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User:Robbiemuffin/Kreyol/Chapter 2/Vocabulary

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Vocabulary

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The words selected for this vocabulary set are generally the most common functionally independent words. An effort has been made to ensure words from many different parts of speach are included, and the noun and descrptives have been choosen to emphasize concepts a new language learner is likely to talk about.

The vocabulary is divided up into small groups of related words.

Pronouns

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person/number Kreyòl Short form IPA French gloss
1/singular mwen m /mwɛ̃/ je, me, moi "I", "me"
2/singular ou (*) w /u:/ tu, te, vous "you" (sing.)
3/singular li l /li/ il, elle, on "he", "she"
1/plural nou n /nu/ nous "we", "us"
2/plural nou or ou (**)   /nu/ or /u:/ vous "you" (pl.)
3/plural yo y /jo/ ils, elles "they", "them"

(*) sometimes ou is written as w - in the sample phrases, w indicates ou.
(**) depending on the situation.

The pronunciation is the same regardless of whether the word is in long or short form.

With mwen, the short form can be used anywhere. With the others occuring before a word, they usually only occur before a vowel:

  • mwen byen - m'byen

but for others, only like

  • nou ale - n'ale
  • li ale - l'ale

Flashcard data from this section

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  • mwen/m - I/me
  • ou/u - you
  • li/l - he, she
  • nou/n - we/us, you (plural)
  • yo/y - they/them

Articles and demonstratives

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Definite articles specify count and identity, and are like the english "the". Indefinite articles specify count but not identity ("a", "an"). Demonstratives are pro-form demterminers like "this", "that", etc.

definite
number Kreyòl
singular  la, a , an , nan
plural yo

The definite article comes after the noun: "moun an" - the man.

  • After vowels use "a": "ri a" – the street
  • After any consonant except -n or -m consonant use "la": "lèt-la" – the letter
  • After words ending in -n use "an": "chen an" – the dog
  • After words ending in -m, -nm, -nn, -gn, -ng use "nan": "chanm nan" – the man


indefinite
number Kreyòl
singular yon/youn
plural kèk

Indefinite articles precede the noun. "Youn" is used only with a noun that also ends with the letter "oun" (remember "oun" is considered one letter in kreyòl, even though it is a compound sound /un/): "youn moun" - "a man". Otherwise, "yon" is used for all other singular nouns.


demonstratives
place/number Kreyòl English
near/singular sa a  this
near/plural sa yo these
far/singular sila a that
far/plural sila yo those

Demonstratives come after the noun: vil sila a - that city. The singular marker "a" is optional, you will not always see it written.

Flashcard data from this section

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  • ... la, a , an , nan - the ...
  • yon/youn ... - a ...
  • kèk... - some ...
  • ...sa a/sa - ... this
  • ...sa yo - ... these
  • ...sila a/sila - ... that
  • ...sila yo - ... those

Prepositions

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  • ala - as
  • a - at
  • ant - between
  • pou/pa, paske - for, per
  • non - in
  • sou - of, on
  • a, nan - to
  • pa - by
  • ladan- from
  • pasè - than
  • kont - versus

Conjunctions

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  • avek/ave - with
  • ak - and/with
  • ki - that
  • men - but
  • ou - or
  • pou, si - so

Question words

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Kreyòl gloss FR/PT*/ES**
Kote? Where? Onde?*
Kisa? What? O quê?* (o = the +sa article)
Kilè? When? A quê (horas)?* (+le: “lè”/time replaces “horas”)
Ki moun? Who? Qui? (Quel homme?)
Kijan? How? O quê* (+jan /ʒã/ seems like english “how”)

Flashcard data from this section

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  • Kote? - Where?
  • Kisa? - What?
  • Kilè? - When?
  • Ki moun? - Who?
  • Kijan? - How?

Possibility words

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  • pa - not, negates a verb (eg, pa fé - don't do)
  • kapab - can
  • si - if
  • mèt - may

Sameness

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  • tankou - like (conj.)
  • kòm - as
  • menm - equal

Affirmations

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  • wi - yes
  • non - no
  • oke - okay

Quantity words

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  • nepòt - any
  • preske - almost
  • en - one
  • sèlman/sèl - only
  • egal - same
  • de - two
  • enpe - some
  • plis - most
  • chak - each, every
  • tout - all

Direction words

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  • ba - low
  • wo - high
  • anro, anlè - over
  • anba - under, down
  • gòch - left
  • dwat - right

Verbs

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  • montre - to show
  • gade - to look
  • wè - to see


  • vle - to want
  • damou - to love
  • remnen - to like
  • bezwen - to need


  • mande - to ask
  • pale - to speak
  • tande - to hear
  • ekri - to write
  • telefonen - to telephone


  • konnen - to know
  • panse - to think
  • konprann - to understand
  • aprann - to learn


  • genyen - to have
  • pran - to get, receive
  • ban - to give


  • travay - to work
  • fè - to do/to make
  • manje - to eat
  • bwe - to drink
  • rete - to stop
  • sèvi ak/avek - to use (lit. "serve with", so "sèvi" by itself has a completely different meaning)
  • ede - to help


  • vini - to come
  • ale, prale - to go


  • achte - to buy
  • vann - to sell
  • peye - to pay


To be

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In many latin languages there are two forms of "to be", one for permanent qualities (sere), and a second for happenstantials (estare). But this is not true in french (nor english). Kreyòl continues to simplify, having lost its copula for adjectivals almost entirely: "Nou malad" (translates to "we are sick") is made of the words "we" + "sick" with no assigning verb. In a sense, an adjective is a verb in kreyòl, and there is no need for assignment – or if you prefer, kreyòl is a copula-drop language, where the dropping is just like in english we drop "you" from imperatives ("Hurry!", not "You hurry!"). But that only goes so far. In the third person, kreyòl uses "menm" (an adjective for "same") as the copula. Thus:

  • Nou malad. We are sick. (just right now, like with the flu)
  • Mwen malad. I am sick.
  • Chen mwen malad. My dog is sick.

For the permanent ("sere") form of "to be", such as "I am tall", we use "se".

  • Li se malad. He is sick. (always, like with cancer)
  • Non mwen se Enrique. My name is Enrique.

Nouns

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  • sache - bag
  • kreyon - pencil
  • manje - food
  • dlo - water
  • moun - person
  • jan, chemen, rout - way
  • bagay - thing
  • bò - side
  • kote - place
  • pwoblem - problem
  • apel - name
  • mo - word

Time words

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  • fwa - time (the number of ..)
  • avan, anvan - before
  • apre, dèyè - after
  • kounye-a - now
  • ye - yesterday
  • jodia - today
  • demen - tomorrow

Adjectives and descriptive adverbs

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  • lan/lant - slow
  • byen - well/fine
  • mal/move - bad
  • bon - nice/good
  • anpil - a lot (like “amply”, serves as “very”)


  • malad - sick
  • kontann - happy
  • tris - sad
  • fatige - tired


  • bèl - beautiful/pretty
  • gran - large
  • piti - little
  • gwo - big/fat
  • mèg - skinny
  • lon - long


  • frèt - cold
  • cho - hot


  • toupre - near
  • lwen - far
  • isit - here
  • la - there


  • nouvo, nèf - new
  • jèn, jenn - young
  • vye - old


  • trè - very

Miscelleny

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  • alò - well (as a filler word)


  • mèsi - thank you
  • merite - you're welcome
  • souple - please
  • atansyon - Attention!/Watch out!
  • tann - wait



 
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