Traditional Jamaican proverb · taught in Trelawny
Wen man beli ful, im brok pat.
When a man's belly is full, he breaks the pot.
Plenty makes people careless of the very thing that fed them.
two-clause indicative with time clause
The first half has no is anywhere in it — man belly full stands on its own. That is the zero copula, and this is one of the lines Cassidy uses to demonstrate it.
This one is taught in Trelawny.
Cassidy quotes this proverb — 'When a man belly full him broke pot' — among his examples of be omitted in places where standard English would have it.
The grammatical categories this description uses — clause type, mood, and the sound patterning noted where it carries the proverb — follow Unseth's framework for describing a proverb rather than only translating it.
The proverb is folk material. The description of how it is put together follows the framework in the work above; the translation and the commentary are mine.
Hear it, and collect the rest →