Lesson 10 of 48 · St. Thomas
Give commands with bare verbs, invite with mek wi, soften with beg yu and tags, and honour elders with proper titles.
Commands in Patois are bare and direct: Come ya (come here). Tan deh (wait there). Tek time (go easy/carefully). Negative commands take no/nuh: Nuh do dat! No badda mi! But hear this well — directness is grammar, NOT license for rudeness. Jamaican politeness is a deep code, and this lesson is how you pass the elder test. SOFTENERS: beg yu turns any command into 'please' — Beg yu pass di salt (please pass the salt). Beg yu a cotch, Maas Joe (may I sit a moment). Stronger still: Do, mi a beg yu (please, I'm begging you). Add tag noh? to melt an order into a request: Gi mi likkle wata, noh? Add yaa for warmth: Tek time, yaa. INVITATIONS: mek wi = let's — Mek wi go dung a Morant Bay (let's go down to Morant Bay). Mek wi nyam (let's eat). RESPECT TERMS, non-negotiable with elders: Maas + name for an older man (Maas Joe), Miss + name for a woman — even married (Miss Adella), Aunty and Uncle for any elder you know, Tata for a venerable old man, sah and ma in polite address. Greet FIRST, always, before any request — remember Kingston lesson one. And never, ever kiss yu teet at an elder — that sound is open disrespect. Example sentences: 1) Come ya likkle. — Come here a moment. 2) Tek time walk, di road slippy. — Walk carefully, the road is slippery. 3) Beg yu a cotch pon di bench, Maas Joe. — Please may I rest on the bench, Maas Joe. 4) Gi mi two poun a yam, noh? — Give me two pounds of yam, would you? 5) Mek wi go dung a di maakit. — Let's go down to the market. 6) No badda wid dat, yaa. — Don't bother with that, you hear. 7) Do, mi a beg yu, watch di pot fi mi. — Please, I beg you, watch the pot for me. 8) Min' di dog bite yu! — Watch out the dog doesn't bite you! Errors to recast: bare commands aimed at elders (Pass di salt → Beg yu pass di salt, Aunty); English 'please' bolted on (please gi mi → beg yu gi mi); missing titles (calling an elder by bare first name — recast with Maas/Miss); and mek wi misheard as 'make we'.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| beg yu | beg yu | please (lit. I beg you) |
| do, mi a beg yu | du, mi a beg yu | please, I'm begging you |
| mek wi | mek wi | let's, let us |
| come ya | kom ya | come here |
| tan deh | tan de | wait there, stay there |
| tek time | tek taim | go easy, carefully |
| min' | main | mind, watch out |
| cotch | kach | rest, perch a while |
| bly | blai | a chance, a favour |
| maas | maas | Mr. (respectful, elder man) |
| tata | tata | venerable old man (respectful) |
| aunty | aanti | auntie (any elder woman) |
| sah | sa | sir |
| yaa | yaa | you hear (softening tag) |
He records mek plus a pronoun as the ordinary 'let' construction ('Mek a si' = let me see), and the verb elsewhere in his examples is always the bare invariant form, which is what a Patois imperative is. The politeness code, titles and softeners are outside 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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