Lesson 24 of 48 · St. James
Run a full market haggle: price talk, the walk-away, and always secure yu braata.
A maakit, chat a currency. Fus rule: greet before yu bargain — Maanin, Miss! Howdy an tanky no bruk no square (greetings and thanks cost nothing). Den di dance staat. Aks di price: Omuch fi di mango dem? Shock at i: Omuch?! Dat too dear, man! (too expensive!). Beg di cut: Lef i likkle fi mi, no? (come down a little for me). Mek yu counter-offer: Gi mi six fi hundred-fifty. Di higgla wi baal seh yu a rob har — a part a di dance dat; hol yu ground: Cho, a so di ting go — tek i or mi gaan. Dat a di walk-away move: tun weh slow, an nine time outta ten shi call yu back. When unu agree, secure di braata — di likkle extra weh seal every Jamaican sale: An trow een one likkle one fi braata, noh? If di higgla seh yu too renk (too cheeky), jus laugh — shi a go gi yu i same way. Money talk yu need: dunza (money), smalls (small change), mi bruk (I am broke), tings salt (times are hard), i jus as cheap (it is just as well). Fi quantity, memba di plural: di mango-dem, two-tree yam (two or three yams), a poun a rice. Learner error dem: (1) How much is it? — seh Omuch fi dis? — no is, no it. (2) That is very expensive — seh Dat dear no ras (crude — flag i) or safer, Dat too dear, man! (3) Discount a English — eena maakit yu seh lef i likkle fi mi or beg yu a bly. (4) No figet di manners — smadi weh no seh maanin no get no braata. Practise di whole arc: greet, aks, shock, counter, walk-away, close, braata.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| higgla | higla | market vendor |
| omuch | omoch | how much |
| dear | dier | expensive |
| braata | braata | a little extra thrown in free |
| dunza | donza | money |
| smalls | smaalz | small change, a tip |
| bruk | brok | broke (no money) |
| tings salt | tingz saal | times are hard |
| lef i likkle fi mi | lef i likl fi mi | lower the price for me |
| trow een | chuo iin | throw in |
| renk | rengk | cheeky, out of order |
| maakit | maakit | market |
| poun | poun | pound (weight) |
| two-tree | tuu-chrii | a few, two or three |
Price and quantity talk rests on two things he documents: the invariable noun pluralised by a numeral ('two-tree yam', 'a poun a rice') and the absence of the expletive 'it' plus copula in 'Omuch fi dis?'.
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 →