Part of the pronunciation section of Patwa Partner — how to physically make the sounds of Jamaican Patois.
English have two TH sound. Patois have neither — it swap dem fi /t/ an /d/. Dis a di loudest single marker inna di whole language: yuh can change one word an di ear catch it same time.
🔤 Di symbol dem, explained
/θ/ — Di TH inna think, three, mouth — di quiet one, no buzz. Yuh nah go use dis.
/ð/ — Di TH inna this, that, brother — di buzzy one. Yuh nah go use dis either.
/t/ — Di plain T inna top. Dis replace /θ/.
/d/ — Di plain D inna dog. Dis replace /ð/.
👅 Mek di sound
Put di tip a yuh tongue pon di ridge — di bumpy shelf behind yuh top teeth (mouth map, spot 3). NOT pon di teeth, an definitely not BETWEEN dem.
Seal it tight all round so no air escape pon di side. Pressure build up behind di tongue.
Fi /t/: drop di tongue an let di air burst out, wid yuh voice off — throat quiet.
Fi /d/: same seal, same burst, but voice on — throat buzzing before di tongue even let go.
Sorting rule: di quiet TH words (think, three, mouth, with, thing) tek T. Di buzzy TH words (this, that, them, there, brother) tek D. Almost no exception.
🎞 Watch di mouthDi side view show yuh di tongue — di one ting yuh cyaan check inna a mirror. Di front view a di one yuh can. Tap any word inna di ladder below fi move di mouth pon dat word.
✋🏾 Feel check — do it nowTwo finger pon yuh throat. Seh tink, den dis. Tink start silent under yuh finger, dis start wid a buzz — an yuh tongue never move to a different spot. Same place, voice a di only switch.
⚠️ Weh people slipDi number one slip a lettin' di tongue creep forward toward di teeth. Dat land yuh halfway between English an Patois, an it sound like yuh a TRY. Keep di tip firmly pon di ridge, behind di teeth. Second slip: applying it to English words weh nuh even have TH.
💡 One more ting — TR an DRWhen T come before R, Jamaican mouth mek it inna a ch: train come out closer to chrain, true closer to chru. DR do di same wid a j: drink → jrink. Yuh nuh haffi force it — but once yuh hear it, yuh cyaan unhear it.
🪜 Practice ladder
Step one — one word at a time. Tap ▶ fi hear it, den seh it back.
seh it
JLU
English
tink
tink
think
dis
dis
this
dat
dat
that
dem
dem
them
mout
mout
mouth
tri
chrii
three
wid
wid
with
breda
breda
brother
Step two — di phrase.
PhraseMi nuh tink so — I don't think so
Step three — di full sentence. Dis a di one fi record.
SentenceDis one betta dan dat one, mi a tell yuh — This one is better than that one, I'm telling you
🎙 Seh it backRecord yuhself pon di sentence, den play di two back to back. Yuh own ear a di judge — dat a how di mouth learn.
🎚 Mout Check — look pon weh yuh just didYuh hear yuhself back up top. Dis show yuh di same ting inna two picture yuh ear cyaan draw: weh yuh tongue deh, an how even yuh beat dem run.
Sources
Frederic G. Cassidy, Jamaica Talk: Three Hundred Years of the English Language in Jamaica (1961), pp. 36, 40 [fieldwork 1952–59]
Both English TH sounds are absent from the folk consonant inventory and fall in with /t/ and /d/ as a regular rule, not an occasional slip — attested in writing as far back as 1790.
Frederic G. Cassidy, Jamaica Talk: Three Hundred Years of the English Language in Jamaica (1961), pp. 41–42 [fieldwork 1952–59]
Initial tr- becomes /ch/ and dr- becomes /j/ — the chrain / jrink pattern this page teaches as an aside is a described rule, not a stylisation. It has its own page now.
Frederic G. Cassidy, Jamaica Talk: Three Hundred Years of the English Language in Jamaica (1961), p. 47 [fieldwork 1952–59]
The reverse also happens: a speaker correcting upward can over-restore TH into words that never had one. Worth knowing so the rule is not heard as absolute.
The described rules come from the published work above. The teaching, the wording and the animation are mine.