Trinidadian French-Creole

Trinidadian French Creole is a French creole of Trinidad spoken by descendants of the French Creole migrants from the French Antilles. All the creoles have slight differences in words, especially with regional dialects. Trinidad also has different ways to say or spell the same word in Creole.
The Cedula of Population of 1783 laid the foundation and growth of the population of Trinidad. French planters and the Africans they enslaved, free coloureds and mulattos, from the French Antilles of Martinique, Grenada, Guadeloupe and Dominica, migrated to Trinidad during the French Revolution. The immigrants established local communities in Blanchisseuse, Champs Fleurs, Paramin, Cascade, Carenage, Laventille, etc. Trinidad's population, which numbered less than 1,400 in 1777, soared to over 15,000 by the end of 1789.
In 1797, Trinidad became a British crown colony, with a French-speaking and Patois-speaking population. Today, Trinidadian French Creole can be found spoken in regional pockets among the elders, particularly in the villages of Paramin and Lopinot. The language is facing a slow revival in these villages, other rural and fishing villages also have Creole remnants. The language was the lingua franca for parts of Trinidad for many decades in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The language is still spoken in Paramin, Blanchisseuse and other smaller villages, and there are efforts both online and in person to try preserve and revitalise it.
Singers such as Mighty Sparrow have sung in Trinidadian Creole ' are sung exclusively in Trinidadian Creole.
Many Trinidadians went to Venezuela during the oil boom and brought Creole along with them and hence known as Venezuelan French Creole, which is also a dying language which has ongoing preservation efforts.

Grammar

Alphabet

The creole alphabet is very similar to the English and French alphabet, however there are some differences, the first is the absence of the letters “C”, “Q”, “U” and “X”, another difference is the inclusion of a few extra letters. The Alphabet is as follows:

Letter in Creole	Letter in Creole word	Creole word translation	Closest English equivalent
A	Ba	To give	Attack
An	Tan	Time	”Uh”
B	Bazodi	Dazed	Bank
Ch	Chapo	Hat	Ship
D	Doudou	Darling	Dump
Dj	Djab	Devil	Jump
E	Paime	Paime	Cheese
É	Éd'é	To help	”Eh”
È	Lè'	When	fest
En	Enmen	To like/love	Enter
F	Fou-fou	Crazy	Fat
G	Gangang	Grandmother	Great
H	Hòtòto-so	To liberally	Him
I	Itali	Italy	Universe
J	Janbé	To jump/cross over	Japan
K	Klas	Class	Kick
L	Lanmou	To love	Lick
M	Mako	Nosey	Make
N	Nèg	Black/black person	Nice
Ng	Lanng	Tongue/Language	Sang
O	Obliyé	Must	Bot
Ò	Ògannizé	To organise	Door
On	Nonk/Tont'on	Uncle	On
Ou	Ouvé	To open	You
P	P'aski	Because	Perchance
R	Ro'ro	Row	R'ight
S	Si	If	Sat
T	Tanbou/Tambou	Drum	Track
Tj	Tjè	Heart	”Tch”
V	Vann	To sell	Van
W	Woulé	To roll	What
Y	Yonn	One	Yes
Z	Zabòka	Avocado	Zoom

Nouns and articles

In Trinidadian Creole the word 'yonn/onn' is added to the front of a noun as a prefix for the indefinite article. For example 'yonn-kanot' means 'a boat' or 'on-chuval' means 'a horse'. There is no significant difference between 'yonn' or 'onn', although yonn is used more often.
The word for the definite article is added on the end of a word instead of at the front like with 'Yonn'. So in Trinidadian to say 'the boat' would result in 'kanot-a'. If the word ends in a vowel then '-la' is added instead of '-a' so instead of 'mizyé-a' the correct form would be 'mizyé-la'. There are also other forms of the definite article such as “An” and “Lan” but they aren’t used as often.
The possessive is also added as a suffix, for example the phrase 'my house' would be 'lakay-mwen'. Adjectives usually come after the word they describe 'fanm-a byen', although sometimes Creole takes the English sentence structure and so the adjective can come before the word it describes, hence byen fanm-a could also be acceptable.

