Haitian Creole

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

se sepet onswa sapat?

Ou di sèpèt, mwen di sapat. Se menm bagay la :)

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

When do I use the word "sou"? Can I use it for all... "Turn on the light" "Place that on the table" "They are on their way"

Hi :)

There are many instances where you can use "sou":

1.
as a preposition when you use on, on top of, over,
such as in your example: Place it on the table - Mete li sou tab la.
other examples:
The plane flew over our heads - Avyon an pase sou tèt nou.
on the third day - sou twazyèm jou an
on my belly - sou vant mwen

2.
You can also use "sou" to say "about (regarding)"
We spent some time talking about the parking problem. - Nou te pase yon ti tan ap pale sou pwoblèm pakin nan.
We already talked about it. - Nou te pale sou sa deja.

3.
You can use "mache sou" to say "towards/close to a certain time".
Joseph t ap mache sou dizan depi l pa t wè manman l. - It was getting close to ten years since Joseph has seen his mother. (Or literally translated as Joseph was walking towards ten years since he had not seen his mother.)

4.
You also use "sou" to describe an action that is repeated.
Li avèti sou avèti yo, men pyès moun pa t ap koute. - He warn them again and again, but no one was listening.
Nou eseye sou eseye kontakte li men li pa t janmen reponn. - We kept trying to contact her, but she never replied.

5.
You can use "sou" or"sou sa" to describe whether you're in the mood for something or not.

Mwen pa sou manje jodi a. - I don't feel like eating today.
Mwen pa sou sòti. - I don't feel like going out.
Mwen pa sou sa. - I am not interested. I am not in the mood for ...that.
Li pa sou sa. - He's not interested. He's not in the mood for ... that.
Mwen pa menm sou bò w. - I'm not even interested in what you're doing or what you have to say.
Mwen pa sou bò w. - I am not paying attention to you.
M ap pale ak ti Jo, li pa t menm sou bò m, se sou televizyon an sèlman je l rete kole. - I was talking to little Jo, he wasn't even interested in what I was saying, his eyes remained stuck to the television.

6.
You would not use "sou" for:

on Mondays - le lendi
on Wednesdays - le mèkredi
I go to church on Sundays. - Mwen ale legliz le dimanch.

He will fly to New York on March 17th. - L ap vole ale New York le disèt (17) mas.

His birthday is on January 3rd. - Fèt li se le twa (3) janvye.

Turn on the light - Limen limyè a.
Turn on the television - Ouvri televizyon an. also Limen televizyon an
Turn on the radio - Ouvri radyo a. also Limen radyo a

They are on their way. - Yo nan wout. (sometimes, Yo sou wout)
I am on way. - Mwen nan wout.

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

Monday, February 6, 2017

'fo nou rebat kat la', in a conversation that had nothing to do with cards, but may have been about making changes, was not about dealing cards, was it?

Probably not. If the conversation was about making a change, fòk nou rebat kat la would mean that we need to restructure or rearrange things.

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

What does "bali boulova" mean in Creole?

It's a meaningless phrase that started probably as an inside joke, that some radio commentators from a radio show used to express enthusiasm and excitement.

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

Hi Mandaly, This isn't a question, but I just wanted to say how pleased I am to see new posts on your site. Your site is such a great resource and I can't even begin to tell you how often it's been a help for me. Thank you for being so helpful, and for your site.

Thanks.
We're moving forward :)

Kenbe la.

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

Saturday, February 4, 2017

What is the difference between gade and wé?

gade - to look, to look at, to watch
M' ap gade televizyon - I am watching television
Gade li. - Look at him
Gade! - Look!

wè - to see
Mwen pa janm wè w ankò. - I don't ever see you anymore.
Èske w kapab wè byen? - Can you see well?
Mwen kapab wè miyò gras a linèt la. - I can see better thanks to the glasses.
Èske w te wè sa a? - Did you see that?
N a wè. - We'll see.

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

Find your joy? (Creole)

Find your joy. - Jwenn jwa pa w.

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

Can you explain the use(s) of "sa"? When should it go before, when should it go after words? Thank you!!

