Me. You. Him. Her. It. Us. Them.
Word order
Action + Object Pronoun …
Place / Location + Object Pronoun …
Description of Noun + Object Pronoun …
Verb / Action / Preposition + Object Pronoun …
What is a Pronoun?
Me, You, Him, Her, It, Us, & Them are called pronouns. Since these pronouns usually appear at the end of a sentence, we also call them object pronouns. A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun in a sentence. For example, in English we say:
John gives me food.
John gives you food. (You = one Noun)
John gives him food.
He gives her food.
He gives it food.
John gives us food.
John gives you [all] food. (You = more than one Noun)
They gives them food.
In the sentences above, Me, You, Him, her, It, Us, & Them can replace a person, place or thing in a sentence. Instead of saying “John gives Peter food”, we can can say “John gives him food”. Instead of saying “John and Marie give the children food”, we can say “they gives them food”.
The same rule applies to Haitian Creole. Haitian object pronouns generally appear after a verb or a preposition. This is in addition to what you learned in the previous lesson.
Mwen
Me
Ou
You (one Noun)
Li
Him. Her. It.
Nou
Us
Nou
You (more than one Noun)
Yo
Them
Examples
Now let us use the previous examples:
Jan ban mwen manje. John gives me food.
Jan ba ou manje. John gives you food.
Jan ba li manje. John gives him food.
Li ba li manje. He gives her food.
Li ba li manje. He gives it food.
Jan ban nou manje. John gives us food.
Jan ban nou manje. John gives you [all] food.
Yo ba yo manje. They gives them food.
Telefòn nan sou li. The telephone is on it. (sou = preposition)
As you can see, nou can be used as us and you (more than one Noun). In addition, there is no distinction between masculine, feminine, or neuter. Lastly, Haitian pronouns can mean different things depending on where it is placed in a sentence. Thus we can use the same pronoun many times in one sentence. Here are some more example:
Short forms of Mwen, Ou, Li, Nou, and Yo
In English, sometimes we use short forms of words because it is easier and saves time. For example, instead of saying refrigerator, we say fridge. In Creole we apply the same rule to Mwen, Ou, Li, Nou, and Yo. This is in addition to what you learned in the previous lesson.
Mwen / M
Me
Ou / W
You (one Noun)
Li / L
Him. Her. It.
Nou / N
Us
Nou / N
You (more than one Noun)
Yo / Y
‘Y’ cannot be used for ‘them’
M. W. L. N. You can use them after a vowel sound.
Jan ban m manje. (‘an’ is a vowel sound)
Jan ba w manje. John gives you food.
Yon chen te pran l. A dog took it. (‘te’ is used to indicate past tense)
Li vle n gen kè kontan? He wants us to be happy.
When not to use M, W, L, N, and Y?
Do not use the short forms of all pronouns after a consonant sound. The long form must be used after a consonant sound. For example:
Jan kont ou. John is against you.
Nou avèk li. We are with him.