PPPP - Perfecting Personal Pronouns in Patois (More Jamaican Patois Grammar)
Posted by | Posted in Random "Ting" | Posted on 15-07-2009 | Email This Post
Perfecting Personal Pronouns in Patois, that is kind of a tongue twister and if you do not get the hang of this lesson you might get twisted with your Jamaican Patois. One of the main differences between standard English and Jamaican Patois is in the personal pronouns used. Here is a break down of Personal Pronouns (Singular/Plural) in Patois versus Standard English:
Singular
1st person (Patois): mi, I 1st person (English): I or me
2nd person (Patois): yu/yuh 2nd person (English): you
3rd person (Patois): im, shi, har/her, i’, it, hit 3rd person (English): he, she, him, her, it
Plural
1st person (Patois): wi 1st person (English): we, us
2nd person(Patois): yu/yuh, uno/unu 2nd person (English): you, you all
3rd person (Patois): dem 3rd person (English): they, them
Okay, so now that you have this very academic breakdown of some of the personal pronouns, you might be asking yourself how to use them. Well, here are a few examples to help you better understand using these pronouns in your day to day Jamaican Patois conversations.
Examples:
Mi cyan explain di problem. = I cannot explain the problem.
Unu neva come pon ma yaad. = You all never come to my house.
Yu haffi drink a likkle wata. = You have to drink a little water.
Hopefully, that makes things clear, but there is one more element you need to know…the Rasta way of using personal pronouns, but in order to do that an explanation must follow each phrase. Now go out and practice some Jamaican Patois with yuh bredren!
While you are studying these lessons, drink some ginger beer and listen to this classic Gregory Isaacs!
Gregory Isaacs - My Number One
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