Lesson 20 of 48 · Trelawny
Use the five core modal words to say must, should, can and probably — with the right word order. (Di stacking an di ole-time forms inna di lesson a jus fi RECOGNIZE, not fi produce yet.)
Modals a di likkle helper word dem weh come before di verb an tell yu bout mus, kyan, an fi-do. Di verb itself neva change — di modal do all di wuk. Yu haffi learn five a dem good-good: haffi (must / have to), fi (should / supposed to), mus (must), mussi (must be / probably), an kyan (can), wid im negative cyaan (cannot). Hear how dem wuk: Mi haffi go a wuk maanin time (I have to go to work in the morning). Yu fi respect yu elders (you should respect your elders). Dem no fi heat di mango dem — dem no fit yet (they should not eat the mangoes — they are not ripe yet). Im mussi gaan aready (he has probably gone already). Yu mus come look fi wi Sunday (you must come visit us on Sunday). Mi kyan swim, but mi cyaan dive (I can swim, but I cannot dive). Mi cyaan bada wid dat now (I cannot be bothered with that now). Modals kyan stack up one pon di odda: Im shoulda mus kyan get tru (he really ought to be able to succeed). Word order matta: shoulda, wooda, coulda an mighta come BEFORE di tense particle dem, but haffi an fi come AFTA: Im en fi come yeside (he was supposed to come yesterday). Mi did haffi wuk late (I had to work late). Common learner error dem fi recast: (1) No seh mi have to go — a English dat; seh mi haffi go. (2) No mix dem up — pick one: yu fi go OR yu shoulda go, no yu should fi go. (3) Memba seh mussi mean probably: im mussi sick no mean im obliged fi sick, i mean im probably sick. (4) Kyan an cyaan soun close — di aa eena cyaan long an flat, so stretch i out. When di learner slip, no lecture dem — jus seh di sentence back di right way an mek dem repeat i. Yu meet fi as a modal above — Mi fi go (I'm supposed to go). But fi do a secan job weh even more common: i a di infinitive marker, di Patois answer to English 'to'. Mi come fi see yu (I came to see you); Im no have notn fi seh (he has nothing to say); It too hat fi wuk (it's too hot to work); Gi mi someting fi nyam. Wan trap fi watch: afta a verb a movement, di English brain reach fi 'to' an lef out di fi — but Patois want i deh: Mi a go fi look fi im, no 'Mi a go look'. Two different sentence.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| haffi | afi | have to, must |
| fi | fi | should, supposed to |
| mus | mos | must |
| mussi | mosi | must be, probably |
| kyan | kyan | can |
| cyaan | kyaahn | cannot |
| shoulda | shuda | should (have) |
| coulda | kuda | could (have) |
| wooda | wuda | would (have) |
| mighta | maita | might (have) |
| no fi | no fi | should not |
| en fi | en fi | was supposed to |
| bada | bada | bother |
| get tru | get chuu | succeed, manage |
He reports the Standard modals adopted piecemeal with the verb never inflecting, must/can/need common, and documents modal stacking of the app's kind ('Him mus can do it'). Note he does not record mussi, and he glosses fi as the infinitive marker rather than as 'should'.
Cassidy describes fi (from English 'for') working as the general infinitive marker in folk speech, in the slot Standard English fills with 'to'.
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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