole.
They are not too many, so you can even memorize them.

A.
Some adjectives that describe size: gwo (big), gran (great, older), katafal (huge), manman (huge), potorik (brawny), ti (small), ti zing (tiny), ti kras (small).  ("laj" → large doesn't belong in this group)
egzanp:
yon gwo gason
yon manman fanm
yon ti zwazo
yon ti kras pen
Li te achte yon gwo manman kabrit.

B.
Some adjectives that describe order: premye (first), dènye (last), senkyèm (fifth)
premye bagay la
yon dènye fwa
Yon senkyèm machin te antre.

C.
Some adjectives that describe age: vye (old, shabby), [ansyen (ancient), jenn (young), nouvo (new) can go before or after at times]
yon jenn fi
yon vye kay.
yon ansyen legliz oubyen yon legliz ansyen


D.
Some adjectives that describes  state /condition : bèl (beautiful, pretty, nice), bon (good, compassionate), move (bad)
He gave me a beautiful ring.
Li te ban m yon bèl bag.

Ou konpoze yon move nimewo.
You've dialed the wrong number.

Li se yon bon moun.
He is a good person.

E.
And also some adjectives that describe quantity: anpil, kèk, enpe, etc...
____________________
Yes, you are correct about "TRANZAKSYON PRESI", "presi" comes after "tranzaksyon" because
The other adjectives come after the noun- ...If I were to pick any random ones:

1. I like Haitian bread.
    Mwen renmen pen Ayisyen. (adjective "Ayisyen" come after the noun "pen")

2. The police car was speeding.
    Machin polis la t'ap fè vitès(adjective "polis" come after the noun "machin")

3. I like the blue dress.
    Mwen renmen rad ble a. (adjective "ble" come after the  noun "rad")

If you were to have two or more adjectives:

4. I like the beautiful blue dress
    Mwen renmen bèl rad ble a. (adjective "bèl" comes before the noun "rad" and adjective "ble" comes after the noun "rad")

5. She bought the small red car.
    Li te achte ti machin wouj la (adjective "ti" comes before "machin" and adjective "wouj" comes after "machin")

6. A great wonderful God rules over the whole universe.
    Yon gran Bondye mèveye ap reye sou linivè antye. (adjective "gran" belongs before and adjectives "mèveye" and "antye" belongs after the noun)

7. A beautiful attractive woman was asking for you a few minutes ago.
    Yon bèl fanm atiran t'ap mande pou ou sa gen kèk minit. ("bèl" belongs before and "atiran" belongs after the noun.)

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Hey I have been hearing "Pa fem sa" lately but can't quite figure out what it means.

I know what 'moun pa se dra' mean because you told me - now where does the meaning come from?

Well it's a proverb.
I'm not sure if you're looking for literal translation:
Moun pa ("pa" being possessive) → your own people, your esteemed friends
Se dra → are covers/blanket

the term "moun pa" also translates favoritism

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Monday, July 15, 2013

Question: Mandaly, in phrases such as: "ti moun yo", "gason yo", "fi yo", nimewo yo Is this fairly much the case in Kreyol for making plurals? Would you say "Kreyol Ayisyen yo" for "the Haitian Creoles", or "Kreyol yo" for "the Creoles"? Am I on track here? Mesi anpil.

Yes :)
You are on track.

As far as "Kreyòl Ayisyen yo" is concerned; it's grammatically correct  as an example -
But since there's one Haitian Creole, you would probably mostly see this term in singular form  (like Kreyòl Ayisyen an)

For "Kreyòl yo"; yes, you will find that a lot :)
some additional examples on top of what you have are:
Kreyòl karibeyen yo
Kreyòl Antiy yo
Kreyòl Afriken yo

Dakò?
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