Papiamentu for Beginners

Papiamentu, or Papiamento, is the primary language spoken on the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao (the "ABC islands").It's a creole language with roots in mainly Portuguese and Spanish, and to a lesser extent Dutch, African, and Native Indian languages.

The language started in Curaçao when Curaçao was invaded by the Spanish in the 1520s. The natives learned Spanish from the missionaries, then Holland took over the islands in 1634. The language further developed when African slaves had to communicate with their owners.

"Papia" is a Papiamentu word meaning "to speak". "-mentu" is a suffix meaning approximately "the way of doing something". Papiamentu translated would then be something like "the way of speaking".

Part one of this course is only intended for absolute beginners.

Part One - The Basics

Lesson 1: Pronunciation, Greetings & Phrases

Pronunciation

Since Papiamentu comes from Portuguese and Spanish, it will contain many characteristics of these two Iberian languages.

Vowels
Letter	Sampa	IPA	Equivalence
A a	[ a ]	[ a ]	as a in "apple"
E e	[ e ]	[ e ]	as e in "end"
I i	[ i ]	[ i ]	as ee in "teeth"
O o	[ o ]	[ o ]	as o in "ocean"
U u	[ u ]	[ u ]	as u in "clue"

Consonants
Letter	Sampa	IPA	Equivalence
B b	[ b ]	[ b ]	as b in "bite"
C c	[ k ]	[ k ]	as c in "cat"
D d	[ d ]	[ d ]	as d in "dog"
F f	[ f ]	[ f ]	as f in "feet"
G g	[ g ]	[ g ]	as g in "gone"
H h	[ h~x ]	[ h~x ]	as h in "hill"
J j	[ j ]	[ j ]	as y in "yes"
K k	[ k ]	[ k ]	as k in "key"
L l	[ l ]	[ l ]	as l in "lap"
M m	[ m ]	[ m ]	as m in "moon"
N n	[ n ]	[ n ]	as n in "noon"
Ñ ñ	[ J ]	[ ɲ ]	as ny in "canyon"
P p	[ p ]	[ p ]	as p in "problem"
Q q	[ q ]	[ q ]	as q in "quip"
R r	[ r ]	[ r ]	Same as in Spanish (or the dd in "ladder")
S s	[ s ]	[ s ]	as s in "sand"
T t	[ t ]	[ t ]	as t in "top"
V v	[ v ]	[ v ]	as v in "very"
W w	[ w ]	[ w ]	as w in "wall"
Y y	[ j ]	[ j ]	as y in "yell"
Z z	[ z ]	[ z ]	as z in "zoo"

Papiamentu has a rare quality of creoles in that it also uses tones to differentiate between words. These tones are are marked using accent marks over vowels: high (´) and low (`). Some words with these marks:

Vowels	Samples
á	altá, evitá
é	étiko, platé
í	asistí, tíket
ó	holó, ferfdó
ú	baúl, sunú
è	agènda, balèt
ò	blònt, fòndo
ù	drùif, bùs

Papiamentu has two different forms of writing.
• The writing used in Aruba is more similar to that of Spanish. It takes it's spelling for words from way they are spelled in their source language. Ex: cas = casa, meaning "house".
• In Bonaire and Curacao, it would be based on one letter for a sound, making spelling more phonologically based. Ex: kas = casa, meaning "house".

Dutch origin words would be written with the Dutch letters. Ex: wak = waken, meaning "to watch" and buki = boek, meaning "book".

Greetings & Phrases

To round out the lesson, we will show you some basic greetings and phrases in Papiamentu.

Greetings
Bon bini	Welcome
Bon dia	Good morning
Bon tardi	Good afternoon
Bon nochi	Good evening
Con ta bai?	How are you?
Mi ta bon	I'm fine

Phrases
Danki	Thank you (from Dutch)
Por fabor	Please
Di nada	Your welcome
Sí	Yes
No	No
Ayó	Goodbye
Te otro biaha	See you later

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Lesson 2: Personal Pronouns, "To Be", Articles

Personal Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. For example: he, herself, it, and this. If we replaced the nouns in the sentence "Please give the book to John" it would read "Please give it to him.". There are different types of pronouns. For now, we will look at the personal pronouns.

