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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Bonjou Mandaly! Mwen websayt ou anpil! So my question is: Many times I hear my family ask questions in creole without the "ye" Example: Kote Mandaly? Whats the difference in using ye and not using it? Also, in sayings such as "Sak ap fet la?" Sa gen la?" Whats the difference in saying it with or without the "la"? Mesi anpil!

Bonjou. Mèsi anpil.

In asking questions with the verb to be in Creole, yes, you can get away sometimes with not using 'ye' in a few instances. There's not much difference then.
Some examples other than yours are:
Kote li?
Kote li ye?
Where is he/she?

Konben li?
Konben li ye?
How much is it?

Or
Kilè fèt la?
Kilè fèt la ye?
When is the party?

Other times you have to use it, and the question will not make any sense without it. Some examples are:
kisa li ye?
kijan ou ye?
kilè li ye?
kimoun ou ye?

So when in doubt use 'ye'.
*****************************
And, in saying 'Sa k ap fèt la?' or "Sa k genyen la?", la retains its meaning of there, over there, around here. So some people say Sa k genyen? or they say Sa k gen la? . It's really similar to the difference between What's going on? and What's going here?




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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

what does "jofre" mean? P.S. I believe there's an accent on the O. Mesi davans!

jòfre - sneak a peek, watch, take a look.

There's also bay jòf and pran jòf
pran jòf - to sneak a ppek, to take a glimpse
bay jòf - to let s.o take peek (at something that would otherwise remain hidden from view)

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Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Surtab et MIT-Haiti Initiative s'unissent pour la promotion du créole

Surtab et MIT-Haiti Initiative s'unissent pour la promotion du créole

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let me write this in Creole :) question: is 'rele apre you moun' and 'rele apre ko (body) ou' menm bagay?

Rele apre yon moun vle di repwoche oubyen reprimande moun nan.
Nou p ap ka itilize men kalite vèb repwoche a pou 'kò w'.
Rele apre kò w vle di menm bagay avèk ranmase kò w. Lè ou rele apre kò w se lè ou pran swen kò w pou kapab fè tèt ou pli atiran. Se lè ou gen sousi pou aparans ou. Se lè ou pa kite kò w lage nèt.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Does pa chat always mean "an extramarital affair"?

No. Not always. Yon ti pa chat could also be other 'reckless exploits'.

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What flour or wheat product is used to make akwa or akra? It tastes like potato cakes. thanks

It's 'akra'.
We use the root vegetable 'malanga' or 'taro' to make akra.
To my knowledge, we do not use any type of flour.

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Jodia se jounen entenasyonal lang kreyol vre? Kiyes ki te chwazi jou sa e poukisa?

Yon gwoup lengwis te mete tèt ansnam nan mwa oktòb, ane 1983 pou rekonèt lang kreyòl ak pou fè plis rechèch pou benefis lang lan. Yo te deside chwazi jou 28 oktòb la pou selebre eritaj kreyòl la chak ane – se te premye selebrasyon jounen entènasyonal kreyòl la. Tout peyi ki pale kreyòl vin patisipe nan selebrasyon sa a. Malgre genyen ki obsève li nan yon diferan dat, yo toujou rezève mwa oktòb la pou sa.
Selebrasyon kreyòl la se pa senpleman fete lang ki ini nou kòm yon ras, ... yon pèp, se ta dwe okazyon ki nan kalandriye nou tout tan pou fè nou sonje li lè pou nou klase lang lan nan plas li, kòm lang prensipal kominikasyon nou nan tout aspè.
M ap mande tèt mwen, nan tout peyi sa yo ki ap selebre lang kreyòl la, konben nan yo ki bay lang kreyòl la premye plas nan kilti yo vrèman?
Konben nan peyi sa yo, lè tan an rive pou prezante yon bagay ofisyèl, se franse onswa yon lòt lang yo chwazi?
Kisa ki gani tab ou? Franse onswa kreyòl?
Si yon moun k ap selebre lang kreyòl la panse kreyòl gen ti mank, pou se lòt lang l ap chwazi pou regle koze ofisyèl, moun sa a nan gwo ipokrizi.


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Monday, October 26, 2015

Who's maitre jean jacques? 'souer kou maitre jean jacques'?

If I understand this well, I think that mèt Jan Jak is the 'resourceful' one.
If you're going to use 'swe' in this comparison, you should say 'Bouki'.
It goes like: swe kou pitit Bouki (literally: as sweaty as Bouki's child) meaning "very sweaty".

But if you meant to say mèt Jan Jak in your comparison, we say 'degaje kou mèt Jan Jak' which means to be as resourceful as one can, to do everything in your power to take care of things.

It's two different things.

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How would your translate "it's for for your own good" in Creole==? mesi

It's for your own good. - Se pou byen w.
I'm doing all this for your own good. - M ap fè tout sa pou pwòp byen pa w. / M ap fè tout sa pou byen w.
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