“The past is always tense, the future perfect”
– Zadie Smith
Do you hear the difference when a Haitian uses E, È, or EN? We have noticed that beginners, even intermediate learners, have a problem clearly hearing these three letters. So the 1st question:
How do you pronounce the letter E?
Is it like the English “a” in the word fake?
Watch the E video to find answers and tips on pronouncing E correctly.
We have also prepared a short video about the difference between te, tè, and ten.
An awesome technique to see if your pronunciation is on point is to shadow or mimic a native speaker.
Watch the practice video below and follow the 6 steps below to improve your pronunciation.
- Highlight all the words with the letter E
- Listen to the audio while reading along
- Record yourself reading the text aloud
- Compare your recording to the original audio
- Repeat until your pronunciation is as close to the original as possible
- Have a native speaker give you feedback
So, how close was your pronunciation to the original?
Other language learners see the benefits of shadowing. Here’s a cool comment we found on YouTube:
Se Rule #2
The haitian word “te” can:
- be a past tense marker
- mean “tea”
- mean “T-square”
- be used as “te nan je”. White opacity of cornea, leukoma
*** “te” does not translate to “was” ***
If you forget this, you will not speak Creole correctly.
In the last newsletter, you learned not to use “se” before adjectives and prepositions when stating general facts and truths (simple present tense).
What happens to “se” when we are talking about something that happened in the past?
Here’s rule #2.
1. Drop “se”
2. Use “te” before verbs, adjectives and prepositions in the past tense
Sample Sentences
Mwen te mache maten an. ✓
I walked this morning.
Li te difisil. ✓
It was hard.
Jan te la. ✓
Jean was here.
Chat yo te nan chanm nan. ✓
The cats were in the room.
Write down or record yourself saying where were you this time yesterday, last week, last month, and last year.
Rule #3 will be featured in the next newsletter.
Haitian Culture: Storytelling
Original Source. Author: Free, Bryant C., founder and director of the University of Kansas Institute of Haitian Studies
Review Questions
Ki sa mo sa yo vle di:
- Kont? Nou sot manje kont mango nou la.
- Mele? Entèl pa salye m, ki mele m!
- Koukouy? Koukouy yo te nan jaden an.
Ki sa fraz sa yo vle di:
- Bondye bay kont manje pou toule de
- Chak koukouy klere pou je li
- Men anpil, chay pa lou
- Yo manje vant deboutonnen
If you do not have access to native Haitians, we recommend buying a dictionary. Our favorite ones are listed here. All the key words and phrases above are listed in our favorite dictionary: Haitian Creole – English Dictionary.
Men kèk kesyon ou ka mande yon Ayisyen:
- Ak kiyès ou renmen travay? Poukisa?
- Ak kiyès ou pa renmen travay? Poukisa?
- Ki dènye fwa ou te manje vant deboutonnen?
- Ki sa w pi renmen manje?
- Ki sa Bondye fè pou ou? (Haitians generally have no problem talking about God)
Earthquakes in Haiti
You cannot avoid the discussion of earthquakes and natural disasters with Haitians. It has greatly affected the country and its people over the past decade.
Use the video Deboulonnay Tè to learn more vocabulary and to listen to the role of Haitian agriculture in earthquakes.
You can also use one of our post on Instagram to get a head start on new vocabulary words.
When actively listening:
- write down all the words and sentences that you understood
- repeat them out loud
- record yourself reading what you wrote
- compare the recording to the original video
- repeat until your pronunciation is as close to the original as possible
Send Us Your Answers
Feel free to send us your answers to the questions.
