Haitian Creole language

Haitian Creole
Kreyòl ayisyen
Spoken in	Haiti (official)  Bahamas  Canada  Cuba  Dominican Republic  France  United States
Native speakers	12,000,000[1]  (date missing)
Language family	French Creole Antillean Creoles Haitian Creole
Official status
Official language in	Haiti
Regulated by	Ministère de l'éducation nationale et de la formation professionnelle
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ht
ISO 639-2	hat
ISO 639-3	hat
Linguasphere	51-AAC-cb
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Haitian Creole language (Kreyòl ayisyen; pronounced: [kɣejɔl ajisjɛ̃]), often called simply Creole or Kreyòl, is a language spoken in Haiti by about twelve million people, which includes all Haitians in Haiti and via emigration, by about two to three million speakers residing in the Bahamas, Cuba, Canada, France, Cayman Islands, French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Belize, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Ivory Coast, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, and United States.

Haitian Creole is one of Haiti's two official languages, along with French. It is a creole based largely on 18th to 21st-century French, some African languages, as well as Arabic, Spanish, Taíno, Arawak and English.

Partly due to efforts of Félix Morisseau-Leroy, since 1961 Haitian Creole has been recognized as an official language along with French, which had been the sole literary language of the country since its independence in 1804. Its orthography was standardized in 1979. The official status was maintained under the country's 1987 constitution. The use of Haitian Creole in literature has been small but is increasing. Morisseau was one of the first and most influential authors to write in Haitian Creole. Since the 1980s, many educators, writers and activists have written literature in Haitian Creole. Today numerous newspapers, as well as radio and television programs, are produced in Haitian Creole.

As required by the Joseph C. Bernard (Secrétaire d'État de l'éducation nationale) law of 18 September 1979,^[2] the Institut Pédagogique National established an official orthography for Kreyòl, and slight modifications were made over the next two decades. For example, the hyphen (-) is no longer used, nor is the apostrophe. The only accent accepted is the grave accent (à, è, or ò).

Contents 1 Origins 2 Orthography and phonology 3 Grammar 3.1 Pronouns 3.2 Plural of nouns 3.3 Possession 3.4 Indefinite article 3.5 Definite article 3.6 "This" and "that" 3.7 Verbs 3.7.1 Copulas 3.7.2 "to have" 3.7.3 "there is" 3.7.4 "to know" 3.7.5 "to be able to" 3.7.6 Tense markers 3.7.7 Negating the verb 4 Lexicon 4.1 Sample 4.2 Nouns derived from trade marks 4.3 Nèg and blan 5 Examples 5.1 Salutations 6 Proverbs and expressions 6.1 Proverbs 6.2 Expressions 7 French-based orthography 8 Usage outside of Haiti 9 Translation efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake 10 See also 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External links

Origins

There are many theories on the formation of the Haitian Creole language.

One states that a form of creole had already started to develop on West African trading posts before the importation of African slaves into the Americas, and that since many of those slaves were being kept for some amount of time near these trading posts before being sent to the Caribbean, they would have learned a rudimentary creole even before getting there.

Another one states that Haitian creole was mostly locally developed when slaves speaking languages from the Fon family started to relexify them with vocabulary from the French language.

Orthography and phonology

This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Haitian creole has a systematic orthography^[3] where spelling strictly follows pronunciation, except for proper nouns and foreign words. According to the official standardized orthography, Haitian Creole is composed of the following 32 sounds : a, an, b, ch, d, e ,è, en, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, ng, o, ò, on, ou, oun, p, r, s, t, ui, v, w, y, z. Of note is the absence of letters c, q, u and x. Letter k is to be used for the sounds of letters c and q. Letter u is always associated with another letter (ou, oun, ui), while letter i (and its sound) is used to replace the single letter u in French words. As for letter x, its sound is produced by using the combination of letters k and s, k and z, or g and z.

Consonants Haitian orthography IPA Examples nearest English equivalent b b bagay before ch ʃ cheve shoe d d dènye do f f fig festival g ɡ gòch gain h h hinghang hotel j ʒ jedi vision k k kle sky l l lalin clean m m moun moon n n nòt note ng ŋ hinghang feeling p p pakèt spy r ɣ rezon ruin s s sis six t t tonton telephone v v vwazen vision w w wi we y j pye yes z z zero zero

Vowels Haitian orthography IPA Examples nearest English equivalent a (or à before an n) a abako pàn apple an (when not followed by a vowel) ã anpil genre e e kle clay è ɛ fèt festival en (when not followed by a vowel) ɛ̃ mwen doyen i i lide unique o o zwazo sole ò ɔ deyò sort on (when not followed by a vowel) ɔ̃ tonton bon appétit ou u kafou you oun (when not followed by a vowel) ũ youn moon ui ɥi lannuit huis-clos

