Unit 1
Bonjou nan lakou (Greetings and respect)
You are staying with family in a Port-au-Prince lakou. Early morning. A grandmother is on the gallery, a cousin your age is at the gate, and a neighbor is passing with a bucket.
Phrases
Grammar. Pronouns: mwen (I, often m), ou (you, often w), li (he/she/it), nou (we/us), yo (they/them, and also the plural). Verbs do not conjugate. ap marks what is happening now or about to happen: M ap pale (I'm speaking). The definite article comes after the noun: lakou a (the yard).
Role-play
1. **Gallery:** Granmè (70s) is sitting. > **Learner:** Bonjou, Granmè. > **Granmè:** Bonjou, pitit. Ki jan ou ye? > **Learner:** M byen, mèsi. Ki jan ou ye? > **Granmè:** M la, gras a Dye. 2. **Cousin Jean (19) at the gate:** switch to the peer greeting. > **Jean:** Sak pase? > **Learner:** N ap boule. Ou menm? > **Jean:** N ap boule, wi. 3. **Neighbor with a bucket:** bonjou before you ask where the water is. 4. **Goodbye:** Kenbe la, Granmè.
Hikma. "Pale dousman, men pale." Speak gently, but speak. A greeting is the first courtesy.
- Greeting is the door. Walking into a lakou or a shop without bonjou can read as rude. Greet, then ask.
- Time of day. Bonjou in the morning. Bonswa from the afternoon on. Sak pase is warm with peers, not the way you open with a stranger who is older.
- Titles. Granmè, Manman, Papa, Madan, Mesye. Use them whether or not you are related by blood.
- Diaspora. Many learners grew up answering a parent in English or French while being spoken to in Kreyòl. Unit 1 is a place to answer back.
Explain it back. In Kreyòl, tell a friend why you greet Granmè before you ask her for anything. Frame: "Nan lakou a, ou dwe… paske…"
Shadow: Bonjou / Bonswa
Next… Granmè hands you a short list and some goud. "Ale nan mache a pou mwen." You have not been.