Jamaican Slang EditorialTHE Blog for Jamaican Slang, Patois, Reggae, Rastafari, Real T’ing dem and Jamaica

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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I am excited about people learning to speak Jamaican Patois. The thing about Patois is that it is a fun and fast language. Although, learning words is helpful phrases take the learning process to the next level. So here are the 5 Key Phrases to Help You Speak Jamaican:

1) Wha gwaan my yoot? = What’s going on my friend (buddy)?

2) Mi a go foreign = I am going out of the country (abroad).

3) Mi nuh know = I don’t know.

4) We run tings, tings nuh run we = We are in control or We run things and things do not run us.

5) Mi gwaan chat wid di gyal dem = I am going to talk to the girls.

I hope these “likkle” helpful points allow you to speak Jamaican like a Jamaican!

Soon Come

To learn more about Jamaican Patois and learn how to Speak Jamaican, visit www.jamaican-slang.com