Lesson 10

Question 1

Another Future Tense

Answer 1

Va - used in only some parts of Haiti; contracted forms are used everywhere in Haiti

W'a - you will
N'a - We (You all) will
M'a - I will
Y'a - They will
L'a - He/She/It Will

Question 2

Guidelines when combining tenses and negative with verb

Answer 2

Tense before verb
Negative before verb
Negative before Tense then verb

Negative past tense - PAT (wasn’t, weren’t didn’t, haven’t, etc)
Negative future - Pa Pral or PAP (won’t, will not)
Negative continuous - PAP (am not, isn’t, aren’t)

Question 3

Common uses of gen with negative tense

Answer 3

Remember that Gen can mean there is/there are. Think of it this way - the room HAS two women OR there are two women in the room. In Creole, gen means has, but also means there is/are.

Te gen - there was, there were (past)
Ap gen - there is/are going to be (continuous)
Pral gen - there will be (future)
Pa gen - there isn’t/aren’t (negative)
Pap gen - there won’t be, isn’t/aren’t going to be (negative future or continuous)
Pat gen - there weren’t/wasn’t (past negative)

Question 4

Conditional tense marker (would)

Answer 4

Ta is used to mark conditional tense

Ta pral - was/were going to, would have
Pa ta - would not, wouldn’t, would not have
Pa tap - was/were not going to

Question 5

Not yet (poko) with different tenses

Answer 5

Poko ap - not yet in continuous
Poko pral - not yet in future tense
Poko te OR potko - not yet in past tense

Question 6

janm with negative and tenses (they always come before - just like with verbs!)

Answer 6

Te janm - did ever
Pral janm - will ever
Pat janm - didn’t ever, wasn’t ever, weren’t ever
Pap janm - will never, won’t ever, am/is/are never …ing, isn’t/aren’t ever

Question 7

Implied past tense

Answer 7

Te is only used to mark past tense when the event being referred to happened at least early in the day. Something that happened just recently, tense is implied. What did you do? - Kisa w fè?
What did you tell me? - Kisa w di mwen?

Question 8

Past Progressive/ongoing/continuous

Answer 8

Te + ap = TAP

Was/were …ing verb (was eating, were talking, etc)

Question 9

The many forms of “so”

Answer 9

When used as an interjection or pause - donk
SO…..I went to see them - DONK, m te al wè yo.

When used as a superlative - si tèlman or tèlman
I was SO VERY tired last night - Mwen te SI TÈLMAN fatige yé swa.
I was SO tired last night - Mwen te TÈLMAN fatige yè swa.

When used to indicate the result of something - sa fè
I was hungry, SO I ate - M te grangou SA FÈ m te manje.

When it answers the question for what/why - pou
She bought toys SO we could play - Li te achte jwèt pou nou ka jwe.