• There are no silent letters in Haitian creole[unless it is being written with the traditional orthography].
• All sounds are always spelled the same, except when a vowel carries a grave accent ⟨`⟩ before ⟨n⟩, which makes it an open vowel instead of a nasal vowel (e.g. ⟨en⟩ for /ɛ̃/ and ⟨èn⟩ for /ɛn/; ⟨on⟩ = /ɔ̃/, but ⟨òn⟩ = /ɔn/; <an> = /ã/, but <àn> = /an/).
• When immediately followed by a vowel in a word, the letters forming the nasal vowels (an, en, on, oun) are to be pronounced separately.

Grammar

Haitian Creole grammar differs greatly from standard Parisian French; the language is closer to 17th century popular or colonial French spoken by farmers and other lower class white people who were in the colony of Sainte-Domingue. It is much more analytical: for example, verbs are not inflected for tense or person, and there is no grammatical gender—meaning that adjectives and articles are not inflected according to the noun. The primary word order (SVO) is the same as in French.

Many grammatical features, particularly pluralization of nouns and indication of possession, are indicated by appending certain markers, like yo, to the main word. There has been a debate going on for some years as to whether these markers are affixes or clitics, and therefore what should be used to connect the suffixes to the word: the most popular alternatives are a dash, an apostrophe or a space. It makes matters more complicated when the "suffix" itself is shortened, perhaps making only one letter (such as m' or w').

Although the lexicon is mostly French, the sentence structure is like that of the West African Fongbe language.

French	Fongbe	Haitian Creole	English
Ma bécane/becane moi[in 17th century popular french] my-sing-f bike	Keke che bike my	Bekàn mwen bike my	My bike

French	Fongbe	Haitian Creole	English
Mes bécanes my-PL bikes	Keke che le bike my-PL	Bekàn mwen yo bike my-PL	My bikes

Pronouns

There are six pronouns, one pronoun for each person/number combination. There is no difference between direct and indirect. Some are of French origin, others are not.

person/number	Creole	Short form	French	English
1/singular	Mwen	M'	Je, me, moi	"I", "me"
2/singular	Ou (*)	W'	Tu, te, vous	"thou", "you" (sing.)
3/singular	Li	L'	Il, elle, on	"He", "she"
1/plural	Nou	N'	Nous	"We", "us"
2/plural	Nou or Ou (**)		Vous	"You" (pl.)
3/plural	Yo	Y'	Ils, Elles	"They", "them"

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

Plural of nouns

If a noun is definite, it is pluralized by adding yo at the end. If it is indefinite, it has no plural marker, and its plurality is determined by context.

Haitian Creole	French	English
Liv yo	Les livres	The books
Machin yo	Les autos	The cars
Fi yo mete rob	Les filles mettent des robes	The girls put on dresses.

Possession

Possession is indicated by placing the possessor or possessive pronoun after the item possessed. This is similar to the French construction of chez moi or chez lui which are "my place" and "his place", respectively. In northern Haiti, an "a" or "an" is placed before the possessive pronoun.

Unlike in English, possession does not indicate definiteness ("my friend" as opposed to "a friend of mine"), and possessive constructions are often followed by a definite article.

Haitian Creole	French	English
Lajan li	Son argent	"His/her money"
"Fanmi mwen" or "fanmi m" or "fanmi an m"	Ma famille	My family
Kay yo	Leur maison / Leurs maisons	"Their house" or "their houses"
"Papa ou" or "papa a ou"	Ton père	Your father
Chat Pierre a	Le chat de Pierre	Pierre's cat
Chèz Marie la	La chaise de Marie	Marie's chair
Zanmi papa Jean	L'ami du père de Jean	Jean's father's friend
Papa vwazen zanmi nou	Le père du voisin de notre ami	Our friend's neighbor's father

Indefinite article

The language has two indefinite articles, yon or simply "on" depending on regional dialects ,/jõ/, roughly corresponding to English "a/an" and French un/une. Yon is derived from the French il y a un, (lit. "there is a/an/one"). It is used only with singular nouns, and it is placed before the noun:

Haitian Creole	French	English
Yon/on kouto	Un couteau	A knife
Yon/on brezo	Une cravate	A necktie

Definite article

There is also a definite article, roughly corresponding to English "the" and French le/la. It is placed after the noun, and the sound varies by the last sound of the noun itself. If the last sound is an oral consonant and is preceded by an oral vowel, it becomes la:

Haitian Creole	French	English
kol la	La cravate	The tie
Liv la	Le livre	The book
kay la	La maison	The house

