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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Mandalay, what is "nou marye tanbou nou"?

marye tanbou nou - lit. to marry our drums, ....to harmonize our drums (to make music)

This may be literal or not (depending on what you're reading). 
Nou marye tanbou nou.
We harmonized our drums to make music.
or
We joined forces
or
We gather, cooperate, and band together

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

What is koupe pye in this sentence? depi lo sa a m fe seman pou m koupe pye m la.

Koupe pye – to stop frequenting a place, to avoid going somewhere anymore

1. Depi m te tande nouvèl la  m te koupe pye nan legliz sa nèt. - Since I heard the news  I stopped going to that church.


2. Tanndat m koupe pye lakay vwazin nan, poukisa w’ap mande m nouvèl li? - I stopped going to the neighbor’s house a long time ago, why are you asking me about her?


Your sentence:

3. Depi lò sa a (Or depi lè sa a) m fè sèman pou m koupe pye m la . –
Since then I swore to never set foot there.

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what does rankin and devine mean?

Kisa vle di FLANKE exactly nan Angle? Esplike? Eske ou kapab itilize li nan yon fraz?

Flanke can translate to give (more like “to frickin give”), to wham, to bang, to slam, to drop, to slap. 

Saying flanke indicates some anger, impatience, upset, … also indicates movement that’s done with a wham! a blow! or a strike! It does not indicate kindness.

Men kèk egzanp:

1.
Flanke m lapè m!  - (literally) Give me my peace (This may really mean Shut up! Or Leave me alone!)

2.
Flanke jwèt videyo a de kote enpi vin ede m. – Put the video game aside and come help me. (again, using “flanke”here indicates some impatience or a little anger)

3.
Li flanke pitit la atè a pou l sa joure m. – She drop the child on the ground so she can curse at me
4
Li flanke m yon kout baton. – She hit me with a club.

5.
Li flanke mesye a yon kalòt. – She slapped the guy.

6.
Al flanke dèyè w yon kote! – (literally) Go put your butt somewhere!  / Go sit down!
7.
Savon an koute $2.  M te ba w $5 donk flanke m monnen m! - The soap costs $2.  I gave you $5 so give me my change.

8.
Misye t’ap fè vitès.  De polis rete l enpi yo flanke l yon kontravansyon. – He was speeding.  Two police officers stopped him and gave him a ticket.

9.
Madanm nan t’ap fè gwo eskandal nan kay la.  Mari a rele lapolis, li fè yo flanke madanm nan nan prizon. – The wife was making a big fuss in the house.  The husband called the police and had them put the wife in jail.

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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

just returned from an visit to an orphanage and want to take some pics back when I go in May, how do you say, “It was so great to meet you my young friend. God loves you and will be with you until I return. Your friend, …”


 “It was so great to meet you my young friend.  God loves you and will be with you until I return. Your friend, …”Se te yon gran plezi pou m te rankontre w jenn zanmi mwen.   Bondye renmen ou e Li va avè w jouk tan m retounen.  Zanmi ou, …”

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Eske veb 'fwase' dwe toujou gen (genyen?) yon pronoun pou suiv li?

Non, pa tout tan.  Ou kapab di:

1.        Sa li fè a te fwase m anpil.
What he did hurt me a lot.

 

2.       Mwe te fwase anpil.
I was very hurt.

 
3.       M te fwase.
I was hurt.

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Monday, February 17, 2014

Is alapwochen French or Creole?

À la prochaine is French. 
Pwochèn fwa is H. Creole
 
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I can use konsa to say about, almost?


Yes, “about, approximately, around….”

Y’ap koumanse a witè konsa. – They’ll begin at about 8:00.

N’ap sòti bò zòn apremidi konsa. – We’ll go out around the afternoon.

Te ka genyen yon santèn moun konsa anndan an. – There could have been approximately a hundred person inside.

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What is the different between: atoufe, chime, detrake, malfekte, rakete, magouye, vole, and eskamote?


What is the different between: atoufe, chime, detrake, malfekte, rakete, magouye, vole, and eskamote?