	Singular			Plural
1st person	mi, ami	I, me		nos	we, us
2nd person	bo, abo	you		boso	you (all)
3rd person	e	he, she, it		nan	they, them

"To Be"

Now that you know the personal pronouns, you need a verb to use them with. The English verb "to be" is "ta" in Papiamentu. Here is a chart showing "ta" with the personal pronouns.

	Singular			Plural
1st person	mi ta	I am		nos ta	we are
2nd person	bo ta	you are		boso ta	you (all) are
3rd person	e ta	he/she/it is		nan ta	they are

You should have noticed that "ta" did not change its form. Verbs do not change forms from person to person or number, as in Spanish and other European languages. Instead, they are changed by preverbal markers. We will look more at verbs later.

Articles

There are two types of articles in the English language: the definite article (the) and the indefinite article (a, an). We use the definite article when refering to a particular noun: "The book is red.", "The house was built". The indefinite article is used to refer to a non-specific noun: "She drove a car.", "They saw an elephant.".

In Papiamentu, the definite article is "e".

e homber	the man
e pushi	the cat
e mener di skol i e studiante	the teacher and the student

The indefinite article is "un".

un homber	a man
un pushi	a cat
un mener di skol i un studiante	a teacher and a student

These articles are used, irregardless of gender.

un homber	a man (in Spanish: un hombre)
un muher	a woman (in Spanish: una mujer)

You should have noticed something else in the above examples: the use of "i" as the conjunction "and". It's pronounced "ee".

Now we can make some build some basic sentences. Check in the vocabulary below for any words you don't know yet.

Mi ta un homber.	I am a man.
E ta un yefrou di skol .	She is a teacher.
Nos ta un klas.	We are a class.
Bo ta un muher.	You are a woman.
E ta un pushi.	It is a cat.

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Lesson 3: "To Have", Verb Tenses, Negation, Double Negatives

"To Have"

In the last lesson, we learned "ta", meaning "to be". Now we will show you "tin", which means "to have". Like "ta", it does not change it's form.

	Singular			Plural
1st person	mi tin	I have		nos tin	we have
2nd person	bo tin	you have		boso tin	you (all) have
3rd person	e tin	he/she/it has		nan tin	they have

And some examples of it's usage:

Mi tin un buki.	I have a book.
Bo tin un mener di skol .	You have a teacher (male).
E tin un kachó.	He has a dog.
E tin un pushi.	She has a cat.
Nos tin un klas.	We have a class.
Nan tin un kas.	They have a house.

Verb Tenses

As we've seen, in Papiamentu, verbs don't have any inflections such as tense or aspect. These are indicated by preverbal markers.

We learned the verb "ta" meaning "to be". However, it is also used in showing tense when used with other verbs. Using the verb "bai ("to go"), we can say "Mi bai skol" ("I go to school"). But this isn't very clear. Does it mean the person is going to school physically right now, or in general, as in daily? To clarify this, we use "ta" to show that the action is continuous.

We also need to use the present participle. It is the equivalent of adding "-ing" to a verb in English. In Papiamentu, this is done using the suffix "-ndo".

For verbs ending in "a" form, their present participle is created by replacing "a" with "ando":

duna => dunando

tuma => tumando

huma => humando

For verbs ending in "e" or "i", replace the final "e" or "i" with the ending "iendo":

haci => haciendo

come => comiendo

bini => biniendo

Exceptions are:

ta => siendo	be => being
tin => teniendo	have => having
sa => sabiendo	know => knowing
drumi => durmiendo	sleep => sleeping

Verbs	Objects	Present		Present Continuous
tin = have	pushi = cat	Mi tin un pushi.	I have a cat.	Not done. Never combine "ta" and "tin".
bai = go	skol = school	Mi bai na skol.	I go to school.	Mi ta baiendo skol.	I am going to school.
wak = see	kas = house	Mi wak un kas.	I see a house.	Mi ta mirando un kas.	I am seeing a house.
lesa = read	buki = book	Mi ta lesa un buki.	I read a book.	Mi ta lesando un buki.	I am reading a book.

