panama m tonbe sa ki deye ranmase l pou mwen. what is panama?

o o!
chapo panama :)  It's a hat.

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

What would profite translate here “Tigaso an te byen profit pendan l te avek nou la”

Pwofite – to seize to occasion, take the opportunity

Ti gason an te “byen” pwofite pandan l te avèk nou - The boy thrived “well” while he was with us

 

 

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Bonjou, Mandaly! I've completed up to Lesson 12 and I'm about to start Lesson 13 after I review all my notes and things from Lessons 1-12. And guess what? I took my first test (Definite Articles) and got 100%! M KONTAN!!! ……..

"Bonjou, Mandaly! I've completed up to Lesson 12 and I'm about to
start Lesson 13 after I review all my notes and things from Lessons 1-12. And
guess what? I took my first test (Definite Articles) and at 100%! M KONTAN!!!
^_^ Right now I'm reviewing the practice portion of the notes I took from your
video lessons about the Singular Definite Articles. Well, here's my question.
For "The book is in the box" to be translated as "Liv la nan bwat la." Why is
that? I don't understand what "NAN" means here. I Only know "NAN" to be one of
the Haitian Creole forms of "THE" but....that wouldn't make sense in this
sentence. Does this word mean something else now?"

Answer:

Awesome.  Mwen kontan deske ou kontan :)

"nan", here, is the preposition "in", "inside"

liv la      | nan  | bwat la
the book | in    | the box
The book is in the box.

Here is another example
kouto a   | nan | gode a
the knife | in   | the cup
The knife is in the cup.

If you were to have "nan" as a definite article and "nan" as preposition, you would write down both.
example:
Madanm nan |  nan |  chanm nan
The woman   | in     | the room
The woman is in the room.





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

Mesye bonjou or madan bonjou?

Larèn nan pa konprann. Li mande plis esplikasyon mezanmi :)

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

mache prese pa domi san sou pe

LOL.

Mache CHACHE pa dòmi san soupe :)

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

This question is about fek and soti. I see that you use it for past tenses, you wrote ‘m fek pale ave l’ – ‘I just spoke to her’. Would it make sense to add ‘te’ to that sentence: ‘m fek te pale ave l’ or is it ‘m te fek pale ave l? would it mean the same thing then? Mesi

Fèk and sòti, in this case, will indicate an event that happened a short while ago, very recently, not too long ago

FYI: Some people may say fèk, fenk,fèrank, or fenrank

Some people may say sòti or sot

And sometimes they may use fèk sot together

Egzanp:

1. M fèk wè papa w. – I just saw your dad (not too long ago)

2. M sot benyen, se pousa cheve mouye konsa. – I just showered that’s why my hair is so wet.

3. Nou pa grangou. Nou fenk sot manje. – We’re not hungry. We just ate. (a short while ago)

 

If you do add “te”, the  Haitian Creole past tense determiner, then it will make the difference between past tense or present perfect and past perfect.

4. M fèk pale avè l – I just spoke to her. OR I’ve just spoken to her

5. M te fèk pale avè l – I had just spoken to her.

It’ll make more sense in the next sentence:

6. Nou te fèk fin manje ansanm lè lapolis te parèt douvan pòt la. - We had just finished eating together when the police showed up at the front door.

You could not have said: Nou fèk fin manje ansanm lè ….

 

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Ki denye mo ou lan sa? What’s “lan sa”?

…lan sa – (in this literally), on the subject, on the matter

“Ki denye mo ou lan sa?”

What’s your last word in this? literalman

What are your thoughts?

What’s your perspective?

What’s your opinion on this?

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

Do you know why a humming bird is called WANGANEGES in Creole? I was under the impression the word WANGA has to do with voodoo.

Yes, the name wanganègès is made up of two common words in Haitian Creole.

wanga - sorcery, magic spell, luck; nègès – black woman

Besides getting praise for its beauty and radiance the wanganègès has been known to be used as love potion to gain a woman’s affection. Specifically a man may kill the bird, burn it and concoct a powder mixture with the ashes. He would carry the powder in his handkerchief.

