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Kreyol Lwiziyen

The Language of French Louisiana

Preme ci pro vider iste information in Interlingua.

Grammar

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you need letters, forms, etc.
translated into Louisiana Creole?

Click Here
for an online
English-Kreyol Lwizien
Glossary.
Updated 4/14/2K.

Go here to learn some
Common Expressions.

Articles
Nouns
Pronouns
Demonstratives
Adjectives
Adverbs
Verbs
Use Verbix's
Kreyol Verb
Conjugator
Negatives
Questions
Numbers &Time

Pronunciation
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to learn
about pronunciation.

Paj la Istwa yè en Kreyol Lwiziyen la.
The Louisian Creole Story Page

Lyen yè pou lòt paj yè sou Kreyol Lwiziyen la
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Articles
Indefinite article is placed before the noun.........en
Definite article is attached by hyphen to the end of the noun
To nouns ending in a consonant add -la.
latab = table
en latab = a table
latab la = the table
latab yè = the tables

2. after a pronounced vowel add -a
ri = street
en ri = a street
ri a = the street
ri yè = the streets

Nouns
Nouns have no gender

Plurals
for plural hyphenate the plural article yè to the end of the noun.
bèf = cow
bèf yè = (the) cows

Possession
Cajun doesn't use 's to show possession, nor does it use "of". To express possession or "of the", you place the thing possessed in front of the possessor.
chom Jean. Jean's room.
chwal nom la. the man's horse. / the horse of the man

Pronouns
There is only one form of the pronoun. Any change is caused for liaison and not for case.

	singular	plural
1st	m' / mo	nous
2nd	t'/to	' / vous
3rd	l / li	y / yè

When the pronoun precedes a verb, it is the subject.
When it follows a verb, it is the direct object.
When two pronouns follow a verb, the first is the indirect object and the second is the direct object.
When the pronoun precedes a noun, it is the possessive adjective.
For the subject of a verb, you usually use the abbreviated form.
For the subject of an adjective or linking verb, use the full form.
For the object of the verb, hyphenate the full form to the end of the verb. For mo use mwen.br>
Possessive Pronouns

motchen	mine	noutchen	ours
totchen	yours	voutchen	you (pl)
sotchen	his, hers, its	yètchen	theirs

Se mo liv. = It's my book.
Se motchen. = It's mine.
Se li chwal. = It's his horse.
Se sotchen. = It's his.

Demonstratives
To use the demonstrative as an adjective, hyphenate it to the noun.
To use the demonstrative as an pronoun with the meaning this one",etc., you the demonstrative alone.

for "that" add la to the noun
for "this" add sila
for "those" add yè
for "these" add silayè

en chwal = a horse
chwal an = the horse
chwal la =that horse
chwal silaa = this horse
chwal yè = the horses
chwal yè = those horses
chwal silayè = these horses

M' wa chwal-saa. = I see that horse.
M' wa sila. = I see that one.

Adjectives
Adjectives require no verb and are translated as "to be..."
Adjectives follow their nouns.
malad = sick
Mwen malad. = I am sick.
Nou malad. = We are sick.

Comparison
tro = too (much)
pli = more, most
place pli before the adjective = -er, more

Li vye = He is old.
Li pli vye = He is older.
Li pli vye.= He is oldest.

more..... than	pli .... pase
less .... than	mo ... pase

Li pli vye pase so frè. = He is older than his brother.
Li mo bel pase so sè. = He is less pretty than his sister.

Adverbs
In making adverbs from adjectives, -man is like the English -ly.
ra = rare
rareman = rarely
conplèt = whole
conplètman = wholly

Ga isit=Here is/are
Ga (la)=There is/are (Voila)
Enna=There is/are (Il y a)

Verbs

The base verb is used as infinitive, as imperative, as simple present and simple past with time being learned from context. Other tenses are made by adding verbal particles.

For "to be" use se between nouns in present, use t_ for past tense, sa for future, and sé for conditional..

Go here to see the complete conjugation of a Louisiana Creole verb.There should be no irregular verbs.

To Be
The linking verbs se / yè connects two nouns in a "to be" statement. Se is not needed if there is a noun and an adjective. Yè is used for emphasis. See below for details.

Types of Sentences.
A. To be sentences with a noun and verbal adjective.
Mo la. = I am tired.
Yè en marchè. = They are at the market.

In this sentence, you may still use the verb particles even though the verb is understood (or missing).

B. To be sentences with sè.
Use se if
1. predicate is a noun (it is a ...)
John se en jadinye. = John is a gardener.

2. subject is ki sa (that)
Ki sa se bon. = That is good.

3. predicate is non-inherent adjective/noun
4. emphatic statements with yè
Se kreyol mo yè. = I am Cajun
move predicate to second position with subject in third and add yè

C. To be sentence without the subject noun.
Se en lameson. = It's a house.

D. Transitive sentences.
These follow the "subject - verb - indirect object - direct object" format.
Vou a wa en gro bato. = You will see a big boat.
Li mont nom yè liv la. = She showed the men the book.( or the book to the children).
Li mont yè liv la.= He showed them the book.
Li mont yè li. = He showed it to them.

E. Transitive/ Intransitive sentence.
Contains a noun phrase subject, a predicate containing an intransitive verb, and, sometimes, one or more adverbials.
Li vini jordi. = He came today.
Anita desann Nouvo Olean. = Anita is going down to ew Orleans.

For To (..Do) Phrases
Use pou, for.
Mo gen tann pou fe sila.
I have time to do this. (pou = for to...)

Relative Sentences.
For (that) relative make two sentences
or add ke between the sentences

Li di li ke li pral. = He told him that he's going.

For the meaning "that which"or "what", you the same format and ki sa in place of ke
Li di li ki sa li we. = He said what he knows

If/Then Statements
In if/then statements the if part uses tè
the then part uses ta

Si mo tè konnen ki sa, mo pa ta fe li. = If I had known that, I would not have done it.

Ability Use ka, kap, or kapab (to be able)

Preference
Temporal subordination
Kann vou a vini, mo a travay. = When you come, I'll be working.
Kann vou tè dormi, mo tè travay.= While you slept, I worked.

Negative
To make a statement negative placepa before the verb.

pa	not
jamen	never
pli	no more/longer
pa ____ aryen	not ____ anything (nothing)
pa ____ pèsonn	not ____ anybody (nobody)

M wa en nom. = I see a man.
M pa oua en nom. = I don't see a man.
Mo jamaen wa nom yè. = I never see men.
M pa wa aryen.= I don't see anything.
M pa wa pèsonn. = I don't see anyone.

Questions?
To make a question without the use of question words, raise your tone at the end of the sentence as in English.

Vou pele Paul. = Your name is Paul.
Vou pele Pal? = Is your name Paul?
Here are the question words.

ki	who
ou	where
ki sa, ki	what
konmyen	how much
ke	which, who
kofè	why

Counting
Go here for the numbers in Kreyol.

Telling Time

Ki le li yè? = What time is it?
Li en er. = It's 1:00.
Ki le li fenmen? = What time does it close?
Li fenmen a dè er. = It closes at 2:00.

1:00 = en er
2:00 = de er
3:00 = trwa er
4:00 = kat er
11:00 = onze er
matin = morning
du matin = in the morning
midi=noon
a midi = at noon
laprèmidi = afternoon
d laprèmidi = in the afternoon

Conjunctions of Time
kann = when
kann = while
anvan = before
aprè = after
jisk=until

plen=a lot

Questions or Comments
Be sure to note which Creole you are asking about.