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Jamaican Patwa (Patois)
Here Are Your First Words :-)

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Jamaican Patwa/ Patois Jamaican
by Nemonie Cassells

Out of Many, One People…that is our Jamaican motto, and it is simply stating that our “land of wood and water” is made up of people whose ancestors come from many different race and cultural backgrounds.

Some of us Jamaicans have ancestors tracing back to the nomadic race of brown skinned Asians, known as the Arawaks, who first arrived on the Island. (Read history of Jamaica here)

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CLICK HERE FOR THE TRANSLATED LIST BY...

NOUNS/PRONOUNS || VERBS || ADVERBS || POPULAR PHRASES

Some came from the Africans who were brought here as slaves. Some came from more modern Asians who came here to work after slavery was “abolished”, and of course, there are descendants here from European background as well.

Whichever ethnic background we may come from ( And believe me when I say, the bloodlines have been mixed over the many years), we are all one people under the warm island sun! Jamaica land we love!

With all the factors stated above, no wonder we have the best of everything that we have available to use… I’m talking about; Food, Entertainment, Sports and Language!

Now even though our first language is English, our creole; patois, is what we are most recognized for! Our dialect, I’ve been told many times, is the best in the Caribbean!

And people just love to hear us speak, to hear our accent and the words we use, even if they don’t understand a lick of what we are saying.

Many believe our patois is broken English, but they are actually incorrect in this. Our patois is actually made up of not only English, but some of the West African languages and a little Spanish too (Ironically the word “patois” is french)!

With so many language influencing our tongue, it is quite interesting to listen to, even if not learned.

Today I am going to teach you patois by revealing the patois word for your English. When you’re done here, you should be able to enjoy a nice conversation with your Jamaican friends and family without feeling left out!

Ready?

OK ('Arite)!

JAMAICA PATWA
Your First Words :-)

NOUNS/PRONOUNS

English	Patois
Woman	Uman
Child/Children	pickney/ pickiney
Boy	Bwoi
Girl	gal
I	mi
Me	mi
My	mi
Mine	fi mi
We	wi
Us	wi
Our	wi
Ours	fi wi
He	'im
His	im
Him	im
She	shi
Her	ar
Hers	fi ar
You	yuh
Your	yuh
Yours	fi yuh
They	dem
Them	dem
Their	dem
Theirs	fi dem
This	dis
That	dat

ADVERBS

English	Patois
Not	nuh
Too	tuh
To	tuh
Never	neva
Together	togedda
Rather	radda
Ever	eva
Nearly	Naily
So	suh
First	fuss
Where	weh
Why	wah mek
What	wah
Here	yah, yah suh
There	deh, deh suh
Down	dung
Alright	Arite

VERBS

English	Patois
Eat	nyam
Cry	bawl
Throw	fling, dash
Hang	heng
Let	mek
Make	mek
Say	seh
See	si
Send	sen
Sit	siddung
Spit	pit
Spoil	pwile
Spread	pred
Stand	tan
Think	tink
Take	Tek
Understand	andastan
Upset	bex
Vex	bex

POPULAR PHRASES

English	Patois
What going on/What’s up?	What a gwan? Wahappen?
Are you ok?	Yuh good? Yuh Arite?
I’ll be right back	Mi soon come back
Hey!	Yow!
Oh Lord!/ OMG	Lawd Gad!/ Lawd-a-massy
Where are you?	Weh yuh deh?
Jealousy /Envy	Badmind
Don’t upset me/ mess with me	Nuh ramp wid mi!
Gossip	suss/ mix up/ mix up ah blenda
Jamaica	Jamdung/ Jamrock/ yahd
America	Farrin/ Merica
I don’t care	Mi nuh cya/ mi nuh bizniz
Mind your own business	Yuh too faas/ mine yuh own bizniz
You feel me?	Yuh zimmi
Friend	Parry/ dupes/ fren/ mi bwoi(male)/ mi gal(female)
I understand	Zeen/ Rrr
Something is really good	It bad eee/ sell aff!
Small amount	Likkle bit
Child!	Pickney!/ Chile

Practice those and in no time, you'll be able to hold good conversation with a true “Yardie” in patois.

Your Welcome!! :-)

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A patriotic Jamaican who adores his culture, Wellesley has been using this medium to share what he calls 'the uniqueness of Jamaica with the world' - since April 2007.

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