Kolibri, another type of wanganègès, will also be translated as hummingbird.

Have you heard the song about a humming bird Kolibri by Ticorn? On Youtube: http://youtu.be/v3yVPiMj2Fw

 

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Mandaly. Ki jan ou di an Kreyol Ayisyen a mixed group of boys and girls? Is it as in Spanish; the masculine form "los muchachos" / "gason yo"? Mesi bokou.

We say mesyedam for mixed group of males and females.

How’s your trip to Haiti coming along? I was thinking of you and thought you had left already :)

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

How do you say culture, to be cultured, to harass

To harass – entimide, toumante, kaponnen, pèsekite, ran (subject) san souf

Culture – kilti, levasyon

Cultured – kiltive, edike, save

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

What does "kalewes"mean ? Example "tout moun ap kalewes yo"

Kalewès – to sit around and do nothing, to loaf, to chill, to bum around

"tout moun ap kalewes yo" – Everyone is sitting around doing nothing, or Everyone is loafing around.

Kèl lòt egzanp:

-Mesye sa yo pa gen responsablite.  Tout lajounen y’ap kalewès.

-Fanm nan chita sou bouda l maten midi swa ap kalewès. 

-Kalewès pa peye lwaye.

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

A woman in Haiti told me of a medicine that helps kids to stop sucking their fingers.I may spell this wrong it’s lalwua and something else. Would you happen to know what it is and where to get it?

I do not know of any medicine in Haiti that would do that.  The woman may have told you about lalo (aloe) or a plant like aloe which they cut and slice and rub on the kid’s finger.  It’s bitter.  Haitians also try other things like covering the finger with a sock or smearing it with piman (hot pepper) or kaka poul (chicken feces) – imagine the handful of harmful bacteria a child could ingest with that last one.  They say that most kids eventually grow out of this behavior, but if he/she doesn’t and you are worried then talk to a doctor.

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

Hello, Mandaly! I'm making steady progress through your lessons! Wa cheri mwen is SOOOO proud of me! Ha, ha! Anyway, I have a quick question. I seem to have hit a tiny snag--I have so much trouble pronouncing "w." I was like, OU is such a tiny word already! It's even SHORTER? :-O ha, ha. My question is....do I HAVE to use contracted forms? Is it mandatory since you said Haitians commonly use it? Xoxo (One more thing...how do you pronounce your name? ^_^)

Bonjou zanmi :)

Keep up the progress

My name is pronounced Muh-n-dah-lee with the accent on the first syllable. Some of my friends call me Mandy. Close Haitian friends call me Manda or Mandarine :)

No you do not have to use contractions if you’re not ready for them.  What I usually tell people is that even though you don’t use them you do have to know what they sound like and how they’re used since people that are having conversations with you will be using them.

The best way to be familiar with them is to listen to a lot of Creole.   Here these three posts might be helpful to your specific question.  The first and third post contain audio: http://sweetcoconuts.blogspot.com/search/label/you%20%22ou%22%20%22w%22

Pase bon jounen J

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

Mandlay, 'eske' seems to have many, many uses. Could you please explain

We use “eske” to form “yes or no” questions.  In English you have the auxiliary “do” or “did”, “will”, “should”, etc… In Haitian Creole just use “eske”.  

Here’s a couple of examples:

Are you ready? – Eske ou pare?  (verb to be – present tense)

Were you here before me? – Eske ou te la anvan m? (verb to be – past tense)

Do you want to eat now? – Eske ou vle manje kounye a? (auxiliary “do”)

Should we help this poor kid? – Eske nou dwe timoun mizerab sa a? (asking question with auxiliary verb “should”)

Can please close door after you leave? – Tanpri eske ou ka fèmen pòt la lè w sòti? (with auxiliary verb “can”)

Etc…

We can also ask questions in Haitian Creole without using “eske”.

