Trinidadian French-Creole

The Church in Blanchisseuse, various churches in Trinidad still conduct mass in Creole (Patwa)

Trinidadian French Creole (also known as Patwa or Patois) ^[1] is a French creole of Trinidad spoken by descendants of the French Creole migrants from the French Antilles (islands such as Grenada, Guadeloupe and other French islands). All the creoles have slight differences in words, especially with regional dialects. Trinidad also has different ways to say or spell the same word in Creole.

The Cedula of Population of 1783 laid the foundation and growth of the population of Trinidad. French planters and the Africans they enslaved, free coloureds and mulattos, from the French Antilles of Martinique, Grenada, Guadeloupe and Dominica, migrated to Trinidad during the French Revolution. The immigrants established local communities in Blanchisseuse, Champs Fleurs, Paramin, Cascade, Carenage, Laventille, etc. Trinidad's population, which numbered less than 1,400 in 1777, soared to over 15,000 by the end of 1789. ^[2]

In 1797, Trinidad became a British crown colony, with a French-speaking and Patois-speaking population. Today, Trinidadian French Creole can be found spoken in regional pockets among the elders, particularly in the villages of Paramin and Lopinot. The language is facing a slow revival in these villages, other rural and fishing villages also have Creole remnants. ^[3] The language was the lingua franca for parts of Trinidad for many decades in the 19th and early 20th centuries. ^{[4] [5]} The language is still spoken in Paramin ^[6] , Blanchisseuse and other smaller villages, and there are efforts both online and in person (schools) to try preserve and revitalise it. ^{[7] [8] [2]}

Singers such as Mighty Sparrow have sung in Trinidadian Creole (which is very similar to other Creoles, most notably Grenadian Creole French. Songs such as 'Gade Zinah' and 'Par Quiea Mweh (Pa Kwiye Mweh)' are sung exclusively in Trinidadian Creole.

Many Trinidadians went to Venezuela during the oil boom and brought Creole along with them and hence known as Venezuelan French Creole, which is also a dying language which has ongoing preservation efforts. ^[2]

Grammar

Alphabet

The creole alphabet is very similar to the English and French alphabet, however there are some differences, the first is the absence of the letters “C”, “Q”, “U” and “X”, another difference is the inclusion of a few extra letters. The Alphabet is as follows: ^{[9] [10]}

Letter in Creole	Letter in Creole word	Creole word translation	Closest English equivalent
A	Ba	To give	Attack
An	Tan	Time	”Uh” (Nasal sound)
B	Bazodi	Dazed	Bank
Ch	Chapo	Hat	Ship
D	Doudou	Darling	Dump
Dj	Djab	Devil	Jump (hard J)
E	Paime	Paime (a Trinidadian dish)	Cheese
É	Édé	To help	”Eh” (with a rise in tone at the end)
È	Lè	When	fest
En	Enmen	To like/love	Enter
F	Fou-fou	Crazy	Fat
G	Gangang	Grandmother	Great
H	Hòtòto-so	To liberally (too much)	Him
I	Itali	Italy	Universe
J	Janbé	To jump/cross over	Japan
K	Klas	Class	Kick
L	Lanmou	To love (another word for “to Love”)	Lick
M	Mako	Nosey	Make
N	Nèg	Black/black person	Nice
Ng	Lanng	Tongue/Language	Sang
O	Obliyé	Must	Bot
Ò	Ògannizé	To organise	Door
On	Nonk/Tonton	Uncle	On
Ou	Ouvé	To open	You
P	Paski	Because	Perchance
R	Roro	Row (uproar)	Right
S	Si	If	Sat
T	Tanbou/Tambou	Drum	Track
Tj	Tjè	Heart	”Tch”
V	Vann	To sell	Van
W	Woulé	To roll	What
Y	Yonn	One	Yes
Z	Zabòka	Avocado	Zoom

Nouns and articles

In Trinidadian Creole the word 'yonn/onn' is added to the front of a noun as a prefix for the indefinite article (so 'a' or 'an'). For example 'yonn-kanot' means 'a boat' or 'on-chuval' means 'a horse'. There is no significant difference between 'yonn' or 'onn', although yonn is used more often. ^{[11] : 14}

The word for the definite article ('the') is added on the end of a word (as a suffix) instead of at the front like with 'Yonn'. So in Trinidadian to say 'the boat' would result in 'kanot-a'. If the word ends in a vowel then '-la' is added instead of '-a' so instead of 'mizyé-a' the correct form would be 'mizyé-la'. ^{[11] : 15} There are also other forms of the definite article such as “An” and “Lan” but they aren’t used as often.