Note: We used "mirando" instead of "wak". There is no "wakiendo". "mira" means "to look", and "wak" and "mira" can be used interchangably.

We can form the past (completed) and past continuous (completed an ongoing event) using "a" and "tabata", respectively.

Past		Past Continuous
Mi a tin un pushi.	I had a cat.	Mi tabatin un pushi.	I used to have a cat.
Mi a bai skol.	I went to school.	Mi tabata bai skol.	I used to go to school.
Mi a wak un kas.	I saw a house.	Mi tabata wak un kas.	I used to see a house.
Mi a lesa un buki.	I read a book.	Mi tabata lesa un buki.	I used to read a book.

Note:
  • When "tabata is used with "tin", they are joined to make "tabatin"
  • We used "wak" to say "I saw a house".

The last tense we will cover is the future tense. This is done by adding "lo" before or after the noun (or pronoun), before the verb.

Future
Lo mi tin un pushi.	Mi lo tin un pushi.	I will have a cat.
Lo mi bai na skol.	Mi lo bai na skol.	I will go to school.
Lo mi wak un kas.	Mi lo wak un kas.	I will see a house.
Lo mi lesa un buki.	Mi lo lesa un buki.	I will read a book.

Negation

To negate a sentence in Papiamentu, we use the word "no", just like in Spanish and English. It is always placed before the verb.

Mi no tin placa.	I have no money.
Mi no ta kansá.	I am not tired.

Double Negatives

To create sentences using double negatives, we can use "no" with another Spanish word "nada", which means "nothing". It is used after the verb.

Mi no tin nada.	I have nothing.	literally: I don't have nothing.
Mi no ta wak nada.	I don't see anything.	literally: I don't see nothing.

If we want to say we have "none" of something, we use "no" with "ningun".

Mi no tin ningun buki.	I have not a single book.	literally: I don't have none book.
Mi no ta wak ningun hende.	I don't see anybody.	literally: I don't see none person.

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Lesson 4: Numbers, Nouns, Plurals, Adjectives

Numbers

We will start this lesson by learning both cardinal and ordinal numbers. The cardinal numbers are what we use for normal counting, while the ordinal numbers are how we say what "place" we are (first, second, etc). Except for "first", the ordinals are created by preceding the cardinal number with "di".

Number  Cardinal  Ordinal  0  zero, nul, nada    1  unu  prome(r), di prome(r)  first - 1st  2  dos  di dos  second - 2nd  3  tres  di tres  third - 3rd  4  cuater  di cuater  fourth - 4th  5  sinku, cincu  di sinku  fifth - 5th  6  seis  di seis  sixth - 6th  7  shete  (repeat pattern)  8  ocho    9  nuebe    10  dies    11  diesun    12  diesdos    13  diestres    14  diescuater    15  diessinku    16  diesies    17  dieshete    18  diesocho    19  diesnuebe    20  binti

Number  Cardinal  Ordinal  21  binti un    22  binti dos    23  binti tres    24  binti cuater    25  binti sinku    30  trinta    31  trinta un    32  trinta dos    33  trinta tres    40  cuarenta    50  cincuenta    60  sesenta    70  setenta    80  ochenta    90  nobenta    100  cien    200  dos cien    201  dos cien un    1000  mil    2000  dos mil

Nouns

Now we will talk a little more about nouns. Nouns in Papiamentu do not change their forms according to gender or tense, as in some languages, as you should have noticed already.

E buki ta grandi.	The book is big.
E lesa un buki.	She read the book.
E pushi ta drumiendo.	The cat is sleeping.
E ha un pushi.	She has a cat.

Plurals

There are a few ways to make nouns plural, depending on how they use. We have already seen the first method.

Mi ta un studiante.	I am a student.
Nan ta studiante.	They are students.

