What You Will Learn
1. Word order of indefinite articles (a or an)
2. Word order of definite articles (the)
3. Word order of possessive pronouns (my, your,etc.)
4. Word order of adjectives (nice, good, bad, etc.)
Word Order of Indefinite Articles
- 1. Like English, the Creole indefinite yon article always come before a word.
- 2. The Haitian Creole indefinite article yon means a or an.
Examples
1. I need a box of candy.
Mwen vle yon bwat sirèt.
2. He is a good friend.
Li se yon bon zanmi.
Word Order of Definite Articles
- 1. Unlike English, the definite article always comes after a word in Haitian Creole.
- 2. Haitian Creole have five words for definite article the.
- 3. They are a, la, an, lan, and nan.
Examples
1. I need the box of candy.
Mwen vle bwat sirèt la.
2. He is the good friend.
Li se bon zanmi an.
Word Order of Possessive Pronouns
- 1. Like English, pronouns that show ownership always come after a word.
- 2. The Haitian Creole possessive pronouns are mwen, nou, ou, li and yo.
Examples
1. I need my box of candy.
Mwen vle bwat sirèt mwen.
2. He is my good friend.
Li se bon zanmi mwen.
Word Order of Adjectives - Tricky At First
- 1. An adjective can come before or after a word depending on the situation.
- 2. But, in most situations, adjectives usually come after a word in Haitian Creole.
- 3. The image below shows some adjecives that often come before an adjective in Haitian Creole.
Before the Noun Examples
1. She is a beautiful woman.
Li se yon bèl fi.
2. You have a big house.
Ou gen yon gwo kay.
After the Noun Examples
1. No, the product will make me have ugly hair.
Non, pwodui a ap fè mwen gen cheve lèd.
2. You have really long hair.
Ou vrèman gen cheve long.
Be Patient
It will take time to get used to the word order in Haitian Creole -- particularly the word order of adjectives.
Start by remembering the adjectives that usually come before a noun. The rest will be much easier, because they usually come after a noun.