Patois has a grammar. It is not English with the endings knocked off — it marks tense and aspect in front of the verb rather than on it, it has no case on pronouns, and it does without the verb “to be” in three distinct ways. Citations are named per section.
im (he/she/him/her — gender-neutral); shi (she, gaining ground); har (her, object/possessive only); i'/it (it, inanimate)
dem (they/them/their)
Same form for subject, object, possessive: Mi a dead! / Gi mi some / mi book. Never "Us a go" or "Har a go" as subjects. Im dus av baby = SHE just had a baby. Possessive by juxtaposition: Tek yu meat outta mi rice!
2.2 No verb "to be" — three patterns (Adams; Bailey Cycle 42; Chevanese)
1. Equative "a" (before nouns/pronouns): Bunny a di leada (Bunny is the leader). Mary a one faama.Dat a fi mi (that's mine). Past = a en / did: Mi daddy a en tayla (was a tailor); Di lan did fi ar. Negative past nen/neva: Mi neva no tief. 2. Locative "deh" (in a place): Weh im deh? — Im deh a yaad.Dem deh deh / dem di deh (they are there — first deh = verb, second = adverb). With another place adverb, verbal deh drops: Im dung deh, Dem ova deh so. Existential: No money no deh; Yu tink seh duppy no deh? Figurative: Mi deh pon has'e (I'm in a hurry); Slim an Becca deh? (are they a couple?). From Twi de "to be" (Cassidy). 3. Zero copula before adjectives: Di pickney quick.Mi sick.Di time col' (the weather is cold). Di mango dem sweet. Past: Im en maga (he was thin); future: Di time ao hot (will be hot). Cleft/expletive a: A summertime now (it's summertime); A yu! (it's you!); A no joke mi a mek (I'm not joking).
The verb NEVER changes form; markers do the work (parallels Niger-Congo tense particles — Adams):
meaning
form
example
simple present / habitual
bare verb
Im say — he says; Goat no nyam marigold
progressive
a (older da/de)
Im a say — he is saying; Mi a nyam
simple past
bare verb + context
Shi lick im, den shi tump im (she hit then thumped him)
marked past
en / ben / wen / did
Im en say / im did say — he said
past progressive
ena / wena / did a / ben a
Im dida talk bout mi
future
a go / gwine / o / wi
Mi a go tell im; Im o come; Yu wi see
past future
ena go / did a go
Mi did a go buy i
conditional
wooda; past cond. wooda en
Im wooda say; im wooda en shoot dem
completive
don (before OR after verb)
Im don i wuk / I wuk done (finished); Dem heat done an gaan
Key African feature — "present in the past" (Adams): once past time is set by context (yeside…, wa day…), verbs stay bare: Afta im come, wi nyam i off. Past markers are OPTIONAL. did is the modern/urban past marker replacing rural en/ben/wen.
Modals: kyan/cyaan, mus/mussi (im mussi gaan — he must have gone), haffi (Mi haffi go), fi (should: Yu fi go; Dem no fi heat), shoulda, coulda, wooda, mighta. Modals stack: Im shooda mus kyan get tru. Order: shoulda/mighta BEFORE tense particles; haffi/fi AFTER: Im en fi come (he was supposed to come). Stems from English past forms: lef (leave), bruk (break), laas (lose), gaan (Dem gaan; I money gaan). Adjectives as verbs: Full i bucket fi mi (fill); Di puss a dead (is dying). Passive = unmarked: I wuk done; di fuud sel aaf (Bryan).
One form for singular/plural: one foot, two foot; one teet, six teet. Plural marked by -dem after noun (with di): di man-dem (the men), Di gyal-dem a come, Move di goat-dem, di two book dem. African device (Ewe ame-wo).
dem before noun = "those/them": Yu see dem pickney deh? — no need for a second dem.
Associative plural: Mary-dem a come = Mary and her crew (Chevanese).
Articles: di (the; reduces to 'i in fast speech: eena i house), a/one (a/an; one preferred where "a" would be ambiguous: Mi a go a one flim — I'm going to a movie).
