My. Your. His. Her. Its. Our. Their.
Word order
Noun + My / Your / His / Her / Its
Noun + Possessive
What is a expressing possession?
My, Your, His, Her, Its, & Our are words that are used when expressing possession. This is important when talking about relationships and ownership. Here are some examples in English about expressing possession.
Relationships:
My father lives in Haiti.
Your mother lives in Haiti.
His sister lives in Haiti.
Her brother lives in Haiti.
Its owner lives in Haiti.
Our grandmother lives in Haiti.
Their grandfather’s aunt lives in Haiti.
Ownership:
I ate my food.
I ate your food.
I ate his food.
I ate her food.
I ate its food.
I ate our food.
I ate their food.
In the examples above, do you notice where the pronoun is placed? Before the noun. In English the word order is Possessive + Noun. In Haitian Creole, the order of the words is reversed. It is
Noun + Mwen / Ou / Li / Nou / Yo.
Noun + Possessive
Haitian possessives are placed after a person, place or thing. Let us examine the examples from before.
Relationships:
Papa mwen rete Ayiti. My father lives in Haiti.
Manman ou rete Ayiti. Your mother lives in Haiti.
Sè li rete Ayiti. His sister lives in Haiti.
Frè li rete Ayiti. Her brother lives in Haiti.
Mèt li rete Ayiti. Its owner lives in Haiti.
Grann nou rete Ayiti. Our grandmother lives in Haiti.
Matant granpè yo rete Ayiti. Their grandfather’s aunt lives in Haiti.
Ownership:
Mwen te manje manje mwen. I ate my food.
Mwen te manje manje ou. I ate your food.
Mwen te manje manje li. I ate his food.
Mwen te manje manje li. I ate her food.
Mwen te manje manje li. I ate its food.
Mwen te manje manje nou. I ate our food.
Mwen te manje manje yo. I ate their food.
As you have probably noticed from the three lessons about pronouns, mwen, ou, li, nou, and yo can have multiple jobs in a sentence. They can mean different things depending on where it is placed in a phrase. We learned that the same pronoun can be used an an subject pronoun (in the beginning of a sentence), object pronoun (after a verb or preposition) or when expressing possession (after a person, place or thing).
Short forms of Mwen, Ou, Li, Nou, and Yo
IIn 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
My
Ou / W
Your
Li / L
His. Her, Its.
Nou / N
Our
Yo / Y
‘Y’ cannot be used for ‘their’
M. W. L. N. You can use them after a vowel sound.
Mwen te manje manje m.
Manman w rete Ayiti. (‘an’ is a vowel sound)
Frè n rete Ayiti.
When not to use M, W, L, N, and Y?
Do not use the short forms of Pronouns after a consonant sound. The long form must be used after a consonant sound. For example:
Mèt li rete Ayiti.
Grann nou rete Ayiti.