Notice that "students" is plural, but no change was made. That is because the 3rd plural person pronoun ("nan") was used, and that implies plural. In fact, "nan" is the way we can make a plural when it isn't implied. It is added to the end of the noun. This would normally be done when the noun is followed by "ta", which could occur in a question (we will deal with interrogatives in the next lesson).

Unda bo pushinan ta?	Where are your cats?
Unda bo tin bo bukinan?	Where do you have your books.

When neither articles "e" or "un" are used, it is safe to assume the noun is plural.

Mi ta lesa un buki.	I read a book.	Mi ta lesa buki.	I read books.
Mi tin un pushi.	I have a cat.	Mi tin pushi.	I have cats.

The last way to make a noun plural is to use a number as a modifier.

Mi lesa dos buki.	I read two books.
Mi tin tres pushi.	I have three cats.

Adjectives

In Papiamentu, adjectives follow the noun they describe, as in Spanish.

un buki nobo	a new book
un homber altu	a tall man
e kas grandi	the big house

Here is a list of common adjectives:

afabel  friendly  altu  tall  baho  low  barata  cheap  bashí  empty  bieu  old  bon  good  bunita  pretty, beautiful, handsome  bòm  bottom  chikitu  little, small  debil  weak  delegá  thin, skinny  difísil  difficult  diki  fat  distinto  different  duru  hard  dushi  soft  fásil  easy  favorí  favorite  felis  happy  ferfelu  boring  friu  cold  fuerte  strong  grandi  great, big, large  grave  serious  haltu  high  hambrá  hungry  hoben  young  hundu  deep

interesante  interesting  kansá  tired  karu  expensive  kayente  hot  kortiku  short  largu  long  lat  late  liber  free  limpi  clean  mahos  ugly  malu  sick, ill, bad  mescos  same  nobo  new  okupá  busy  peligroso  dangerous  pober  poor  pret  funny  rápido  fast  riku  rich  salú  healthy  scur  dark  sed  thirsty  seif  safe  sushi  dirty  tempran  early  tras  slow  tristu  sad  yen  full

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Lesson 5: Combinations, Prepositions, Serial Verbs, Possession, Interrogatives, Days, Months

Combinations and Simplicity

In Papiamentu, you can combine and shorten words like you would do in English. For example, "I am tired" can also be written "I'm tired".

The pronoun can be combined with the past tense marker. "mi a traha" ("I have worked") becomes "ma traha" ("I've worked").

English	Normal	Combined
I worked	mi a traha	ma traha
you worked	bo a traha	ba traha
he, she, it worked	e a traha	ela traha *

* in "e" you would add an "l" for this combination.

This combination rule does not apply to "nos" or "boso".

Prepositions

A preposition is a word which shows relationships between other words in a sentence. The relationships include direction, place, time, cause, manner and amount. Some basic English prepositions are "by", "on", "to", "with". When used with a noun, they form a prepositional phrase: "by the chair", "on the table", "to the store", "with a friend" Prepositional phrases are like idioms, and are best learned through listening to and reading as much as possible.

Prepositions are rather easy in Papiamentu. Since the noun doesn't change form, they are used basically the same as in English.

E pushi ta desde e stul.	The cat is by the chair.
E buki ta riba e mesa.	The book is on the table.
E muhe a bai na e tienda.	She went to the store.
E a kanta ku un amigu.	He sang with a friend.

Here is a list of some of the most common prepositions.

abou  below, beneath, down  ademas di  beside, except  aden  inside  anti  upon, against  ariba  above, over  banda  near  bou di  under  den  in, into  desde  since, by  despues  after  di  from, of, about  durante  during

enfrente  across, beyond  entre  between  gusta  like  kla  through  ku  with  na  at, to, toward  pa  before, for  pafó  out, outside  patras  behind  riba  up, on  sin  without  te  until, till

Serial Verbs

Papiamentu has what is called serial verbs. This means that verbs can be put in a row without seperation by prepositions.