Negatives

To make something negative then 'pa' — similar to the French pas — is inserted before the verb. Sometimes the form 'si pa' is used. Examples are below:

Mwen pa pale mwen si pale pa

Verbs

Most verbs end in “é” such as “chanté” and “manjé”, so similar to French, and there are also irregular verbs which end in other letters such as “vini” or “bizwenn”. The verbs do not change regardless of gender and when the action takes place.

Sample Verbs

Alé: to go
Ataké: Attack
Bizwenn: to need
Chanté: to sing
Degouté: to dislike
Édé: to help
Hayi: to hate
Lanmou: to love
Mové: to be malicious
Manjé/Mangé: to eat

Gender

Creole does not have gender, although some words taken from French can be gendered such as Moulat and Moulatwess, however verbs, nouns and adjectives never change due to he gender of the speaker or person being mentioned.

Pronouns

The Pronouns of Trinidadian French Creole are the exact same as most other Creoles.

In English	In Creole	Example	Example translation
I/my/me	Mwen	Mwen ka kapab chou-chou	I can whisper
You	Ou	Ou ka hayi	You can hate
He/she/it	i/li	i sé yonn-kounoumounou	He is an idiot
We/us	Nou	Nou ka enmen jwé	We like to play
You	Zò	Zò moun sé sòt	You people are silly
They/them/their	Yo	Yo sé zami-mwen	They are my friends

To form the possessive pronoun the relevant possessive pronoun is added to the word “sla” for example the word for “yours” is “sla-ou” For the plural form it is necessary to add “a” “an” or “la” after the word. For example “yours” plural would be sla’w-a.

Tenses

In Creole the verb does not change depending on who or when the action is being done, but the word before the verb does

Tense in Creole	Example	Example translation
Ka	Mwen ka alé	I am going
No Tense marker	Mwen alé	I went
Té	Mwen té alé	I had gone
Té ka	Mwen té ka alé	I was going/I used to go
Ka alé	Mwen ka alé alé	I am going to go
Kay/ké	Mwen kay/ké alé	I will go

Sample vocabulary

Most words in Trinidadian French Creole are derived from French. However, some come from other sources. The ones from different sourced are marked with a note below.

Jouvé: daybreak of carnival
Bakanal: raucous party
Dingolay: carefree dancing/to fall over
Karnaval: Carnival
Kaka: faeces
Djab: devil
Bondjé/bondyé: good god/good lord
Mako: nosey
Glo/''dlo: water
Mwen: me/I/myself
Ou: you
i''/li: he/she/it
Nou: we
Zo: you
Yé: they
Manjhay/''manjé: to eat
Kwiyé/quieah: to call
Obiyah/obeah: magic medicine
Pou tchouwé/pou tjwé: to kill
Chuval: horse
Ninnin: riddle
Wanga: magic charm
Dou-dou : darling/sweetheart
Konne/konnet/konnen: to know
Soti: to come from
Balyé: broom
Chanté'': to sing

Sample sayings

Some regularly used sayings in Trinidadian French-Creole:Tonné ka fè pè mé zéklè ka tjwé: The thunder frightens, but the lightning smites
Makak konnèt ki bwa monté '' Makak konnè ki bwa monté: Monkey knows which tree to climbMakak sav ki pyé-bwa i ka monté: Monkey knows which tree of wood it climbs
Sé bouch kabwit ki ka wand kabwit: The goat betrays itself by its own voice.
Sé yon-vole ki ka twapé lót:'' It takes a thief to catch a thief.

Food names taken from Trinidadian French-Creole

Trinidad is known for its diverse food, some of which are habitually referred to with their Creole names rather than in English;
Callaloo is a dish with a mix of Madeira vine or dasheen leaves, okra, crab and ham. This dish was originally part of the culture of French creole life in Trinidad and other French influenced islands, but now has a broader popularity and has been referred to as a "Trinidadian masterpiece". The word callaloo is found in other French and Portuguese Creole languages, with a number of theories available as to the underlying etymology.
Pain Mi or paime is a dish made of sugared cornflour mixed with other ingredients such as coconut, pumpkin, spices such as nutmeg among other ingredients, and made into a paste, then it is covered in banana leaves and cooked in boiling water. Boiling water is known as “Bouya” in Trinidad and Grenada.
Doudou/Doudouce mangoes : A type of Caribbean mango.
Zabwicot: Peaches