If the last sound is an oral consonant and is preceded by a nasal vowel, it becomes lan:

Haitian Creole	French	English
Lamp lan	La lampe	The lamp
Bank lan	La banque	The bank

If the last sound is an oral vowel and is preceded by an oral consonant, it becomes a:

Haitian Creole	French	English
kouto a	Le couteau	The knife
Peyi a	Le pays	The country

If a word ends in "mi" or "mou" or "ni" or "nou", it becomes an:

Haitian Creole	French	English
Fanmi an	La Famille	The family
Mi an	Le mur	The wall

If the last sound is a nasal vowel, it becomes an:

Haitian Creole	French	English
Chyen an	Le chien	The dog
Pon an	Le pont	The bridge

If the last sound is a nasal consonant, it becomes nan, but may also be "lan"

Haitian Creole	French	English
Machin nan	La voiture	The car
Telefòn nan	Le téléphone	The telephone
Madanm nan / Fanm nan	La dame / La femme	The woman

"This" and "that"

There is a single word sa that corresponds to French ce/ceci or ça, and English "this" and "that". As in English, it may be used as a demonstrative, except that it is placed after the noun it qualifies. It is often followed by a or yo (in order to mark number): sa a = This here / that there (ceci / cela)

Haitian Creole	French	English
Jaden sa bèl	Ce jardin est beau	This/that garden is beautiful.

As in English, it may also be used as a pronoun, replacing a noun:

Haitian Creole	French	English
sa se zanmi mwen	C'est mon ami	This/that is my friend
sa se chen frè mwen	C'est le chien de mon frère	This/that is my brother's dog

Verbs

Many verbs in Haitian Creole are the same spoken words as the French infinitive, but there is no conjugation in the language; the verbs have one form only, and changes in tense are indicated by the use of tense markers.

Haitian Creole	French	English
Li ale travay maten an	Il va au travail le matin.	He/she goes to work in the morning.
Li dòmi swa a	Il dort le soir.	He/she sleeps in the evening.
Li li bib la	Il lit la Bible.	He/she reads the Bible.
Mwen fè manje	Je fais à manger.	I make food. (I cook)
Nou toujou etidye	Nous étudions toujours.	We always study.

Copulas

The concept expressed in English by the verb "to be" is expressed in Haitian Creole by three words, se, ye and sometimes e.

The verb se (pronounced "say") is used to link a subject with a predicate nominative:

Haitian Creole	French	English
Li se frè mwen	Il est mon frère	he is my brother
Mwen se yon doktè	Je suis médecin/docteur	I am a doctor
Sa se yon pye mango	C'est un manguier	That is a mango tree
Nou se zanmi	Nous sommes amis	We are friends

The subject sa or li can sometimes be omitted with se:

Haitian Creole	French	English
Se yon bon ide	C'est une bonne idée	That is a good idea
Se nouvo chemiz mwen	C'est ma nouvelle chemise	This is my new shirt

For the future tense, such as "I want to be", usually vin "to become" is used instead of se.

Haitian Creole	French	English
Li pral vin bofrè m (mwen)	Il va devenir mon beaufrère	He will be my brother-in-law
Mwen vle vin yon doktè	Je veux devenir un docteur	I want to become a doctor
Sa pral vin on pye mango	Ça va devenir un manguier	That will become a mango tree
Nou pral vin zanmi	Nous allons devenir amis	We will be friends

"Ye" also means "to be", but is placed exclusively at the end of the sentence, after the predicate and the subject (in that order):

Haitian Creole	French	English
"Ayisyen mwen ye" = "Mwen se ayisyen"	Je suis haïtien	I am Haitian
Koman ou ye?	Comment êtes-vous?	How are you?

The verb "to be" is not overt when followed by an adjective, that is, Haitian Creole has stative verbs. So, malad means "sick" and "to be sick":

Haitian Creole	French	English
Mwen gen yon zanmi ki malad	J'ai un ami malade	I have a sick friend.
Zanmi mwen malad.	Mon ami est malade.	My friend is sick.

"to have"

The verb "to have" is genyen, often shortened to gen.

Haitian Creole	French	English
Mwen gen lajan nan bank lan.	J'ai de l'argent dans la banque.	I have money in the bank.

"there is"

The verb genyen (or gen) also means "there is/are"

Haitian Creole	French	English
Gen anpil ayisyen nan florid.	Il y a beaucoup d'Haïtiens en Floride.	There are many Haitians in Florida.
Gen yon moun la.	Il y a quelqu'un là.	There is someone here or there.
Pa gen moun la.	Il n'y a personne là.	There is nobody here or there.

"to know"

There are three verbs which are often translated as "to know", but they mean different things.

konn or konnen means "to know" + a noun (cf. French connaître).

