vanmorenosl/Envato Elements
Fòk ou pase nan maladi pou konn remèd
Meaning
The Haitian Creole proverb fòk ou pase nan maladi pou konn remèd means you need to go through an illness to know the remedy.
The lesson of this proverb is to learn from past problems or difficulties so that you can make better decisions in the future.
Translation: Learning from past problems, Learning from past trials, Learning from a difficult situation.
Literal Meaning: You need to go through an illness to know the remedy.
Example 1
Fòk ou pase nan maladi pou konn remèd. M pap fè vitès ankò. M te manke fè yon gwo aksidan akoz m t ap fè vitès.
You learn from past experiences. I am not going to speed anymore. I almost got into a serious accident because I was speeding.
Example 2 *
Non, mèsi. M fè alèji ak manje sa a. Dènye fwa m te manje l, figi m te gonfle nèt. Fòk ou pase nan maladi pou konn remèd.
No, thank you. I am allergic to this food. Last time I ate it, my face swelled up completely. I learned from that past experience.
Learn from Whose Experience? *
It is important to remember that, in many cases, you can apply this proverb to learning from your own past experiences.
As you can see in Example 2, the person is making a statement that actually applies to himself even though the proverb begins with fòk ou pase nan maladi... (you need to go through an illness).
In this proverb, ou can be understood in a general sense, similar to the general use of you in English. Therefore, a person can use the proverb when talking about a lesson they learned from their own experience.