Patois has a grammar. It is not broken English and it is not a set of slang words dropped into English sentences — it has its own tense system, its own way of marking plurals, its own copula rules. These lessons take it in the order it makes sense to learn it, following the journey across the island.
Each page explains the point and gives you the words. The drills, the audio and the animated mouth are in the app.
5. A the equative + zero copula — Say what things ARE with equative a (X a Y) and describe them with no copula at all (Di mango sweet).
6. A the progressive + motion — Mark ongoing action with a + verb (Mi a go, im a come) and narrate live running commentary.
7. Uptown, downtown — the language slide — Recognize the Patois-to-English continuum and say the same sentence three ways for three audiences (light introduction).
20. Modals: haffi, fi, mus, mussi, kyan — 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.)
21. Sports talk — Commentate a race, a football match and a cricket stroke in live Patois.
22. Body & health — Name the body parts, say what hurts (mi belly a hot mi), and talk bush-tea remedies.
23. Key verbs: mek, tek, gi — Command the three workhorse verbs — mek (make/let/why), tek (take), gi (give) — including serial chains like tek i gi im.
39. Reduplication & intensifiers — Double up words fi paint character (fool-fool, so-so, one-one) an crank up adjectives wid sweet yu see!, gaan a bed, cyaan done.
40. Sound words & exclamations — Paint action wid ideophone (braps, buff, wiish) an let off feeling wid safe exclamation (cho, aiee, kiss mi neck).
41. Riddles & wordplay — Open, trade an answer traditional riddle dem wid di ole formula — performance material fi pass down a yaad: Riddle mi dis, riddle mi dat...
42. Proverbs mastery — Pull di right proverb at di right time — set i up, land i as di moral, an mek i do yu arguing fi yu.
43. Sliding the continuum — Seh di same message tree way — deep Patois fi grani, miggle talk fi bredrin, Standard English fi di boss — an know when fi slide.
44. Texting & modern patois — Read an write yaad-style text: wagwan, dwl, kmt, zeen — di shorthand weh run WhatsApp an social media.
45. The big capstone: phone call a yaad — One sustained five-minute phone call wid Grani — greetings, family news, seh-reports, plans, one proverb, an walk good — no English at all.
46. Weh yuh come from — telling yuh story — Introduce yourself as a diaspora Jamaican: where you were born, where your roots deh, and your family line — with pride.
47. Calling home & di barrel — Run a full phone call home — greetings, asking bout everybody, barrel talk, remittance talk, soon-come promises, and a proper goodbye.
48. Patois a farin — holding di language — Code-switch with confidence, answer elders in Patwa instead of freezing, and keep di language alive inna yu own fambily.