The possessive is also added as a suffix, for example the phrase 'my house' would be 'lakay-mwen'. Adjectives usually come after the word they describe 'fanm-a byen' (the good woman), although sometimes Creole takes the English sentence structure and so the adjective can come before the word it describes, hence byen fanm-a could also be acceptable. ^{[11] : 37}

Negatives

To make something negative then 'pa' — similar to the French pas — is inserted before the verb. Sometimes the form 'si [verb] pa' is used. Examples are below: ^{[11] : 61,77  [9]}
Mwen pa pale [or] mwen si pale pa

Verbs

Most verbs end in “é” such as “chanté” and “manjé”, so similar to French, and there are also irregular verbs which end in other letters such as “vini” (to come) or “bizwenn” (to need). The verbs do not change regardless of gender and when the action takes place. ^[9]

Sample Verbs

• Alé: to go
• Ataké: Attack
• Bizwenn: (Irregular) to need
• Chanté: to sing
• Degouté: to dislike
• Édé: to help
• Hayi: to hate
• Lanmou: to love
• Mové: to be malicious (can also be used as an adjective)
• Manjé/Mangé: to eat

Gender

Creole does not have gender, although some words taken from French can be gendered such as Moulat and Moulatwess (Mulatto make and Mulatto female), however verbs, nouns and adjectives never change due to he gender of the speaker or person being mentioned (which makes the language easier to learn compared to standard French). ^[9]

Pronouns

The Pronouns of Trinidadian French Creole are the exact same as most other Creoles (with only small differences to the neighbouring Grenadian Creole French ). ^[9]

In English	In Creole	Example	Example translation
I/my/me	Mwen	Mwen ka kapab chou-chou	I can whisper
You	Ou	Ou ka hayi	You can hate
He/she/it	i/li	i sé yonn-kounoumounou	He is an idiot
We/us	Nou	Nou ka enmen jwé	We like to play
You (pl)	Zò	Zò moun sé sòt	You people are silly
They/them/their	Yo	Yo sé zami-mwen	They are my friends

To form the possessive pronoun (words such as “yours” or “mine”) the relevant possessive pronoun is added to the word “sla” for example the word for “yours” is “sla-ou” (sla-ou is sometimes shortened to “sla’w”) For the plural form it is necessary to add “a” “an” or “la” after the word. For example “yours” plural would be sla’w-a. ^{[11] : 38}

Tenses

In Creole the verb does not change depending on who or when the action is being done, but the word before the verb does (ka/ké/té ka etc.) ^[12]

Tense in Creole	Example	Example translation
Ka	Mwen ka alé	I am going (present tense)
No Tense marker (although sometime “Té” is used)	Mwen alé	I went (simple past tense)
Té	Mwen té alé	I had gone (pluperfect tense)
Té ka	Mwen té ka alé	I was going/I used to go (imperfect tense)
Ka alé	Mwen ka alé alé	I am going to go (immediate future tense)
Kay/ké	Mwen kay/ké alé	I will go (simple future tense)

Sample vocabulary

Most words in Trinidadian French Creole are derived from French. However, some come from other sources. The ones from different sourced are marked with a note below.

• Jouvé: daybreak of carnival
• Bakanal: raucous party (sometimes used to mean 'crazy')
• Dingolay: carefree dancing/to fall over
• Karnaval: Carnival
• Kaka: (vulgar) faeces (African-derived) ^[13]
• Djab: devil
• Bondjé/bondyé: good god/good lord
• Mako: nosey
• Glo/dlo: water ^[14]
• Mwen: me/I/myself
• Ou: you
• i/li: he/she/it
• Nou: we (plural)
• Zo: you (plural)
• Yé: they
• Manjhay/manjé: to eat
• Kwiyé/quieah: to call
• Obiyah/obeah: magic medicine
• Pou tchouwé/pou tjwé: to kill
• Chuval: horse
• Ninnin: riddle (African-derived)
• Wanga: magic charm (African-derived)
• Dou-dou (or du-du): darling/sweetheart
• Konne/konnet/konnen: to know
• Soti: to come from
• Balyé: broom ^[14]
• Chanté: to sing ^[15]

Sample sayings

Some regularly used sayings in Trinidadian French-Creole:^{[ citation needed ]}

• Tonné ka fè pè mé zéklè ka tjwé: The thunder frightens, but the lightning smites (Thunder makes fear but the lightning kills)
  
• Makak konnèt ki bwa monté[or] Makak konnè ki bwa monté: Monkey knows which tree to climb
• Makak sav ki pyé-bwa i ka monté: Monkey knows which tree of wood it climbs (“Sav” is commonly used in French Guiana, Martinique and Guadeloupe but other islands also use it as well as “Konné”) ^[16]
  
• Sé bouch kabwit ki ka wand kabwit: The goat betrays itself by its own voice (Is the mouth of the goat that betrays the goat).
  