Atoufè (mechan) – mischievous person

chimè (sovaj) – cruel, heartless person

detrake (fou) – crazy, demented person

malfektè (lougawou) – evil person

raketè (vòlè, piyajè) – racketeer, pirate

magouyè (manigansè, tronpè) – imposter, sham

vòlè (dwèt long, chat mawon) – burglar, crook

eskamotè (tripotèz) – scandalous, backbiting

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Hello Mandaly, Did I ask you questions about punctuation in Haitian creole? I feel like I did but let me know if you did or did not. If did you received the questions, could you explain them in great detail

Yes, you will find them in the Haitian Creole language just like you find them in French...  a period at the end of a statement; a question mark at the end of a question; commas to connect words, clauses, lists, you may see apostrophes or dashes with contractions such as manman'l, l'ap, se manje li-a; you will find the hyphen with names a lot of times like in Mari-Lwiz, Jan-Mak, or Jan-Pòl; etc...
periods - pwen, pwen final
question mark - pwen entèwogasyon
exclamation points - pwen esklamasyon
comma- vigil
hyphen - trèdinyon
dash – tirè
semicolon – pwen vigil
colon – de pwen
apostrophes - apostwòf
quotation marks - gimè; (quote … end quote – ant gimè, nan mitan gimè)
parentheses – parantèz,  (in parentheses – ouvè parantèz … fèmen parantèz)
commercial at- awobaz
ellipsis -  pwen sispansyon
pipe – ba vetikal
forward slash - ba oblik
backslash - ba oblik envès
brackets ([...]) -  kwochè
brackets ({...})  - akolad

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Hey! I love how useful and real your answers are, or well seem to be baha. Can you please give me the translations to these phrases or the best way to get the point across.Thanks!....

“Hey! I love how useful and real your answers are, or well seem to be baha. Can you please give me the translations to these phrases or the best way to get the point across.Thanks!....
This is yours (like if I was giving them something to keep)
Do you like it? (like if I was giving them a new food to try)
And lastly this phrase...
We appreciate all that you do for us, I hope one day we will be able to speak to
you in kreyol.”

 This is yours – Sa se pou ou or Sa se pa’w la.
Do you like it? – Eske ou renmen li?

We appreciate all that you do for us, I hope one day we will be able to speak to
you in kreyol. – Nou apresye tout sa ou fè pou nou, m’espere yon jou nou va kapab pale avèk ou an Kreyòl.

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

in the expression koupe m sa sek, can you say kase instead of koupe?

I think that this expression is what it is.  It will not sound the same with "kase".

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I know you can use "se" to mean "it is." Like "Se yon bèl jounen." I know that you can make it past tense by saying, "Se te yon bèl jounen." Can you put "se" with other tenses? Se pral... or Se ap...?? Thanks!


Yes we can, Men kèk egzanp:

Se pral yon gran jou.

Se va yon gran jou.

Se ta pral yon bèl sipriz pou tout moun, men malerezman  yo te aprann nouvèl la. 

Se dwe te papa l ki ba l machin nan

Se ka yon move nouvèl li resevwa ki ba l gwo sezisman sa a.

 --As far as progressive is concerned, it can’t be done because it’s a passive voice.

It’s being washed. – Se lave y’ap lave’l

It’s being done right now. – Se fè y’ap fè’l kounye a.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

How do you ask someone to bring you something or get you something? "Please get me a loaf of bread from the store.

We use “pote” , “mennen”, and sometimes “pran
Examples:
1. Mennen l ban mwen. or Pote l ban mwen. - Bring it to me.
2. Pran l pou mwen tanpri. - Get it for me please.
3. Bring me the baby. - Pote bebe a ban mwen.
4. Get me a cold glass of water please. - Pote yon vè dlo glase pou mwen tanpri.
5. Can you get this bag for m? I can reach it. - Eske w kapab pran valiz sa a pou mwen,? M pa ka rive pran l.

6. Please get me a loaf of bread from the store. - Tanpri achte yon pen pou mwen nan magazen an.

7. Please get me a loaf of bread while you’re at the store. - Tanpri pran yon pen pou mwen pandan w nan magazen an.

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