Haitian Creole	French	English
Eske ou konnen non li?	Connais-tu son nom ?	Do you know his/her name?

konn or konnen also means "to know" + a fact (cf. French savoir).

Haitian Creole	French	English
Mwen pa konnen kote li ye.	Je ne sais pas où il est	I do not know where he/she is.

(note pa = negative)

The third word is always spelled konn. It means "to know how to" or "to have experience". This is similar to the "know" as used in the English phrase "know how to ride a bike": it denotes not only a knowledge of the actions, but also some experience with it.

Haitian Creole	French	English
Mwen konn fè manje.	Je sais comment faire à manger	I know how to cook (lit. "I know how to make food")
Eske ou konn ale Ayiti?	As-tu été à Haïti ?	Have you been to Haïti? (lit. "Do you know to go to Haiti?")
Li pa konn li franse.	Il ne sait pas lire le français	He/she cannot read French (lit. "He knows not how to read French.")

Another verb worth mentioning is fè. It comes from the French faire and is often translated as "do" or "make". It has a broad range of meanings, as it is one of the most common verbs used in idiomatic phrases.

Haitian Creole	French	English
Kòman ou fè pale kreyol?	Comment as-tu appris à parler créole ?	How did you learn to speak Haitian Creole?
Marie konn fè mayi moulen.	Marie sait faire de la farine de maïs.	Marie knows how to make cornmeal.

"to be able to"

The verb kapab (or shortened to ka, kap or kab) means "to be able to (do something)". It refers to both "capability" and "availability", very similar to the French "capable".

Haitian Creole	French	English
Mwen kapab ale demen.	Je peux y aller demain	I can go tomorrow.
Petèt m ka fè sa demen.	Je peux peut-être faire ça demain	Maybe I can do that tomorrow.
Nou kab ale pita	Nous pouvons aller plus tard	We can go later.

Tense markers

There is no conjugation in Haitian Creole. In the present non-progressive tense, one just uses the basic verb form for stative verbs:

Haitian Creole	French	English
Mwen pale kreyòl.	Je parle créole	I speak Creole

Note that when the basic form of action verbs is used without any verb markers, it is generally understood as referring to the past:

Haitian Creole	French	English
mwen manje	j'ai mangé	I ate
ou manje	tu as mangé	you ate
li manje	il/elle a mangé	he/she ate
nou manje	nous avons mangé	we ate
yo manje	ils/elles ont mangé	they ate

(Note that manje means both "food" and "to eat" – m ap manje bon manje means "I am eating good food".).

For other tenses, special "tense marker" words are placed before the verb. The basic ones are:

Tense marker	Tense	Annotations
te	simple past
t ap	past progressive	a combination of te and ap, "was doing"
ap	present progressive	With ap and a, the pronouns nearly always take the short form (m ap, l ap, n ap, y ap, etc.)
a	future	some limitations on use
pral	near or definite future	translates to "going to"
ta	conditional future	a combination of te and a, "will do"

Simple past or past perfect:

mwen te manje – "I ate" or "I had eaten"

ou te manje- "you ate" or "you had eaten"

li te manje – "he/she ate" or "he/she had eaten"

nou te manje – "we ate" or "we had eaten"

yo te manje – "they ate" or "they had eaten"

Past progressive:

mwen t ap manje – "I was eating"

ou t ap manje – "you were eating"

li t ap manje – "he/she was eating"

nou t ap manje – "we were eating"

yo t ap manje – "they were eating"

Present progressive:

m ap manje – "I am eating"

w ap manje – "you are eating"

l ap manje – "he/she is eating"

n ap manje – "we are eating"

y ap manje – "they are eating"

Note: For the present progressive ("I am eating now") it is customary, though not necessary, to add "right now":

M ap manje kounye a – "I am eating right now"

Also, those examples can mean "will eat" depending on the context of the sentence.

M ap manje apre m priye – "I will eat after I pray" / Mwen pap di sa – "I will not say that"

Near or definite future:

Mwen pral manje – "I am going to eat"

Ou pral manje – "you are going to eat"

Li pral manje – "he/she is going to eat"

Nou pral manje – "we are going to eat"

Yo pral manje – "they are going to eat"

Future:

N a wè pi ta – "See you later" (lit. "We will see (each other) later) from the old patois (Nous sommes à voire plus tard > > Nous à voire plus tard) meaning: we are to see later.

Other examples:

Mwen te wè zanmi ou yè – "I saw your friend yesterday"

Nou te pale lontan – "We spoke for a long time"

Lè l te gen uit an... – "When he/she was eight years old..."