• Sé yon-vole ki ka twapé lót: It takes a thief to catch a thief (Is a thief that captures another).

Food names taken from Trinidadian French-Creole

Cornmeal (Known as “Timi” in Creole) is eaten across the Caribbean and is the base for the Trinidadian sweet treat “Paime”

Trinidad is know for its diverse food, some of which are habitually referred to with their Creole names rather than in English;

Callaloo is a dish with a mix of Madeira vine or dasheen leaves, okra, crab and ham. This dish was originally part of the culture of French creole life in Trinidad and other French influenced islands, but now has a broader popularity and has been referred to as a "Trinidadian masterpiece". The word callaloo is found in other French and Portuguese Creole languages, with a number of theories available as to the underlying etymology. ^{[17] [18] [19]}

Pain Mi or paime is a dish made of sugared cornflour mixed with other ingredients such as coconut, pumpkin, spices such as nutmeg among other ingredients, and made into a paste, then it is covered in banana leaves and cooked in boiling water (or steamed). Boiling water is known as “Bouya” in Trinidad and Grenada. ^{[19] [2] [20]}

Doudou/Doudouce mangoes (In English: Sweet-sweet mango): A type of Caribbean mango.

Zabwicot: Peaches

References

1. "Trinidadian French Creole | Caribbean Indigenous and Endangered Languages". www.caribbeanlanguages.org.jm. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
2. Ferreira, Jo-Anne S. (2012). "UWI Stan: Language matters series" (PDF). Language Matters (By UWI).
3. "Trinidadian French Creole | Caribbean Indigenous and Endangered Languages". www.caribbeanlanguages.org.jm. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
4. "Trinidad and Tobago Endangered Languages". sta.uwi.edu. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
5. Munro, Martin (April 2009). "The French Creoles of Trinidad and the Limits of the Francophone". French Studies. 63 (2): 174–188. doi:10.1093/fs/knp028.(subscription required)
6. Ferreira, Jo-Anne (April 2020). "UWI Bachelor of Arts publication". UWI Bachelor of Arts Journal.
7. "Patois (Creole) Language". www.tntisland.com. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
8. Belle, Dixie-Ann (2023-03-13). "T&T's Patois now a dying language". Trinidad Express Newspapers. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
9. "Trinidad French Creole/title> Trinidad Creole French". www.hawaii.edu. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
10. "Kwéyòl Dictionary -" . Retrieved 2025-12-06.
11. Thomas, John Jacob (1869). "Theory and Practice of Creole Grammar". available on Open Library and Internet Archive. Port of Spain: The Chronicle Publishing Office. OCLC   38514751. OL   23455549M.
12. Ferreira, Jo-Anne S. (2012-10-01). "Patois in Trinidad and Tobago: From John Jacob Thomas to Lawrence Carrington". St Augustine News (STAN).
13. "Mwen Ka Alé: A book by Marise La Grenade-Lashley". Mwen Ka Alé: A book by Marise La Grenade-Lashley. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
14. Aub-Buscher, Gertrud. "Trinidad French Creole". www.hawaii.edu. Honolulu. Archived from the original on 2025-09-30. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
15. Hodge, Dr Merle; Ferreira, Dr Jo-Anne (2009). Vini Chanté an Patwa: (come Sing in Patois) ; Patois Songs of Trinidad and Tobago. Society for Caribbean Linguistics (SCL). ISBN   978-976-95104-1-8.
16. LaGrenade-Lashley, Marise (2016). Mwen ka alé (in English (with Creole)). p. 45.
17. Maingot, Anthony P. (2007). "A French Creole Sunday: Callaloo on a Clear Conscience". Callaloo. 30 (1). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press: 369–371. doi:10.1353/cal.2007.0153. ISSN   0161-2492. JSTOR   30135937.
18. Hamilton, Russell G; Hamilton, Cherie Y (2007). "Caruru and Calulu, Etymologically and Sociogastronomically" . Callaloo. 30 (1). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press: 338–342. doi:10.1353/cal.2007.0136. ISSN   1080-6512. JSTOR   30135930.
19. "Creole Words and Proverbs". French Cultural Legacy in Trinidad. 2018-04-10. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
20. Haseley, Marshelle (24 June 2018). "In foodie heaven". Newsday. Port of Spain: Daily News Ltd. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2025.