to be clumsy or awkward (to be in an awkward position?) in H. Creole?

To be clumsy, to be in an awkward position, to deal with a situation gracelessly → mare, mare kou krab, jennen

to be in a sticky situation → gen de pye nan yon sèl soulye 

In a tight spot, to be embarrassed  - jennen, wont

To cramp one's style - jennen

 

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

"Fè yon pa", Is PA, here, negative?

Pa → step

1. Mwen fè yon pa.
    I take a step.

2. Nou fè yon pa annavan.
    We take a step forward.

3. Yo fè yon pa annaryè.
    They take a step backwards.

4. Chak pa mwen fè ou la avèk mwen.
    Each step I take you are there with me.

5. Mwen pa't fè yon pa yè.
    I didn't take a step yesterday.
    I didn't go anywhere yesterday.

6. yon pa, de pa, twa pa
    one step, two steps, three steps

7. Ti bebe a fè premye pa li deja
    The baby took his first step already.

8.  Kay mwen an sèlman de pa la a.
    My house is only two (a couple of ) steps from here.

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

atable? Nou atable?

atable (pronominal verb)  - to sit at the table (to eat a meal)
m'atable m
li atable l
nou atable nou

Tout moun atable yo pou yo dine. - Everyone sat at the table to eat dinner.


Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

How do you say: “Can I sit here?”, “maybe..”, ...

Can i sit here?  → Eske m kapab chita la a?

May I sit here? → Eske m mèt chita la a?

Can I sit next to you? → Eske mwen mèt chita bò kote w?

Maybe ... → Petèt ...

Really? → Tout bon?  or Tout bon vre?

Can I come with you? → Eske m mèt vin avèk ou?

You are so pretty. → Ou bèl anpil

You are so sweet. → Ou janti anpil.

What is your favorite song? – Ki chante ou pi pito?

I can’t dance. → Mwen pa konn danse

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

What does tonniskribót mean and how would it be used in a sentence?

That’s how some Haitians swear.

It can also be an exclamation .

“Tonnè krizbòt mwen!” is a euphemism for  “Tonnè kraze’m”, “Tonnè boule m”

Literally it means “May thunder (lightning) strike me”.

 

example:

1. Tonnè kraze m ou p’ap rantre nan kay la aswè a!

or

    Tonnè krizbòt mwen ou p’ap rantre nan kay la aswè a!

It means something like:

    I’ll be danmed if I let you in the house tonight

or

    May God strike me dead if I let you in the house tonight.

 

Here’s another example:

2. Tonnè krizbòt mwen tout sa m di ou la se vre!

    I swear to you everything I’ve said is the truth.

 

one more example:

3. Mesye sa a agase m.  Tonnè krizbòt mwen si l pwoche m m’ap kalote l.

    This man pisses me off.  I swear to you if he approaches me I’ll slap him.

 

or as an exclamation:

4. Mwen te rankontre ti dam nan apt 2 a nan fèt la yè swa, tonnè krizbòt mwen ti fi sa a konn danse vre!

   I met the girl in apt. 2 at the party last night, man! That girl can really dance!

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

Si ou pa tap fikse le ciel ou pa ta we letan kouve? ..what does this mean?

Si w pa t’ap fikse lesyèl ou pa t’ap wè tan an pare – If you weren’t staring at the sky you wouldn’t have noticed the weather is grey (or something like that)

It’s a cheeky answer to the question “why are you staring at me?”  (Poukisa w’ap gade m konsa?)

It means,  if you weren’t staring at me you wouldn’t have noticed me staring at you.

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

I had learned that bay always changes when followed by pronouns in the following way: ban mwen, ba ou, ba li, ban nou, ba yo. But sometimes in Istwa Jezi pou timoun they use "bay" like this: "Abraram te konn bay Bondye kado. Li te konn bay li bèt." The first bay makes sense to me because it's followed by the name Bondye. But I would think the second “bay” should be just “ba” because it's followed by “li”. Is there a reason that it doesn't change to ba here? Or can you substitute bay for ba anytime?

If I was writing this paragraph I would have used “ba” in the second sentence because that’s what it should be.  You may have found a typo there.

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

what does fret kach mean

Fwèt kach – cracking whip

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

Can you explain: 'nou mache sou mache' men nou pat janmen rive. mesi

Usually verb + sou + verb indicates an action that's being repeated

1. Nou mache sou mache men nou pa't janm rive.
     We kept on walking but we never got there.

2. Nou rele sou rele men pa janm gen okenn moun ki vin pote m sekou.
     We kept on screaming but no one came to our rescue

3. Mwen te lapriye sou lapriye, m pa janm jwenn okenn rezilta.
    I kept praying and praying but got no results

It's not the same as noun + sou + noun which indicate a lot of "noun"
pa egzanp:
kay sou kay - a lot of house
moun sou moun - a large crowd

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

Depi ti konkonm tap goumen ak beregen? I just found out what this means. Can I use it when I say, “I saw her a long time ago.” Is there any other HC expressions with the same meaning?

This expression is principally about “the olden days”, “in the past”

Depi ti konkonm t’ap goumen ak berejèn – long long time ago, in the past

The following Haitian Creole expressions also mean “long long time ago”, “in the olden days”:

Depi sou prezidan bann machè

Nan tan benbo

Depi tandantan

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

Help! For instance imagine I''m in a relationship with someone and my significant other tells me " Mwen anvi gatew cheri" what would he mean by "gatew" au juste. I know it wouldn't be "to pouri, tounen, or dekonpoze". Mwen tap panse à sa e li te vreman fem perplexe. Tu peux m'aider s'il te plaît?

You’re right it does not mean “pouri” my dear.  It means “to spoil you , to cater to you, to pamper you”

Mwen anvi gate w cheri. – Honey I want to spoil you

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

Mandaly. I am hearing more and more the word "manje" being pronounced "manj" in affected speech. I heard this also a few times in Louisiana while I was there. What I want to know, is this considered "good” or "proper" Kreyol, at least in Haitian Creole? Mesi bokou.

Hi.
No it is not a common way to say “manje” in Haitian Creole.  Are you hearing this from just one person or different people?  And are they speaking HAITIAN Creole?

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

Koman ou di 'psychic' an Kreyòl souple?

psychic - klèvwayan, mistik

Kijan ou vle itilize l nan yon fraz?

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

Eske machannde vle di menm bagay ake fe jis pri? mwen ta penser machannde se le wap mande pri e fe jis pri se le wap che che meye prim.

Adye Bondye… kilès ki di sa? Ni “machande” ni “fè jis pri” vle di negosye pou jwenn yon pi ba pri.  Petèt se sa ou te vle di nan kesyon w lan. Non?

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

Oh oh gade sa se haitien m ye la. M te mandew keson lontan pase. Ou pa janm repon'm. M te tande famim di balalatet men mpa sonje sa vle di. Ou ka edem?

Bon zanmi m, mwen te resevwa toude kesyon ou te poze yo.  Mwen pa fin sèten kisa ekspresyon sa a vle di ditou.  Li sanble  ak mo Franse (bal á la tête).  M’ap mande m eske manman w se pa “bab alatranp” li te konn di. Dakò, kite m konnnen… m’ap kontinye chache.

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words