Lesson 46 of 48 · Farin
Introduce yourself as a diaspora Jamaican: where you were born, where your roots deh, and your family line — with pride.
Dis a di lesson di whole journey did a wait pon: fi tell YU story. Yu baan a farin, but yu roots run back a yaad — an Patwa have clean, sweet ways fi seh dat. Rule one: baan wid di likkle word a fi place. Mi baan a London (I was born in London). Mi baan a New York, mi dear. No seh 'Mi was born in' — di verb stay bare: baan. Rule two: roots an fambily tek di locative deh: Mi roots deh a St Ann (my roots are in St Ann). Mi whole fambily deh a Clarendon still (my whole family is still in Clarendon). Rule three: once di time set, di past stay bare: Mi granfada lef yaad inna 1961, go a Englan go wuk (my grandfather left Jamaica in 1961 and went to England to work). did no add emphasis — i simply mark past time: Im did tink seh im a go come back, but life tek im a different way (he thought he would come back, but life took him a different way). Rule four: claim di identity wid di equative a: Mi a yaadie pickney (I am a child of Jamaica). Mi granny a Portland ooman (my grandmother is a Portland woman). Dat a fi wi land (that is our family's land). More model sentence dem: Mi great-granny baan a one likkle district near Mandeville (my great-grandmother was born in a little district near Mandeville). Mi madda grow a Kingston, but shi baan a country (my mother grew up in Kingston, but she was born in the countryside). Di fambily line run back four generation a St Thomas (the family line runs back four generations in St Thomas). Mi neva grow a yaad, but yaad grow inna mi (I did not grow up in Jamaica, but Jamaica grew in me). A fi mi heritage dis, an mi proud a i (this is my heritage, and I am proud of it). Now di common learner error dem, fi recast: 'Mi is a Jamaican' — no is! Seh: Mi a Jamaican. 'Him borned in Portland' — no -ed pon Patwa verb: Im baan a Portland. 'My roots are deh in St Ann' — no double verb: Mi roots deh a St Ann. An no feel no way fi seh yu baan a farin — nuff a wi baan a farin. Di roots still real.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| farin | farin | abroad, overseas (foreign) |
| yaadie | yaadi | a Jamaican — someone of yard |
| baan | baan | born |
| granfada | granfaada | grandfather |
| granny | grani | grandmother |
| great-granny | griet-grani | great-grandmother |
| fambily | fambili | family |
| fambily line | fambili lain | lineage, ancestry |
| roots | ruuts | origins, heritage |
| grow | gruo | grow up; also raise (Granny grow mi — Granny raised me) |
| lef yaad | lef yaad | left Jamaica, emigrated |
| back a yaad | bak a yaad | back home in Jamaica |
| proud a | proud a | proud of |
The verb-only passive behind 'Mi baan a London' is described here, and again under The Passive at p. 61; adopted did forms are on this page too, and Cassidy is explicit that they are not emphatic but simply indicate past time; the equative a is at p. 59.
The description of the grammar is checked against the published work above. The lesson, the examples and the wording are mine.
Practise this lesson in the app →