Examples:

bin = to come

para = to stop

bisa = to tell

gusta = to like

uza = to use

Mi ta bai bin	I'm leaving and coming back
Mi ta para bisa nan	I stop and tell them
Mi ta gusta uza spano	I like to use Spanish

Possession

Possession is shown by using the possessive pronouns. In Papiamentu, they are almost identical to the personal pronouns. The only difference is "su" instead of "e" for "his,hers,its".

my	mi
your	bo
his, her, its	su
our	nos
your	boso
their	nan

Examples:

I have my book	Mi tin mi buki.
You have your book	Bo tin bo buki.
He/She/It has his/her/its book	E tin su buki.
We have our books	Nos tin nos bukinan.
You have your books	Boso tin boso bukinan.
They have their books	Nan tin nan bukinan.

In the above cases, you place the possessive pronoun before the noun. You can also place it after the noun, using "di".

of mine	di mi
of yours	di bo
of his, hers, its	di su
of ours	di nos
of yours	di boso
of theirs	di nan

Examples:

She has my book.	E tin mi buki.	E tin buki di mi.
I have his cat.	Mi tin su pushi.	Mi tin e pushi di su.

Interrogatives

We create interrogative statements (questions) by starting them with interrogatives. Here are some of the common ones:

What?	Kiko?	What do you have?	Kiko bo tin?
Where?	Unda?	Where do you go?	Unda bo ta bai?
When?	Cuandu?	When is the class?	Cuandu ta e klas?
Who?	Kende?	Who are you?	Kende bo ta?
Which?	Cua?	Which book is yours?	Cua ta buki di bo?
Why?	Pakiko?	Why do you go?	Pakiko bo ta bai?
How?	Con?	How are you?	Con ta bai?[lit. How is it going?]
How much?	Cuanto?	How much is this?	Cuanto esaki ta?

Questions
Kiko bo nomber ta?	What is your name?
Di Unda bo ta?	Where are you from?
Unda bo ta biba?	Where do you live?
Cuant'or tin?	What time is it?
Cuanto esaki ta costa?	How much does this cost?

To round out the lesson, we will give you the days of the weeks and the months.

Days of the Week

Days of the Week
Dialuna	Monday
Diamars	Tuesday
Diawebs	Wednesday
Diarazon	Thursday
Diabierna	Friday
Diasabra	Saturday
Diadomingo	Sunday

Months

Months
Januari	January
Februari	February
Maart	March
April	April
Mei	May
Juni	June
Juli	July
Augustus	August
September	September
Oktober	October
November	November
December	December

Note: The months in Papiamentu are the same as in Dutch

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Lesson 6: Conjunctions, Adverbs of Time & Place, Demonstrative Pronouns, Family, Colors, More Verbs

Conjunctions

A conjunction is a word that connects words, phrases, or clauses. In English, the most common ones are "and", "or", "but" and "so". We have mentioned "i" ("and") in a previous lesson. Here are all four of these, with their Papiamentu equivalents and examples:

i	and	Mi tin pushi i kacho.	I have cats and dogs.
o	or	Nan lo bai dialuna o djamars.	They will go Monday or Tuesday.
ma	but	E ta chikitu ma fuerte.	She is small but strong.
dus	so	Mi tabata cansá dus mi a drumi.	I was tired so I slept.

Here are some other commonly used conjunctions:

despues	after	Mi a descanso despues mi a kana.	I rested after I walked.
aunke	although	Mi a drumi aunke mi ta no kansá.	I slept although I am not tired.
mes	as	Mi tabata mes altu cu e homber.	I am as tall as the man.
paso	because	Mi a para paso mi ta kansá.	I stopped because I am tired.
promer cu	before	Mi lo bai promer cu mañan.	I will go before tomorrow.
si	if	Mi no ta sa si e lo bai.	I do not know if he will go.
desde	since	Desde siman pasa caba mi a cumpra e buki ei.	Since last weekend, I bought the book there.
te	until	Mi no lo bai te e bin bèk.	I will not go until she comes back.
mientras	while	Mi a drumi mientras e a kanta.	I slept while he sang.

