Appendix:Jamaican Creole

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This appendix provides an overview of Jamaican Creole grammar and concludes with external links to resources for learning and experiencing the language.

Jamaican Creole can be written in two orthographies:

  • Chaka-chaka, an informal orthographic continuum that ranges from standard English spelling to ad-hoc phonetic spelling.
  • Cassidy/JLU orthography, a standardized phonetic orthography. This system is used more here due to its increased attestability.

Jamaican Creole vocabulary is derived largely from, but not exclusively, English.

Nouns

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See: Category:Jamaican Creole nouns

There are no declensions except -dem for the plural form, with di as the definite article and wan as the indefinite article. For example:

  • di buk-dem
    the books
  • wan ailan
    an island

If the plural noun is indefinite it is not necessary to use the -dem marker:

  • Rat nyam chiiz.
    Rats eat cheese.

-dem is also unnecessary when the amount is already stated (quantified):

  • chrii daag
    three dogs

When attached to the end of a proper name it means (person named) and the others:

  • Jan-dem
    John and the others

-dem is used more often for human beings than for animals, and more often for animals than for inanimate objects.

Pronouns

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See: Category:Jamaican Creole pronouns

singular plural possessive
pronoun
singular 		possessive
pronoun
plural 		possessive
adjective
singular 		possessive
adjective
plural 		reflexive
singular 		reflexive
plural
first person mi (I) wi (we) fi mi (mine) fi wi (ours) mi (my) wi (our) miself (myself) wiself (ourselves)
second person yu (you)
shi sub/ar obj (she) 		unu (you all) fi yu (yours) fi unu (yours pl.) yu (your) unu (your pl.) yuself (yourself) unuself (yourselves)
third person im/ihn (he/she) dem/dehn (they) fi im (his/hers)
fi shi/fi ar (hers) 		fi dem (theirs) im/ihn (his/her) dem/dehn (their) imself (himself/herself)
arself (herself) 		demself (themselves)

Adjectives

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See: Category:Jamaican Creole adjectives

Comparative and superlative forms function similar to English:

Verbs

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See: Category:Jamaican Creole verbs

There are no conjugations. The particles a and de are used for the -ing form, did marks the past tense, afi/fi mark obligation or futurity, naa/no mark negativity. Examples of verbs:

Adverbs

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See: Category:Jamaican Creole adverbs

Common adverbs include:

  • de there, de-so right there
  • kyan can
  • kyaahn can't
  • neehn not (negates the meaning of the modified verb)
  • op (intensifier) Used as an aspect marker to indicate a completed action or state
  • ya here, ya-so right here

Short frequent words

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Jamaican Creole has various short particles, prepositions, determiners, conjunctions that occur frequently and are important to understanding the meaning of a sentence. They are listed below all in one place for convenience.

a

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  • Verb: be
    • is, it's
      Jumieka a wan ailan konchri. (Jamaica is an island country.)
    • am, are
      Wi a api. (We are happy)
      Mi a di tiicha. (I am the teacher.)
    • there is, there are
      A tuu apruoch. (There are two approaches)
  • Preposition:
    • Indicates location: at, in, on.
      A mi yaad (at my home)
    • of
      Yunaitid Stiet a Amoerka. (United States of America)
    • to
      Dem go a maakit. Mi a-go a skuul. (They go to the market. I'm going to school.)
  • Particle:
    • Habitual present tense marker.
      Wan plies we dem a plie haki mach. (A place where they play hockey matches)
    • Precedes a verb to mark the -ing form.
      a laaf, a ron, a iit, a-go (laughing, running, eating, going)

afi

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  • Verb: must

an

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  • Conjunction: and

ar

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  • Conjunction: or

av

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  • Verb: has/have

da + noun + de / ya

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  • Determiner: this here; that there
    da leta ya (this letter here)
    da nyuuz de (that news there)

dat

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  • Determiner: that

de

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  • Particle:
    • Present progressive tense marker used before verbs.
      Im de kom. (She is coming.)
  • Adverb:
    • there
      uova de (over there)

di

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  • Article: the

did

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  • Particle: Marks the past tense.
    Im did wel rich. (He was very rich.)

fi

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  • Preposition:
    • for
      Mi head a hot mi. Yuh have supn can gimme fi it? (I have a headache. Can you give me something for the pain?)
    • (+ infinitive) to
      Wi waan fi nuo wa gwaan. (We want to know what's going on.)
    • (interrogative) (+ infinitive) can
      How dem fi do dat? (How can they do a thing like that?)
    • (+ infinitive) should
      Im fi tap it. (He/She should stop doing that.)

iina

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  • Preposition: in/into

naa

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  • Particle: negative continuous aspect marker
    Mi naa taak. (I am not talking.)

no

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  • Verb: don't, doesn't
  • Adverb: no, not

pon

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  • Preposition: on

se

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  • Pronoun: that (which, who; representing a subject, direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition)
  • Verb: to say, to tell

si

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  • Preposition: (Used with ya) Here is; here are.
    Si Jan ya. (Here is John.)
    Si yu buk-dem ya. (Here are your books.)
  • Verb: to see

wa

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  • Determiner: what

wan

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  • Article: a (indefinite article)

we

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  • Conjunction:
    • that
      Uman we a mada (Women that are mothers)
    • where

Learning resources

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These resources can be used to learn and study Jamaican Creole.

Dictionaries

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Online

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Scans of books

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Works in Jamaican Creole

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Availibility of written works in Jamaican Creole is somewhat limited:

Secular

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Religious

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