In English you have the demonstrative adjectives and pronouns.

demonstrative adjectives
this house - kay sa a (some people may say 'kay sa')
that book - liv sa a
these cars - machin sa yo
those houses - kay sa yo
So, in that case 'sa' always goes after the noun.

pronouns
This is my book - Sa se liv mwen.
That is my dad - Sa se papa mwen.
These are not my clothes. - Sa yo se pa rad mwen.
Those are beautiful. - Sa yo bèl.
It's really bad. - Sa vrèman mal.
What is this? - Ki sa sa ye?
Do you want this one? - Èske ou vle sa a?

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

Explain the word sou moun. To me it means ON PERSON. Does it have a bad meaning? Use it in a sentence.

sou moun - to come on too strong
you moun ki sou moun - a shameless individual, who is very forward.

Fefe pa gen okenn modesti. Li sou moun konsa.

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

How do you say when your intuition told you to do something please? I remember my mom would say le leda ou (spell check) thanks

Yes. That's right.

lide - idea, thought, opinion, hunch, instinct

Lide m di m fè yon lòt wout. - My instinct tells me to take another route.

Yè, a lè konsa lide m te frape sou ou. - Yesterday at this time I thought about you.

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

What does FEM konprann mean?

Fè m konprann. or
Fè mwen konpran.
Make me understand.
Help me to understand.

fè - to make, to do
m or mwen - me, I, my
konprann - to understand

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

Bounjou :) When we talked about the comparison of adjectives in class, our teacher only gave us examples with 'pi + adjective + pase', e.g. « Yon elefan pi gwo pase yon chen. ». But what term do you use in Haitian Creole when you want to say "less"? Maybe "mwens"? Is «Yon chen mwens gwo pase yon elefan. » a grammatically correct sentence? Mèsi davans :)

On occasion, I've heard people use mwens ... ke, mwens ... pase
Egzanp: Vwayaje nan avyon mwens fatigan pase vwayaje nan machin. - Traveling by plane is less tiring than traveling by car.
Egzanp: Le vandredi ofis la mwens anime pase tout lòt jou yo. - On Fridays, the office is less busy than any other days.

Sometimes if the English sentence calls for mwens ... ke/pase, we tend to turn it around to use pi/plis ..... pase/ke

Egzanp: The bike is less expensive than the car - Bekàn nan pi bon mache pase machin nan.

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

eske li liv chak an anglais ka edem pale anglais

Pa sèlman li non, men pale tou.
M espere ou genyen yon moun ki la pou ede w pale ak li, dekwa pou yo ka korije w lè ou fè yon erè.
Bòn chans zanmi :)

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

Mandaly, mesi anpil pou blog ou! ke Bondye beni ou! M' gen yon kesyon sou kafe nan ayiti. Eske pifo moun yo bwe kafe nan maten an oubyen se selman yon liks pou yo. Nan etazini preske tout moun bwe kafe. Se la memn nan ayiti? Eske kafe bon mache pou moun yo ki rete nan andeyo ki pa gen anpil kob?......

You asked.....
Mandaly, mesi anpil pou blog ou! ke Bondye beni ou! M' gen yon kesyon sou kafe nan ayiti. Eske pifo moun yo bwe kafe nan maten an oubyen se selman yon liks pou yo. Nan etazini preske tout moun bwe kafe. Se la memn nan ayiti? Eske kafe bon mache pou moun yo ki rete nan andeyo ki pa gen anpil kob?

Le moun yo rekolte pwa kafe yo vet, dwe kite yo sech. Apre sa, kijan yo prepare kafe pwa nan lakay ou? Mwen te li ki yo kwit pwa yo nan yon chodye anle twa roch yo, pou osige vennsenk minit yo. Le you vide pwa kafe soti chodye e mete sik andann chodye e kwit jouk sik te vin koule lo. Pwochen yo melanje pwa kafe e sik ansanm and vide sou yon moso tol. Apre li fret you kraze l' nan moulen kafe.

