Lesson 23 of 48 · St. James
Command the three workhorse verbs — mek (make/let/why), tek (take), gi (give) — including serial chains like tek i gi im.
Tree likkle verb run half a Patois: mek, tek an gi. Learn dem good an yu mout staat run free. MEK mean make, but i also mean let: Mek wi go (let us go). Mek shi gwaan! (let her carry on!). I also aks why, tru di phrase wa mek — literally what makes: Wa mek yu late so? (why are you so late?). Wa mek yu neva come a di dance? (why did you not come to the dance?). An mek show cause: A happy mi happy mek mi a gwaan so (it is because I am happy that I am acting this way). TEK mean take, but i love link up wid odda verb dem eena chain: Tek time (go carefully, take your time). Tek i gi im (take it and give it to him). Tek di pot put i pon di fire (take the pot and put it on the fire). Tek kin-teet kibba heart bun (use a smile to cover a burning heart). GI mean give, an i short so till yu nearly miss i: Gi mi likkle wata, no? (give me some water, won't you?). Gi mi a bly (give me a chance / a break). Beg yu pass di salt deh gi mi (please pass me that salt) — see how gi ride pon di end a di sentence fi show a fi who di action go? Dat a di serial verb pattern, straight fram West Africa. Learner error dem fi recast: (1) Let us go — no; Mek wi go. (2) Why you late? — betta: Wa mek yu late? (3) Give it to him — no to needed: Gi im i, or wid di chain, Tek i gi im. (4) No conjugate dem: no mekking, no gived — di verb dem neva change; a di particle dem (a, did, don) do di tense wuk. Drill di tree a dem till dem come out widout tinking.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| mek | mek | make; let; cause |
| mek wi go | mek wi go | let's go |
| wa mek | wa mek | why (what makes) |
| mek shi gwaan | mek shi gwaan | let her carry on |
| tek | tek | take |
| tek time | tek taim | go carefully, take your time |
| tek i gi im | tek i gi im | take it and give it to him |
| gi | gi | give |
| gi mi a bly | gi mi a blai | give me a chance / break |
| bly | blai | a chance, a break |
| beg yu | beg yu | please (I beg you) |
| kibba | kiba | cover |
| dweet | dwiit | do it |
His serial-verb examples show tek opening a chain and a directional or recipient verb closing it ('tek it ketch fish'; 'Let me kyar de basket come show you'), and he lists carry-come, bring-come and their kin as the commonest fixed pairs (p. 63). 'Wa mek' as 'why' is not in the chapter.
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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