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs are words that further define verbs, similar to how adjectives further define nouns. Adverbs of time express how frequently the action in a sentence takes place, or how closely to the present time the action was completed. Most of the time, these will be placed after the verb they define. Here is a list of the most common, with examples.

awe	today	Mi a bai na e tienda awe.	I went to the store today.
ayera	yesterday	Mi a bai ayera.	I went yesterday.
mañan	tomorrow	Mi lo bai mañan.	I will go tomorrow.
otro siman	next week	Mi ta bai otro siman.	I am going next week.
otro luna	next month	Mi ta bai otro luna.	I am going next month.
otro aña	next year	Mi ta bai otro aña.	I am going next year.
siman pasa	last week	Mi a bai siman pasa.	I went last week.
luna pasa	last month	Mi a bai luna pasa.	I went last month.
aña pasa	last year	Mi a bai aña pasa.	I went last year.
porfin	finally	Porfin mi a bai.	I finally went.
ya	already	Ya mi ta bai na e tienda.	I already went to the store.
pronto	soon	Mi ta bai na e tienda pronto.	I am going to the store soon.
djies ki	soon	Mi ta bai na e tienda djies ki.	I am going to the store soon.
net	just	Mi ta net bai na e tienda.	I am just going to the store.
ainda	still	Mi ta ainda na e tienda.	I am still at the store.

Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of place help further define location. The most common in English are "here" and "there", with "yonder" to describe a "there" that is further away.

aki	here	E buki ta aki.	The book is here.
ei	there	E buki ta ei.	The book is there.
aya	yonder	E palu ta aya.	The tree is yonder.
ata	there is	Ata bo buki.	There is your book.
ata	there are	Ata bo bukinan.	There are your books.

Demonstratives

We've shown you the personal and possessive pronouns. Now we will show you the demonstrative pronouns. These are used to replace words or phrases that must be pointed to. For example, in English, we could say "I put the book on the table". We would then replace the phrase "on the table" in related sentence with the demonstrative pronoun "there" ("The book is there").

The most common of these in English are "this" and "that", with their plural forms "these" and "those". Here are their forms in Papiamentu with examples.

esaki	this	Esaki ta mi buki.	This is my book.
esei	that	Esei ta bo buki.	That is your book.
esakinan	these	Esakinan ta mi bukinan.	These are my books.
eseinan	those	Eseinan ta bo bukinan.	Those are your books.

Family

A list of the family members.

Family
tata, papa	father
mama	mother
welo, padushi	grandfather
wela, madushi	grandmother
omo, tio	uncle
tanta, tia	aunt
yiu homber	son
yiu muher	daughter
ruman homber	brother
ruman muhe	sister
subrino	nephew
subrina	niece
nieto	grandson
nieta	granddaughter

Colors

In a previous lesson, we gave you adjectives. Here are more: the colors.

Colors
còrá	red
orañe, oraño	orange
geel, gel	yellow
bèrdè	green
blou	blue
maron, bruin	brown
ros	pink
lila, biña	purple
pretu	black
blancu	white
shinishi	grey

More Verbs

We will round off this lesson with a list of common verbs. Some you have already seen in previous lessons.

traha  to work  hala rosea  to breath  bestel/pidi  to order  bishitá  to visit  primi  to press  pusha  to push  splika  to explain  bisa  to tell  come  to eat  corre auto  to drive  cai  to fall  pisca  to fish  bula  to fly  basila  to flirt  puntra  to ask  sinti  to feel  odia  to hate  juda  to help  tende  to hear  bringa  to fight  bati man  to applaud  horta  to steal  cushiná  to cook  sunchi  to kiss  hari  to laugh  kana  to walk  lesa  to read  stima/gusta  to love

descana  to rest  hasi  to make, do  tuma  to take  habri  to open  corre bais  to ride a bicycle  papia  to talk  biaha  to travel  corre  to run  zundra  to rail at  drumi  to sleep  dal  to hit  sera  to close  corta  to cut  skirbi  to write  grita  to scream  landa  to swim  corre barki-bela  to sail  wak  to see  ta  to be  sinta  to sit  bula  to jump  para  to stand  baila  to dance  jama telefon  to call (by phone)  bebe  to drink  duna  to embrace  perde  to lose  alimentá  to feed

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End Of Part One

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