Lesson 13 of 48 · Portland
Describe AND predict di weather: sun hot, rain a fall, an fayva like storm a come.
Weather talk shows off two core structures. Rule one: adjectives need no 'is' — zero copula: Sun hot (the sun is blazing). Di sea calm tideh (the sea is calm today). Night col' op ya (the night is cold up here). Rule two: things happening right now take a: Rain a fall (it's raining). Breeze a blow (the wind is blowing). Di river a come dung (the river is in flood). Never say 'it' for weather — Patois names the thing itself: rain, sun, breeze. Rule three: predicting uses fayva like or a go: Fayva like rain a go fall (looks like rain is coming). Examples: (1) Rain a fall — tek een di clothes-dem! (it's raining — bring in the clothes!). (2) Sun hot tideh, ee! (3) Djew rain a fall, i naa wet yuh much (it's only drizzling, it won't soak you). (4) Di breeze a blow saaf from di sea (the breeze is blowing softly off the sea). (5) Di sea rough — no badda go swim (the sea is rough — don't bother swimming). (6) Wata cold inna di Blue Mountain river-dem. (7) Fayva like storm a come — mek wi go inside. (8) Di grung dry — wi need likkle rain fi di yam-dem (the ground is dry — we need some rain for the yams). Portland is the rainiest parish in Jamaica, so this lesson is at home here: Rain nuh strange a Portland! Common errors to recast: 'It is raining' — recast: Rain a fall; 'Di sun is hot' — recast: Sun hot, kill the 'is'; 'very hot' — recast to well hot, hot so till, or double it: hot-hot. Drill the melody too — Sun HOT rides high on the adjective. End by having the learner look outside and report the weather in three quick sentences, zero copula all the way.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| rain a fall | rien a faal | it's raining |
| djew rain | juu rien | drizzle |
| sun hot | son at | the sun is blazing |
| breeze | briiz | wind, breeze |
| col' | kuol | cold |
| riva | riva | river |
| sea rough | sii rof | the sea is rough |
| bush | bush | countryside, woods |
| grung | grong | ground; farm plot |
| wet up | wet op | soaked |
| fayva like | fieva laik | it looks as if |
| a door | a duor | outdoors |
| storm a come | staam a kom | a storm is coming |
He documents the omission of 'be' before predicate adjectives ('When a man belly full him broke pot') and the absence of the expletive 'it', so weather is named directly rather than carried by a dummy subject.
The description of the grammar is checked against the published work above. The lesson, the examples and the wording are mine.
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