Does Haitian Creole
have Its Own 'Language' Rules?

Haitian creole isn't as old as several other languages in the
world.
But it's a language in itself.
It was born when slaves from
St-Domingue (now Haiti)
created a communication tool,
using elements of mainly French and their original tribal languages
from Africa.
Creole is not only young. It differs so much from French -or
Haitian
French - that it's a completely new tongue
that comes with its own internal grammar and words.
Let's take a common
example: the familiar subject-verb-complement
formula
that you find in every language (of course, in different orders)
is clear below in creole:
Mwen renmen w!
I Love You!
Now let's get a taste of
some useful kreyòl expressions...
Common Conversational Haitian Creole Phrases and Sentences
The
Haitian
Language has a phonetical alphabet, so this makes it easy to
read it in writing; especially when the text is in the
official
Creole alphabet they adopted around 1979-1980.
since the sounds are very close to what you find in French and English,
non-creole speakers who know these languages should really give Kreyòl
a shot.
When you first meet someone
- Ou
(pronounced: /yu/
- You.
- Mwen
(pronounced:
/mwɛ̃ n/ - I.
- Bonjou!
(pronounced:
/bonʒu/) - Good Morning!
- Bonswa!
(pronounced:
/bonswa/) - Good afternoon! (also used for: good evening!)
- Sak pase?
(pronounced: /sak pase/) - What's up?
- Nap boule!
(pronounced: /nap bule/ It's all Good! Given as answer to the informal "sak
pase".
- Kouman w ye?
(pronounced: /kumanwye/) - How are you doing? More formal
than "sak
pase".
- Mwen byen.
(pronounced: /mwɛ̃ byɛ̃ /) - I'm fine. Given as an answer to kouman
w ye?
- Kote w rete?
(pronounced: /kotewrete/) - Where do you live?
- Ki bò w moun? or Moun ki bò w ye?
(pronounced: /kibɔwmun/) - I'm from...
- M kontan wè w!
(pronounced: /mkontãwɛw/) - Glad to see you!
- Na wè!
(pronounced:
/Na wɛ/) - See you later.
If the spelling can be that easy, isn't Kreyòl an interesting language
to learn?
You bet it is!
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