I hope I said this correct in Kreyol. ?? I will say it in Engish now just in case you don't understand my elementary grammar in Kreyol. Feel free to correct it if you want and send it back to em. Here are my questions in English because I want to do a Christian womens conference and have a coffee theme, but first I need to understand somethings about coffee in Haiti. Does almost everyone drink it in Hait in the morning like in the US. Is it a common household item or is it too expensive for most and considered a luxary? I know they grow it on Hait but is it acessible to most and is it affordable? I know are the very poor and then the wealthier in Haiti. But what is a general answer? Also how are coffee beans processed in Haiti. If a haitian in the country side would buy freas green coffee beans, how would the ground them up at their homes. I read on the internet that they cook them in a heavy iron kettle over the 3 stone fire for about 25 minutes to roast them. Next they pour them out to let them cool and in the mean time they cook sugar until it is an amber color. Then the mix the roasted coffee beans together with the sugar and then pour ot onto a piece of tin to let it cool. Next the crush and ground it up into coffee grounds. Also when I am in Haiti the coffee that the cooks serve us is ground so fine it is almost like powdered sugar. They do not put it into a sock but put it directly into the water and boil it. It is delicious! and also very mild even though it is very black in color. Is that because there is sugar added? I am continually learning more about the cultture of Haiti, and will never stop learning as I am a foreingner. But I was wondering about how relavant the daily routines of coffee are in Haiti! You know us Americans! we don't think we can live without it! and Jesus, of course!. Like they said, "In the morning all I need is a lttle bit of coffee and a whole lot of Jesus" If I said this is creole: is this correct?

" Nan maten an selman mwen bezwen se yon ti kase coffee and anpil Jezi!"

Mandaly says.....
Mèsi anpil pou kesyon ou. Mwen konprann tout sa ou ekri :)

"In the morning all I need is a little bit of coffee and a whole lot of Jesus"
"Le maten tout sa m bezwen se yon ti tas kafe ak yon gwo gode plen ak Jezi!"

Making coffee part of the daily morning routine is something we have in common. After that everything else is a little different.
I could explain it like this. For Americans, coffee in the morning is the 'energizer that keeps the energizer bunny going'. It is something that mostly only adults do. To Haitians coffee is more like breakfast... nourishment. It is for kids and adults. We usually have coffee with bread, sometimes buttered bread in the morning. We like to dunk our bread in our coffee. Where I was raised, we roasted our own green coffee beans in a big iron skillet until the beans becomes dark. We used a big mortar (pilon) and pestle (manch pilon) to pound on the coffee. Now, this is a 3 to 4 feet mortar and a pestle that weighs about 2 to 5 pounds. One person may do the pounding. Sometimes two people may pound on the coffee. 1 mortar, two pestles, two people. The people, usually women, stand facing each other with the mortar in between them and they start pounding alternatively. It's done in a rhythmic fashion. They pound, crush and grind without missing a beat. We called this pile kafe. The coffee is then passed through a strainer. We boil water in a coffee pot called kafetyè. We put the coffee powder (poud kafe) in a cloth filter or sock filter (grèp) and pour the hot water through the filter over a cup.

Coffee with sugar is for breakfast. We do not usually drink it throughout the day.
Coffee is not a luxury. A lot of people in the provinces grow their own. We share with our neighbors. You may have a big yard that have 5 to 10 little houses. So we share with our neighbors. In the US, some people might look at you funny if you go knock on their door to bring a plate of food. But in every Haitian know that we have a hunger problem in Haiti. We know that our neighbors may not be able to eat one day. So we share, just in case. It is not rare for a national to wake up in Haiti and put a grain of salt under their tongue so that they can survive the day. But they won't tell you their business, so we share our morning coffee and bread, in case that is all the nourishment they'll have for the day.

In the provinces (outskirts of Haiti), we usually roast own own. In the capital, we'd either buy the powder, or rely on families that live in the outskirt to bring some coffe for us, on their regular visits to the capital.

Coffee without sugar (called kafe anmè) is a remedy for people who are suffering from acute emotional distress as a result of a traumatic event.

We used the coffee grounds to clean our dirt floor (which is inside the home). We sprinkle it on the floor, in the bedroom, living room, etc..., we may sprinkle some water too, and then we sweep it out. A lot of the homes on the outskirts have dirt floors.

Coffee powder (poud kafe) also means money.

Sometimes Haitians tell their age by the number of coffee harvests they've seen: 40 year - 40 rekòt kafe.

Port-Au-Prince is somewhat westernized, but if you're ever in the outskirts of Haiti and hear the thumps of the big pestle and smell the coffee, stop by for a ti tas kafe. .

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

Bonswa! I never understood when people said " pa okipe'l lespri lap fe" (when referring to kids acting crazy), what is lespri exactly, break it down.. mesi davans cheri