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Expressions/ vocabulary

Pa bay kò ou pwoblèm – Do not trouble yourself (Do not worry – pa enkyete ou!)

 

Pa bay tèt ou pwoblèm – do not trouble yourself

 

What do these two sentences have in common? They can be used interchangeably depending on where you are in Haiti.  Tèt is the most commonly used word.

 

Reflexive Pronoun :  Tèt (means head; Kò means body) – self as in oneself

 

In Haitian Creole, Tèt and Kò are often used to translate the reflexive pronouns.  They are followed by the Creole personal pronouns.

 

For example, while conjugating, you will use “Tèt” + followed by the prounouns as follows:

 

M defann tèt mwen – I defend myself

 

Ou defann tèt ou – You defend yourself

 

Li defann tèt li – He/she defends him/herself

 

Nou defann tèt nou – We defend ourselves

 

Nou defann tèt nou – You (plural) defend yourselves

 

Yo defann tèt yo – They defend themselves

 

Example:  Tigason an t-ap chache kont avèk Tifi-a.  Ti fi-a kale-l byen kale.  Ti fi-a defann tèt li – this boy was picking on this girl.  The girl beat him up.  She defended herself.

 

Chache kont avèk / chache batay avèk – to bully, to pick a fight

 

Based on the preceding, you can now study the following:

 

myself - tèt mwen
yourself - tèt ou
him/her/it -self - tèt li
ourselves - tèt nou
yourselves - tèt nou
themselves - tèt yo

 

Egzèsis:  Conjugate and use these verbs in sentences:

 

Pran swen tèt – to take care of one’s self.  Take care of yourself

 

Renmen tèt – to love oneself.  Young women, love yourselves

 

Rayi tèt – to hate oneself – Do not hate yourself.  Hating your parents is hating yourself

 

Respekte tèt – to respect oneself.  Study hard and obtain good grades to become a successful man

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Sa-k Pase ou lè ou gen malkadi ?  What happens to you when you seize ?

 

M tonbe atè epi m kòmanse detire.  Kò-m vin byen rèd – I fall to the ground and start to stretch.  My body becomes very hard

 

M gen mal tèt / tèt mwen ap fè-m mal / M gen tèt fè mal – I have a headache

 

Lè m gen mal gòj, m pa ka vale anyen ditou.  M sèlman bwè ji ak soup – When I have a sore throat, I can not swallow at all.  I can only drink juice and have soup. 

 

M gen mal do  / Do-m ap fè-m mal  aprè-m fin jwe foutbòl – I have a backache after playing football

 

M gen mal dan.  M pèdi apeti-m – I have a tooth ache.  I lose my appetite.

 

Lè-m gen fè mal, m kriye anpil – When I have a stomach ache, I cry a lot

 

Ki moun ki gen lafyèv nan klas la?  Who has fever in the class?

 

Òfelen yo gen dyare / Òfelen yo gen vant mennen.  Direktè òfelina mennen yo al wè yon doktè.

 

Granmoun yo ap mouri ak doulè bò isitla. Pa gen medikaman pou ba yo pou soulaje pèn yo – The grownups are dying with arthritis.  There is no medication to give to them to releave their pain

 

Souye nen timoun yo.  Yo anrimen.  Yo gripe – Wipe the kids’ nose.  They have a cold / they have a runny nose (larim ap koule soti nan nen yo).

 

M pa ka wè tout larim sa yo nan nen timoun yo.  Yo pa ka respire byen – I can not see all this mucus in the kids’ nose.  They can not breathe well.