Questions for you? – Were these the “many” uses you were talking about?  Mèsi.

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

Premye So Pa So (Audio)

Download link for this audio:
http://limanecasimi.audioacrobat.com/download/45300580-3676-ff73-5667-3c08a876cfa3.mp3

Click here to listen to this audio:
http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/WqmkhStW


Saw genyen figi w kagou konsa?
What’s wrong your face is so down and out?
Why do you look so down?
 
M santi lavi a mete pye sou kou m. Tout sa m fè pou m libere tèt mwen pa reyisi.
I feel life has put a foot on my neck.  Everything I do to free myself has been unsuccessful.
I feel that life has a foot on my neck.  I’ve tried unsuccessfully to free myself.
 
M pa janm tande w pale konsa avan.  Sa’w genyen?
I’ve never heard you talk like that before.  What’s wrong?
 
Janm travay di pou konmès mwen mache enpi sa pa janm fèt!  Men kounye a m pral oblije fèmen biznis mwen. M pa konn sa m va fè kounye a.  M pa janm reyisi nan anyen m fè. Mwen toujou echwe nan tout sa m fè.  Petèt m pa t fèt pou m gen siksè nan lavi a ditou.
I’ve worked so hard for my business to flourish and it’s never happened.  So now I’ll have to close my business.  I don’t know what I’ll do now. I never succeed in anything I do.  I always fail at everything I do.  Maybe I was not meant to be successful in life at all.
 
Sa  w’ap di la?  Sanble ou deside fè bèk atè nèt?
What are you saying?  It’s seemed that you have totally surrendered.
 
Men wi, m fin dekouraje  nèt.
Of course, I’m totally disappointed.
 
Pa dekouraje w zanmi m. Premye so pa so ditou.  Ou ka kilbite plizyè fwa nan lavi a, men lè w tonbe se pa pou w rete atè a.  Se pou w leve pou kontinye lite.
Don’t be discouraged my friend.  The first "fail" is no failure at all.  You may stumble many times in life but when you fall you shouldn’t stay down.  You must get up to continue to fight.
 
Mwen fin bay tout enèji m ak tout sa m te genyen .  M pa gen fòs ki rete pou rekòmanse ankò.
I have given all my energy and all that I had.  I don’t have strength left to start over.
 
Si tout moun t’ap fè tankou w.  Si yo te bay legen nan premye echèk yo fè anpil envasyon sou latè a pa t’ap egziste.
If everyone was doing the same as you, if they gave up at their first failures many inventions on earth wouldn’t have existed.
 
Men mezanmi si m’ap pede tonbe leve konsa, moun va di se madichon ki nan kò m kifè m pa ka reyisi nan anyen.
But If I keep going up and down like this people would say that it’s a curse that makes me unsuccessful.
 
Bliye sa tout moun panse oubyen di – Se pa pou yo w’ap viv.  Apre Granmèt la se ou menm ki mèt tèt ou.  Gade machè met fanm sou ou tande! Premye so pa so.
Forget what everyone thinks or says.  You’re not living for them. After God you are your own master.  Look my dear be courageous you hear!  The first fall is no fall.
 
Pou m di w laverite sa se pa ni premye ni dezyèm so mwen pran non.  Mwen kwè m sou katriyèm oubyen menm senkyèm.
To tell you the truth this is neither my first nor my second fall.  I believe I’m on my fourth or even my fifth.
 
Enben se pa gwo zafè.  Tank ou pran so se tank ou va jwenn divès fason pou pare so a.
Well that’s no big deal.  The more you fall, the more you’ll find diverse ways to break the fall.
 
A! petèt yon jou m’a envante kouman moun pare so.   Mèsi pou ankourajman ou.  Mwen te byen bezwen sa.
Ah! Maybe one day I’ll invent ways for people to break a fall.  Thanks for your encouragement. I really needed this.
 
Pa gen pwoblèm.  Kontinye eseye e kenbe la.
No problem.  Keep trying and hang in there.
 
 

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