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

In order to speak Jamaican Patois properly, you have to disregard some of the rules of standard English. One of the main differences between standard English and Jamaican Patois is the practice of using the third person plural pronoun after a noun  to indicate the plural. Huh?? Okay, here is an example

Standard English:  The boys are coming.

Jamaican Patois: Di bwoy dem a come.

Notice how it isn’t “di bwoys a come”. Basically, you need to add a “dem” after each singular noun to make the noun plural. Here are few additional examples to make this even clearer.

1) Di ooman dem call im Charles. = The women call him Charles.

2) Di yout dem a wuk wit mi bredda. = The youth work with my brother.

3) Yuh see dem pickney? = Did you see those kids?

In example three “dem” was placed in front of pickney which implies the plural. Basically, you need to remember to use “dem” in front or after a singular noun. And remember, there are no official rules to Jamaican Patois, but if you are striving for the most authentic patois, this will be essential. Likkle more!

If you want to speak Jamaican Patois and master the Jamaican language, you are going to have to know the grammar. Just like any language there are some rules, but the cool thing is, the rules in Jamaican Patois are not like many other languages…so let’s get into it.

In the Jamaican language, the singular and plural are the same word, so here is an example:

one cat, two cat = one cat, two cats

one bwoy, two bwoy = one boy, two boys

“Member Dat!” or Remember that even things in the plural are spoken in the singular form, so you do not need to add the plural prefix -S like in our boring Standard English.

Often times there is a clear need to indicate a plural, the third person plural pronoun written as dem, is placed after the noun. Here are some examples:

Di bwoy dem = The boys

Gwaan chat wit di gyal dem = Go chat with the girls

Call di pickney dem = Call the children/kids

Okay yardies, hopefully you get the point that “S” in Jamaican Patois is just not necesary so save it for a conversation with your grandma (unless she is Jamaican!). You might want to know why the language evolved this way. Basically, according to L. Emilie Adams, the practice of using the third person plural pronoun (Dem=Them) after the noun (ie. bwoy, gyal) to indicate the plural is an African linguistc characteristic brought to Jamaica by the Africa Slaves. Most Jamaicans are the descendants of peoples speaking languages of the Niger-Congo family. This language family is the largest in Africa and are mostly known for adding the third person plural pronoun to indicate the plural.

There are so many things from Africa that Jamaica has preserved and also reinvented. It’s just so cool to see things often oppressed survive. There are so many other Africanism in Jamaican Patois, that I have to break it up. So stay tuned and … visit www.jamaican-slang.com to learn about Jamaican Patois.

More Time!