M a travay – "I will work"

M pral travay – "I'm going to work"

N a li l demen – "We'll read it tomorrow"

Nou pral li l demen – "We are going to read it tomorrow"

Mwen t ap mache epi m te wè yon chen – "I was walking and I saw a dog"

Additional time-related markers:

fèk – recent past ("just")

sòt – similar to fè'k

They are often used together:

Mwen fèk sòt antre kay la – "I just entered the house"

A verb mood marker is ta, corresponding to English "would" and equivalent to the French conditional tense:

Yo ta renmen jwe – "They would like to play"

Mwen ta vini si m te gen yon machin – "I would come if I had a car"

Li ta bliye w si ou pa t la – "He/she would forget you if you weren't here"

Negating the verb

The word pa comes before a verb (and all tense markers) to negate it:

Rose pa vle ale – "Rose doesn't want to go"

Rose pa t vle ale – "Rose didn't want to go"

Lexicon

Although most of the lexicon is derived from French, with significant changes in pronunciation and morphology (often, the French definite article was retained as part of the noun. For example, the French definite article la in la lune ("the moon") was incorporated into the Creole noun for moon: lalin), Haitian creole inherited many words of different origins, among them Wolof, Fon, Kongo, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Taino and Arabic, a testament to the numerous contacts with different cultures that led to the formation of the language.

Being a living language, Haitian Creole creates and borrows new words to describe new or old concepts and realities. Examples of this are "fè bak" which was borrowed from English and means 'to move backwards' (the original word derived from French is "rekile" from reculer), and also from English, "napkin", which is being used as well as the original Creole word "tòchon".

Sample

Creole	IPA	Origin	English
anasi	/anasi/	(Akan) "ananse"	"spider"
annanna	/ãnãna/	(Taino) "anana", "pineapple" (The word was absorbed into standard French)	"pineapple"
Ayiti	/ajiti/	(Taino)	"Haiti(mountainous land)"
bagay	/baɡaj/	(French) bagage, "baggage"	"thing"
bannan	/bãnãn/	(French) banane, "banana"	"Plantains"
bekàn	/bekan/	(French) bécane /bekan/	"bicycle"
boko	/boko/	(Fon) bokono	"sorcerer"
Bondye	/bõdje/	(French) Bon Dieu /bõdjø/	"God" or "God!"/"Good Lord!"
chenèt	/ʃenɛt/	(French) (Antilles) la quénette	"mamoncillo", "chenette", "guinip", "gap" [nb 1]
chouk	/ʃõk/	(Fula) Chuk – to pierce, to poke	"poke"
deyè	/dɛjɛ/	(French) derrière /dɛʁjɛʁ/	"behind"
diri	/diɣi/	(French) du riz /dy ʁi/	"rice"
fig	/fiɡ/	(French) figue /fiɡ/	"Banana"
je	/ʒe/	(French) yeux /jø/ (plural of "oeil")	"eye"
kiyèz, tchok, poban	/kijɛz, tʃɔk, pobã/		"hog banana" [nb 2]
kle	/kle/	(French) clé /kle/, "key"	"wrench" or "key"
kle kola	/kle kola/	(French) clé /kle/, "key" + Eng. "cola"	"bottle opener"
kònfleks	/kõnfleks/	(English) "corn flakes"	"breakfast cereal"
kaoutchou	/kautʃu/	(French) caoutchouc, "rubber"	"tire"
lakay	/lakaj/	(French) la cahutte /la kayt/ "the hut"	"house"
lalin	/lalin/	(French) la lune /la lyn/	"moon"
li	/li/	(French) Lui	"he/she/him/her"
makak	/makak/	(French) macaque /makak/	"monkey"
manbo	/mãbo/	(Kongo) mambu or Fongbe nanbo	"voodoo priestess"
marasa	/maɣasa/	(Kongo) mabasa	"twins"
matant	/matãt/	(French) ma tante, "my aunt"	"aunt", "aged woman"
moun	/mun/	(French) monde	"people/person"
mwen	/mwɛ̃/	(French) moi /mwa/	"me","I","myself"
nimewo	/nimewo/	(French) numéro /nymeʁo/	"number"
oungan	/ũɡã/	(Fon) houngan	"voodoo priest"
Ozetazini	/ozetazini/	(French) Aux États-Unis /etazyni/	"United States"
piman	/pimã/	(French) piment /pimã/	a very hot pepper
pann	/pãn/	(French) pendre /pãdʁ/, "to hang"	"clothesline"
pwa	/pwa/	(French) pois /pwa/, "pea"	"bean"
seyfing	/seifiŋ/	(English) surfing	"sea-surfing"
tonton	/tõtõ/	(French) tonton	"uncle", "aged man"
vwazen	/vwazɛ̃/	(French) voisin /vwazɛ̃/	"neighbor"
yo	/jo/	(Fon) ye	"they / them / their" – plural marker
zonbi	/zõbi/	(Kongo) nzumbi	"soulless corpse / living dead / ghost"
zwazo	/zwazo/	(French) les oiseaux /wazo/ (frontal "z" kept with liaison)	"bird"

1. ^ The gap between a person's two front teeth.
2. ^ A banana that is short and fat, not a plantain and not a conventional banana; regionally called "hog banana" or "sugar banana" in English.

