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

Hey Mandie, would the word "nan-nan" be a good term to translate "...the central theme"? I see that Haitians use it mainly to talk about food.

Do you mean nannan? 

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

Mwen pral fe yon kout bravoute,depi 15 ans mwen renmen li. Mwen ekri anpl poem pou li.Mwen pral file on dame.yo di tout brav nan simitye. Mwen pral fe yon kout Capois Lamort. Mwen vle ekri li nan blog sa pou l ka we li. Eske ou kapab pibliye poem mwen?

Bonjou zanmi, mwen resevwa kesyon ou plizyè fwa , men mwen pa te resevwa powèm ou an. Sanble ou vle fè yon deklarayon piblik pou yon fanm. 

Kenz (15) an se pa de (2) jou. Si w ap file yon fanm, file l pou w fini ak sa! M pa kwè medam yo renmen gason ki pa gen aksyon sou yo. 

Selon sa m konprann, ou toujou ekri powèm pou li, men ou poko janm file l dirèkteman?

Premyèman, file yon fanm pa gen kesyon brav ladan l. Sèlsi ta genyen yon obstak kòmkwa fanmi l pa ta dakò, pa gen “Kapwa Lamò” nan koze konsa.  

Mwen swete w bòn chans :)

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

What is alsiyis?

Alsiyis is moaning (sexual). Basically it is 'sex noises'.
That question was already answered here before. Here is the link for usage: alsiyis

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

I am a Haitian who grew up in the US. My mother used to refer to people arguing as "moun k'ap jouri (or joure)." But I found no definitions for jouri and all the definitions of joure are much more severe than just an argument, such as insulting, cursing, blaming. Please explain.

Hi.
First of all, the word is joure (as a trans. verb). Joure or jouman can be used as nouns.
Joure means to curse or insult someone as well as it means to nag or to have a nasty argument.

You may say,
Se tout tan fanm sa a ap joure m pou m mete fatra yo deyò. - This woman has been nagging me about putting the garbage out for a long time.

Direktè a te fache. Li te kanpe devan klas la enpi l te joure elèv yo pou bagay malonèt ke yo te fè. - The principal was angry. He stood in front of the class and rebuked the students for the shameful things that they did.


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

Re-Post - "Haitian Creole wall art - one for you, one for a student in Haiti!" - Three more days until their goal is reached.

"Haitian Creole wall art - one for you, one for a student in Haiti!"

Word Art for kids in Jacmel 

Colette says:

“Bonjou Mandaly! I am working with some students in Haiti doing an ‘Artraiser.’ They have provided me some words in Haitian Creole, I have made their words into art prints. Here is more information https://www.etsy.com/listing/231183271/ if you know anyone who might be interested in this project, we’d appreciate it if you passed it along.”

Mandaly says:

The art looks really cool. Very nice! The Haiti Décor page has lots of lovely items too. Thanks Colette.

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

Regarding your post: " Premye so pa so - What is 'so'?" I actually had heard someone say -li te pran en bel so- which actually means HE TOOK A HARD FALL. interestingly enough the creole sentence says -He took a BEAUTIFUL fall :)

Yes, that's correct :)

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

Mandaly. can batay be used as a synonym for hinghang?

Hinghang in Haitian Creole means argument, discord, bickering
If you want to use the word batay in that sense, then I guess you could use it.
Other Haitian Creole words for hinghang  can be zizanni, akwochay, dispit, kaboulaw, chire pit.

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

Have you heard of the joke about a man, the donkey and his wife? what is the joke?

a man, his wife, an a donkey ....???
There are many jokes that go like that.
You might be talking about the man that gets frustrated with his two donkeys and mistreats them, then shows the same treatment toward his wife. NOT FUNNY!

Unfortunately I once thought it was funny.

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

Mandaly, what is pititan wen?

pitit an mwen (pitit an wen), the Haitian northerner’s way of saying pitit mwen

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

Hi Mandaly. I have lived in Haiti for quite a few years and speak decent Creole. But recently my husband and I decided to get

You said:

"Hi Mandaly. I have lived in Haiti for quite a

few years and speak decent Creole. But recently my husband and I decided to get

a tutor to help us improve. He is an excellent teacher and knows how to teach

his own language. (You know, just because you are a native speaker of a

language,  it doesn't mean you know how to teach it.) Anyway, he is a purist. He

doesn't want us to use any words that sound French at all. For example: use

souple instead of silvouple, padkwa instead of padekwa. Bondye instead of the

French pronunciation Bon Dieu. Jezi instead of the French Jesus. (Although we

hear Haitians in church mix in these with Creole constantly.)He claims that

Haitians do not want to hear Creole mixed with French especially from a

foreigner. He says that Creole purposely was formed in rebellion to the French

language and therefore words were changed in pronunciation and in spelling to

intentionally differentiate Creole from French. 

Would you agree?

Particularly would you agree that Haitians prefer foreigners to speak very pure

Creole? 

Thanks for helping all of us foreigners. We appreciate

you!"

Mandaly says:

I would have to disagree that “Haitians prefer foreigners to speak pure Creole”.

Often there will be more than one way to say a word such as please (souple, silvouplè, tanpri). It would be hard to ignore a term simply because it sounds too French, especially when everyone is still using it to speak kreyòl.

First let’s just eliminate the term ‘pure Creole’ or ‘kreyòl rèk’ or any other similar terms and just call it kreyòl.

The kreyòl language does have a standard orthography which dictates how the language is written. So it sounds like your tutor is just teaching you the standards.

It will take some time before the kreyòl orthography is integrated in everyday living (communication, doing business, school, official government affairs, etc…), so implementing these standards now will insure that the next generation will speak and write kreyòl the way it should be.

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

"Haitian Creole wall art - one for you, one for a student in Haiti!"

Word Art for kids in Jacmel 

Colette says:

“Bonjou Mandaly! I am working with some students in Haiti doing an ‘Artraiser.’ They have provided me some words in Haitian Creole, I have made their words into art prints. Here is more information https://www.etsy.com/listing/231183271/ if you know anyone who might be interested in this project, we’d appreciate it if you passed it along.”

Mandaly says:

The art looks really cool. Very nice! The Haiti Décor page has lots of lovely items too. Thanks Colette.

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

Hello, I'm looking for some terms of endearment for boys - like "kiddo," "buddy," or "champ" in English?

You can use: tibray, tikòk, ti konpè,

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

Toufe pitit la ....

"Hi Mandaly, I love your blog. I have a question. I just had a baby and my Haitian mother-in-law tells me all the time "toufe piti la" and "se zye li ki pou deyo". My husband tells me that she wants me to keep the baby hidden. is there more to this?"

She is trying to tell you to wrap the child in layettes snugly (from head to toe) so that all one could see is the baby eyes and hopefully his nose too!
Some Haitians (in Haiti) keep their baby indoors for weeks to a couple of months after birth. If a fanm say (midwife) makes the well-child visit at home, that baby may not get to see the light of day for a couple of months.

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

This might sound bad, but it's in regard to a Bible story. Talking about the prostitute who anointed Jesus' feet, how would you describe what she does? In english I would say she sells her body. I'm looking for a phrase not just the word jennès. Thanks!!

A more moderate term you can use is pwostitiye.
She sells her body ...
Li te pwostitiye kò li....
Li te livre kò li a bagay malonèt ...
Li te lage kò li nan pwostitisyon ...


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