Lesson 5 of 48 · St. Andrew
Say what things ARE with equative a (X a Y) and describe them with no copula at all (Di mango sweet).
English needs 'is' everywhere; Patois splits the job in two — and one half needs nothing at all. PATTERN ONE, the equative a: when X IS a person or thing, link them with a. Mi cousin a docta (my cousin is a doctor). Dat a Blue Mountain coffee (that's Blue Mountain coffee). Dis a fi mi yaad (this is my home). You already met it in A wa dat? and Dat a fi mi. For the past, use did a: Mi grandaddy did a faama (my grandfather was a farmer). PATTERN TWO, zero copula: when you describe with an ADJECTIVE, use no verb at all — the adjective does the work, like a verb itself. Di coffee strong. Di mango dem sweet. Mi tiyad. Di hill dem pretty. Keep a out of that linking slot: Di mango a sweet does not mean 'the mango is sweet' — a in front of a word makes it a verb, so that reads as the mango busy sweeting. The one place a DOES sit in front of an adjective is at the very front of a sentence, where it carries 'it is': A sweet dis ya mango sweet! That is the clefting pattern you meet in Manchester (lesson 36) — a different job from linking a subject to its adjective, so the rule here is about the middle of the sentence, not about the word a. Example sentences: 1) Mi cousin a docta a UWI. — My cousin is a doctor at UWI. 2) Miss Dawn a higgla a Papine maakit. — Miss Dawn is a vendor at Papine market. 3) Dat a Blue Mountain coffee. — That is Blue Mountain coffee. 4) Bunny a di leada. — Bunny is the leader. 5) Mi grandaddy did a faama. — My grandfather was a farmer. 6) Di coffee strong, ee? — The coffee is strong, isn't it? 7) Di mango dem sweet. — The mangoes are sweet. 8) Mi tiyad tideh. — I'm tired today. 9) Di weather col' up a Newcastle. — The weather is cold up at Newcastle. Notice the three-way system now complete: a for WHAT something is, deh for WHERE it is (Kingston lesson), and NOTHING for HOW it is. Errors to recast: inserting 'is' anywhere; a linking a subject to its adjective (Di coffee a strong → Di coffee strong — sentence-front A is a different pattern, lesson 36); deh before adjectives (Mi deh tiyad → Mi tiyad); and using a for places (Im a a yaad → Im deh a yaad). Drill the contrast in triplets: Im a teacha. Im deh a school. Im smart.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| a | a | is/am/are (before nouns only) |
| did a | did a | was/were (equative past) |
| teacha | tiicha | teacher |
| docta | dakta | doctor |
| faama | faama | farmer |
| higgla | higla | market vendor |
| leada | liida | leader |
| sweet | swiit | sweet, delicious |
| strong | schrang | strong |
| col' | kuol | cold |
| pretty | priti | pretty, beautiful |
| tiyad | taiyad | tired |
| nuff | nof | plenty, many |
| cris' | kris | brand-new, sharp-looking (same word as 'everyting criss' — fine AND brand-new) |
The zero copula and the equative a are both set out here. He describes a as standing before a noun or an adjective with the force of 'it is' — which is why this lesson keeps its warning to the linking slot rather than banning a before adjectives outright.
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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