Nouns derived from trade marks

Many trademarks have become common nouns in Haitian Creole (as happened in English with "aspirin" and "kleenex", for example).

• kolgat (Colgate) or pat – "toothpaste"
• jilèt (Gillette) – "razor"
• pampèz (Pampers) or kouchèt – "diaper" or (Br) "nappy"
• kodak (Kodak) – "camera"
• frijidè (Frigidaire) – "refrigerator"
• dèlco (Delco) – "generator"
• iglou (Igloo) or tèmòs (Thermos) – "cooler"
• chiklèt (Chiclets) – "chewing gum"
• magui (Maggi) – "bouillon cube"
• kitèks (Cutex) – "nail polish"
• djip (Jeep) – "SUV"
• douko (Duco) – "automobile paint"
• koteks (Kotex) – "sanitary napkin"

Nèg and blan

Despite similar words in French (nègre, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people and blanc, meaning white person), the meanings they carry do not apply in Haiti. The term nèg from nègre in French is generally used for any man, regardless of skin color (i.e., like "guy" or "dude" in American English). blan is generally used for a foreigner of any color. Thus a non-black Haitian man might be called nèg—although the circumstances in which this might occur are unclear—while an African American would probably be referred to as a blan.

Etymologically, the word nèg is derived from the French "nègre" and is cognate with the Spanish negro ("black", both the color and the people)

There are many other Haitian Creole terms for specific tones of skin, such as grimo, bren, roz, mawon, etc. Some Haitians consider such labels as offensive because of their association with color discrimination and the Haitian class system, while others use the terms freely.

Examples

Salutations

• A demen! – See you tomorrow!
• A pi ta! – See you later!
• Adye! – Good bye! [Permanently]
• Anchante! – enchanted (Nice to meet you!)
• Bon apre-midi! – Good afternoon!
• Bònn nui! – Good night!
• Bonjou! – Good day! / Good morning!
• Bonswa! – Good evening
• Dezole! – Sorry!
• Eskize m! – Excuse me!
• Ki jan ou rele? – What is your name?
• Ki jan ou ye? – How are you?
• Ki laj ou? – What is your age? (How old are you?)
• Ki laj ou genyen? – How old are you?
• Ki non ou / ki non w? – What is your name?
• Koman ou rele? – What is your name?
• Koman ou ye? – How are you?
• Kon si, kon sa – So, so
• M ap boule – I'm managing (I'm burning) [Response to "sak pase" or "sak ap fèt"]
• M ap viv – I'm living
• Mal – Bad
• Mwen byen – I'm well
• Mwen dakò – I agree
• Mwen gen...an – I am...years old
• Mwen la – I'm fine
• Mwen rele... – My name is...
• N a wè pi ta! – We will see later (See you later!)
• Non m se... – My name is...
• Orevwa! – Good bye [Temporarily]
• Pa mal – Not bad
• Pa pi mal – Not so bad
• Padon! – Pardon! / Sorry! Move!
• Padonne m! – Pardon me! Forgive me!
• Pòte w byen! – Carry yourself well! (Take care!)
• Sak ap fèt? – What's going on? What's up? [Informal]
• Sak pase? – What's going on? / What's happening? [Informal]
• Tout al byen – All goes well (All is well)
• Tout bagay anfòm – Everything is in form (Everything is fine)
• Tout pa bon – All is not good (All is not well)

Proverbs and expressions

Haitian Creole is a very figurative language, and as such uses a lot of proverbs and colourful expressions to illustrate many situations. Speakers of Haitian creole will use them frequently, showing knowledge of the language and of the Haitian culture.

