Language
of Haiti
Haitian Words and Phrases
Language
Haiti
has two official languages, French and Creole. French was
the only official language until 1987 when Creole was officially
recognized, however, Creole is without question the most prevalent
language in Haiti. Large quantities of people only speak Creole.
Haitian
Creole is the most spoken form of Creole in the world and
derives about 90 percent of its words from French. It also
contains words derived from African languages, Arawak, Taynos,
Caraibes, Spanish and English.
The word
Creole can be traced to the Portuguese word crioulo: criado
meaning "raised" (as in a raising a child); "servant"
plus a diminutive suffix. Originally the word was used to
describe second-generation African slaves and Europeans born
in the Americas. Eventually it was used by linguists to refer
to a specific type of language.
There
are two theories as to how Creole developed.
- The
language was used as a form of communication between masters
and enslaved people.
- The
language was created by the enslaved people to communicate
amongst themselves due to the different African dialects.
Although
Creole is spoken by the majority of the population it is still
seen as inferior and only French is spoken in schools. This
limits the availability of education to a majority of Haitians
and has resulted in a large illiteracy rate.
Haitian
Creole
Creole is written phonetically. Each letter is pronounced,
and each word is spelled as it is pronounced.
Family:
Mother – maman
Father – papa, pè
Grandmother – gran-papa, grann
Grandfather – granpè
Son – fis, pitit gason
Daughter – tifi, pitit fi
Sister – sè
Brother – frè
Aunt – tant, matant
Uncle – tonton, monnonk
Numbers:
Zero - zero
One – en, youn
Two – de
Three – twa
Four – kat
Five – senk
Six – sis
Seven – sèt
Eight – uit
Nine – nèf
Ten – dis
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Colours:
white – blan
gray – gri
black – nwa
red – rouj
violet – vyolèt
yellow – jòn
green – vè, vèt
pink – roz
orange – zoranj
brown – maron
blue – ble
gold – lò
silver – ajan, lajan
Other
words and phrases:
Ti – little (contraction of the French word “petite”)
Bocor – Voodoo priest
Bon nuit – Goodnight
Ba bay – Good-bye
Bonjou! - Good morning!
Pa gen pwoblem - No problem
Komon ou ye? - How are you?
Atansyon! - Attention!/Watch out!
Piti piti - A little bit
Anpil - A lot
Komon ou ye? - How are you?
Mesi – Thanks
Tout bagay anfom? - Is everything OK? |
French
The French alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet. It uses
the standard 26 letters:
The French
language uses accent marks. They are acute (´), grave
(`), circumflex (^), diaeresis (¨), and the cedilla(¸).
The most frequent combinations are: à é è
ù ç â ê î ô û
ë ï ü. Accent marks have no impact on the order
of the alphabet.
Acute
Used only on the letter “e” to changes the vowel
sound.
Grave
Has two uses. On the letter “e” it marks the
distinct quality of the vowel. It is also used as a grammatical
mark, serving to distinguish between the preposition à
("to") and the verb a (present tense of avoir);
and où ("where") and ou ("or").
Circumflex
Used on all of the vowels to mark the former presence of
the letter “s” in the spelling of the word.
Diaeresis
Used on the vowels “e”, “i” and
“u” to indicate that the second of a pair of
vowels is to be pronounced as a separate vowel rather than
being treated as silent.
Cedilla
When the cedilla accent is used, words where “c”
would normally represent /k/ would represent /s/ instead.
Seasons:
Winter – hiver
Spring – printemps
Summer – été
Autumn – automne
Family:
Mother – mère
Father – père
Grandmother – grand-mère
Grandfather – grand- père
Son – fils
Daughter – fille
Sister – sœur
Brother – frère
Aunt – tante
Uncle – oncle
Colours:
white – blanc
gray – gris
black – noir
red – rouge
purple – violet
yellow – jaune
green – vert
pink – rose
orange – orange
brown – brun
blue – bleu
gold – or
silver – argent |
Numbers:
Zero - zéro
One – un
Two – deux
Three – trois
Four – quatre
Five – cinq
Six – six
Seven – sept
Eight – huit
Nine – neuf
Ten – dix
Other
Words/Phrases:
Please – S’il vous plait
Thank-you – Merci
Excuse me – excusez-moi
How are you? – Comment allez-vous?
Have a nice day – bonne journee
Hello – Bounjour
Good-bye – Au revoir
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