Juxtaposition: di bwai boat = the boy's boat; Mr Gaadn pickney dem = Mr. Gordon's children.
fi + pronoun = possessive pronoun: fi mi (mine/my), fi yu, fi im, fi ar, fi wi, fi unu, fi dem: A fi Jan mango (it's John's mango); Di donkey a fi wi (ours); A fu who dis? A fi unu? (Whose is this? Yours?); Dat deh a fi uno (that one's yours).
fi also = "for/to" (infinitive): sinting ya fi nyam (something here to eat); Im gaan fi im ting-dem (gone for his things); sentence-final → fa: Wa dat good fa?
2.6 Negation (Adams; Bailey Cycles 15, 49)
no/nuh before verb: Im no say; Mi nuh know. Before progressive a → naa: Im naa come (he isn't coming); Mi naa du notn.
Past negative nen (= no+en): Im nen dwi (he didn't do it); modern neva for simple past neg: Mi neva tell im no lie! (Bailey: neba = past, no/naa = non-past.)
don' for habitual: Dem don' cook early.
cyaan = can't. Imperative negative: No badda mi! (don't bother me); Nuh do dat!
Double/triple negatives standard: Im no waan gi nobody none.No money no deh.
2.7 Questions (Adams; Bailey Cycles 29–39, 57)
No inversion, no "do": Yu a come?Hou yu du?When yu a go?Hou long yu a wait?Yu nuh dun yet?
Wh-words: a wha/wa (what), who, weh (where), when, wa mek (why — lit. "what makes": Wa mek yu so donkya?), hou/omuch (how/how much), which paat (where/which part).
Cleft A before question word (Twi parallel): A who do i? (who did it?), A wa dat?, A yu do i? (was it you?), A im name Pearlene?
Tags: …noh?…nuh true?…yaa…seen?…yu know? Counter-question intonation for "of course": No mus? (of course!).
After verbs of saying/hearing/thinking/knowing/seeing, seh (say) = "that" (Akan se, Cassidy): Im tell wi seh im bex (he told us that he's angry). Mi hier seh yu sik.Yu no see seh a lie im a tell? (Don't you see he's lying?) Yu tink seh mi a idiot?A true seh im dead? Also with tell: A wa yu tell im seh? (What did you tell him?)
2.9 Serial verbs (Adams; Bryan)
Verbs string together without infinitives/participles: Kyai go bring come (carry-go-bring-come = gossip/news-carrying); Im run gaan lef ar (he ran off and left her); gwaan go heat done (go on and finish eating); Tek i paki mek cup (take the calabash and make a cup); go see, come tell; Run come ya! Causative mek: Mek shi gwaan! (let/make her go on); Mek wi go (let's go); A happy mi happy mek mi a gwaan so (it's because I'm happy that I'm acting this way).
2.10 Emphasis: fronting/clefting with "a" (Adams; Bailey Cycles 51–58)
Predicate-doubling for emphasis — THE signature Patois structure:
A run dem a run (they're really RUNNING). A no joke dem a joke.A bex im bex wid har?A tiif Maas Chaali tiif mek im a sel fi-im fish so dier (it's because Mr. Charley is a THIEF that he sells his fish so dear — Bailey's flagship example).
Focus any element with fronted a: subject — A mi tell im so; object — A im foot im lick up; place — A dung deh so it en deh; A no dat man mi a talk. Mesolect uses iz/is: Is Pam eat di mango (Chevanese).
Sentence-initial a with equatives: A one wicked man dat; A no fi unu dem ya (these aren't yours).
Same word = adjective and adverb (no -ly): Run quick noh man!Di pickney quick, eeh?
Comparative -a + dan/an: Wasp bite hotta dan ants bite.Im badda dan dem. Superlative: Im a i biggis outta di whola mi pickney dem; idioms: sweet yu laas!, bad no ras, love i gaan to bed.
Place adverbs + so: ya-so (right here), deh-so (right there), uoba deh-so (over there).
Other verbs of being: tan (stand) = be like: A so im tan (that's how he is); Tan tedy! (hold still); tun = become: dishclaat tun tableclaat; niem as verb: Mi niem Jan; Wa yu niem? (Bailey Cycle 3); fayva = resemble/seem: Im fayva im muma; Fayva like rain a go faal.
Useful particles: nomo (only: two nomo lef), aal (even), tu (too/also), ongle (only), galang (go along: Galang bout yu business), ku (look: Ku ya! Ku deh! Ku pon im!).