Proverbs

• Men anpil, chay pa lou – Unity creates strength (With many hands, the burden is light) – The Haitian Creole equivalent of the Haitian motto written in French "L'union fait la force".
• Apre bal, tanbou lou – There are consequences to your actions
• Sak vid pa kanpe – You cannot work without food. (Literally: An empty sack does not stand)
• Pitit tig se tig – Like father like son. (Literally: The son of a tiger is a tiger).
• Ak pasyans w ap wè tete foumi – Anything is possible. (Literally: With patience you will see the breast of the ant)
• Bay kou bliye, pòte mak sonje – The giver of the blow forgets, the carrier of the scar remembers
• Mache chèche pa janm dòmi san soupe – You will get what you deserve
• Bèl dan pa di zanmi – Not all smiles are friendly
• Bèl antèman pa di paradi – A beautiful funeral does not guarantee heaven
• Bel fanm pa di bon menaj – A beautiful wife does not guarantee a happy marriage
• Dan konn mode lang – People who work together sometimes hurt each other (Literally: Teeth are known to bite the tongue)
• Sak rive koukouloulou a sa rive kakalanga tou – What happens to the turkey can happen to the rooster too
• Chak jou pa Dimanch – Your luck will not last forever. (Literally: Not every day is Sunday)
• Fanm pou yon tan, manman pou tout tan – Wife for one time, mother for all time
• Nèg di san fè, Bondye fè san di – People say without doing, God does without saying
• Sa Bondye sere pou ou, lavalas pa ka pote l ale – What God has saved for you, nobody can take it away
• Nèg rich se milat, milat pov se nèg – A rich negro is a mulatto, a poor mulatto is a negro
• Pale franse pa di lèspri ou – Speaking French does not mean you are smart
• Wòch nan dlo pa konnen doulè wòch nan solèy – The rock in the water does not know the pain of the rock in the sun
• Ravèt pa janm gen rezon devan poul – Justice will always be on the side of the stronger
• Si ou bwè dlo nan vè, respèkte vè a – If you drink water from a glass, respect the glass
• Si travay te bon bagay, moun rich ta pran l lontan – If work were a good thing, the rich would have grabbed it a long time ago
• Sèl pa vante tèt li di li sale – Let others praise you (Said to ridicule those who praise themselves)
• Bouch granmoun santi, sak ladan l se rezon – Wisdom comes from the mouth of old people

Expressions

• Se lave men, siye l atè – It was useless work (Literally: Wash your hands and wipe them on the floor)
• M ap di ou sa kasayòl te di bèf la – Mind your own business
• Li pale franse – He cannot be trusted, he is a trickster. (Literally: He speaks French)
• Kreyòl pale, kreyòl konprann – Speak plainly, do not deceive (Literally: Creole spoken is Creole understood)
• Bouche nen w pou bwè dlo santi – You have to accept a bad situation (Literally: Pinch your nose to drink smelly water)
• Mache sou pinga w pou ou pa pile sou sa w te konnen – You need to be careful to avoid known problems
• Tann jis nou tounen pwa tann – To wait forever (Literally: Wait until you become a tender pea) – Word play on "tann", which means "to wait" and also "tender"
• San pran souf – Without taking a breath – Continuously

French-based orthography

Alongside the usage of a phonetic orthography used to represent Creole, there also exists in Haiti a French based orthography or rather several variations of this which were present long before the introduction of the phonetic orthography. Today l'orthographe francisée or the Frenchified orthography is still used though mainly among upper and middle class Haitians who were raised speaking Parisian French alongside French Creole . It is also used by educated school children and depending on the social background of a student the phonetic and French orthographies may be used at the same time . There have been arguments against the phonetic writing system of Creole. The main complaint is that it looks nothing like French and so may hinder the learning of French at school; hence the reason Creole is often prohibited in schools in Haiti and the other Francophone Islands of the Caribbean. Another complaint is that the phonetics of the current standard rely on Germanic letters K and W, that are not present in French.^[4] Unlike the phonetic orthography the French orthography has no official rules or regulations on spelling therefore spelling often varies depending on the writer; thus some may use exact French spelling and others may adjust the spelling of certain words to represent the Creole accent and others may drop silent letters at the end of words since Creole rarely uses the liaisons of French; the result of which is that a phrase represented phonetically like Li ale travay le maten may be represented many ways using the French orthography.

• Li ale travay le maten > Lui aller travail le matin > Li aller travail le matin
• Koman ou ye? > Comment 'ous yest? > Commen ou yé?
• Pa gen problem > Pas gagne problème > Pa guin problème
• Tout bagay an fòm > Toute bagaye en forme > Toute bagail en fóme
• Pa koun ye a > Pas counne hier à > Pa counne hié à
• Nou ap chache > Nous ap' chercher > Nou ap chácher
• Nou bezwen on doktè tout swit > Nous besoin un docteur toute suite > Nou besouin on docté toute suite
• Kote lopital la? > Côté l'hôpital là?

