I don't think English can truly express the deep emotions of our Jamaican people. When we are really passionate about something "wi draw fi di the patwa"(we speak Patois). Patois is Jamaican creole and it is a hybrid of the African and the English language, essentially resulting from slavery. Slaves and indentured workers brought to the island, carried with them their native tongue and, mixed with the language of the colonizers resulted in the hybrid Patois. Patois has been made popular world wide by persons such as Miss Lou, and various Reggae, Dancehall artistes
| Patois | English | Sentence |
| mi | me, I | mi waan go (I want to go) |
| yuh | you | yuh nuh hear? (don’t you hear?) |
| dem | them, they, forms all plurals | call dem (call them) car dem (the cars) |
| wi | we | wi want justice (we want justice) |
| cyan | can’t | mi cyan bodda (I cant be bothered) |
| deh | there | go out deh (go out there) |
| a go | am going to | mi ago a dung deh ( I am going down there) |
| a fe | its for | a fe him own (it is his) |
| outa doh | outside | go outa doh nuh (go outside) |
| inna | in | she inna di house (she is in the house) |
| madda | mother | mi madda a call yuh (my mother is calling you) |
| fada | father | mi fada a go come now (my father is on his way) |
| pickney | child | pickney stop nuh (child, stop) |
| mek | make | mek me se’t (let me see it) |
| di | the | di man cyan come now (the man cannot ocme now) |
4 comments:
Very nice mini Patois dictionary!
thank you stunner..you have an awesome blog.
Thank you for this! I've been meaning to ask you about it, since what I hear (here in Mtl) is mostly creole and not much patois, but from some of the comments you got I could see it was different. Thanks!
Big up to the blog admin and other visiting/reading this. Saying hi from straight outta yawd (kingston,jamaica). Keep it up girl.
Truly out of many one people as we love all no matter race, colour, citizenship.
Im back.
Greetings
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