Lesson 33 of 48 · St. Elizabeth
Say what was done to something without any passive verb — name the thing, use the bare verb, let context carry the rest.
English have two ways fi seh a ting: somebody sell di house (active), an di house was sold (passive). Patois only have one. There is no passive verb inna Patois — no 'was sold', no 'is bought', no 'get broken'. Di verb stay bare, an di ting weh receive di action come first: Di house sell (the house was sold); Di food buy aready (the food has been bought); Di gate paint las week (the gate was painted last week). Notice seh nutn look passive at all — di sentence read active, an yu read di sense out a di contex. Why i wuk so: Patois no have di -ed/-en participle English use fi build a passive, an i normally do widout di verb 'be' as well. Tek weh dem two an di passive have nutn lef fi stand pon. One verb form haffi do all a di wuk. Dat mean every transitive verb carry two sense at once. Ting never GET broken inna Patois — dem break. Nutn never GET fastened — i fasten. Nutn never GET caught — i ketch: Di plate break (the plate broke / the plate was broken); Di rope ketch pon di nail (the rope caught / got caught); Di door lock (the door locked / is locked). One sweet side effect: everyting sound alive, even ting weh no alive at all. Yu touch di sea-egg an i juk yu — di ting a DO someting, no jus having someting done to i. I wuk di same way wid people an animal, an dis a weh learner freeze: Im gwine ketch (he's going to be caught); Shark can nyam (shark can be eaten); How di pickney fi feed? (how is the child to be fed?). Di English brain a wait fi a 'be' fi turn up somewhere. I naa come. Time no get marked either — contex do dat job too. Di bread trow inna di wata can mean is thrown or was thrown, depending pon di story roun i. If yu need di time clear, put a time word inna di sentence: Yeside di bread trow inna di wata. One real ambiguity fi know bout. Di only distinction Patois hold firm is a transitive verb WID a object versus everyting else. Di file sharpen di knife (the file sharpened the knife) — dat clear. But Di knife sharpen can mean di knife got sharpened, an Di file sharpen can mean di file did some sharpening. Yaad speakers sort i out fram contex widout a second thought, an so wi yu, wid practice. Common learner error dem fi recast: 'Di house was sell' — no 'was' at all: Di house sell. 'Di food get buy' — no 'get' passive inna Patois: Di food buy. 'Di gate is painted' — Di gate paint. An di deepes one: reaching fi a passive shape at all. When yu feel di urge, jus name di ting an put di bare verb behind i.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| sell | sel | sell; also 'was sold' |
| buy | bai | buy; also 'was bought' |
| paint | pient | paint; also 'was painted' |
| bruk | brok | break; also 'was broken' |
| ketch | kech | catch; also 'was caught' |
| lock | lak | lock; also 'is locked' |
| fassen | fasn | fasten; also 'is fastened' |
| trow | chruo | throw; also 'was thrown' |
| feed | fiid | feed; also 'be fed' |
| juk | jok | prick, jab, sting |
| sharpen | shaapn | sharpen; also 'was sharpened' |
| bun | bon | burn; also 'got burnt' |
| tief | tiif | steal; also 'was stolen' |
Cassidy opens The Passive here — completely lacking from folk use, with the property/food examples and the animate cases; p. 62 carries the consequence, that every transitive verb gains twice as many senses and things break rather than being broken, plus the unmarked time and the transitive-versus-everything-else ambiguity.
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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