Usage outside of Haiti

Haitian Creole is used widely among Haitians who have relocated to other countries, particularly the United States and Canada. Some of the larger Creole-speaking populations are found in Montreal, Quebec (where French is the first official language), New York City, Boston, and Central and South Florida (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach). To reach out to the large Haitian population, government agencies have produced various public service announcements, school-parent communications, and other materials in Haitian Creole. For instance, Miami-Dade County in Florida sends out paper communications in Haitian Creole in addition to English and Spanish. In the Boston area, the Boston subway system and area hospitals and medical offices post announcements in Haitian Creole as well as English. North America's only Creole-language television network is HTN, based in Miami. The area also has more than half a dozen Creole-language AM radio stations.

Haitian language and culture is taught in many colleges in the United States as well as in the Bahamas. Indiana University has a Creole Institute [2] founded by Dr. Albert Valdman where Haitian Creole, among other facets of Haiti, are studied and researched; the University of Kansas, Lawrence has an Institute of Haitian studies, founded by Dr. Bryant Freeman. Additionally, the University of Massachusetts Boston, Florida International University, and University of Florida offer seminars and courses annually at their Haitian Creole Summer Institute. Tulane University, Brown University, Columbia University, and University of Miami are also offering classes in Haitian Creole. The University of Oregon and Duke University will soon be offering classes as well.

Haitian Creole is the second most spoken language in Cuba, where over 300,000 Haitian immigrants speak it. It is recognized as a language in Cuba and a considerable number of Cubans speak it fluently. Most of these speakers have never been to Haiti and do not possess Haitian ancestry, but merely learned it in their communities. In addition, there is a Haitian Creole radio station operating in Havana.^[5] The language is also spoken by over 150,000 Haitians (although estimates believe that there are over a million speakers due to a huge population of illegal aliens from Haiti^[6]) who reside in the neighboring Dominican Republic ,^[7] although the locals do not speak it.

Translation efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake

After the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010, international help badly needed translation tools for communicating in Haitian Creole. Furthermore, international organizations had little idea who to contact as translators. As an emergency measure, Carnegie Mellon University released data for its own research into the public domain.^[8] Microsoft Research and Google Translate have implemented alpha version machine translators based on the Carnegie Mellon data.

In addition, several free apps have been published for use on the iPhone & iPod Touch, including learning flashcards by Byki and two medical dictionaries, one by Educa Vision and a second by Ultralingua, which includes an audio phrase book and a section on cultural anthropology.

See also

• Radio Haiti-Inter

References

Further reading

• Degraff, Michel (2001). "Morphology in Creole genesis: Linguistics and ideology". In Kenstowicz, Michael. Ken Hale: A life in language. Cambridge: MIT Press. pp. 52–121 
• Degraff, John AS (2005). "Linguists' Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Creole Exceptionalism". Language in Society 34 (4): 533–591 
• Fattier, Dominique (1998). "Contribution à l'étude de la genèse d'un créole: L'Atlas linguistique d'Haïti, cartes et commentaires (Dissertation)". Language in Society (Université de Provence) 
• Spears, Arthur K., and Carole M. Berotte Joseph, eds. The Haitian Creole Language: History, Structure, Use, and Education (Lexington Books; 2010) 297 pages. Topics include Creole and English code-switching in New York City, Creole in education in Haiti, and Creole and French in Haitian literature.
• Turnbull, Wally R. (2000). Creole Made Easy, Light Messages. ISBN 0-9679937-1-7.

External links

• What is Haitian Creole? by Hughes St.Fort, with references to recent research by linguists on the subject.
• Haitian Creole materials from the Institute of Haitian Studies at the University of Kansas – Complete pdf versions of books created by Bryant C. Freeman, PhD, as well as the accompanying mp3 audio supplements.
• Haitian Creole – English Medical Reference by Ultralingua – Made for iPhone & iPod Touch, using texts authored by Bryant C. Freeman, PhD.
• Microsoft Translator supporting Haitian Creole. Since Carnegie Mellon began to make the data on Haitian Creole publicly available (see external link below), a team at Microsoft Research used it to help develop an experimental, web-based system for translating between English and Haitian Creole.
• Public release of Haitian Creole language data by Carnegie Mellon. In response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies Institute (LTI) publicly released spoken and textual data they've compiled on Haitian Creole so that translation tools desperately needed by doctors, nurses and other relief workers on the earthquake-ravaged island could be rapidly developed.
• Haitian Creole – English, English – Haitian Creole Dictionary
• Creole Language and Culture – OpenCourseWare from the University of Notre Dame
• UN Declaration of Human Rights in Haitian Creole
• RFI – Kréyòl Palé Kréyòl Konprann (radio program)
• Common Creole Words and Phrases
• Saint Lucia Creole guide
• Google Translator supports Haitian Creole in alpha mode.
• Byki Learning Flashcards – for iPhone by Transparent Language
• Haitian Creole – English Medical Dictionary for iPhone, by Educa Vision
• Haitian Fashion Magazine
• Haitian Creole Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)

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