Haitian Creole grammar is highly
analytical: for example, verbs are not inflected for tense or person, and there is no
grammatical gender, which means that adjectives and articles are not inflected according to the noun. The primary word order is
subject–verb–object as it is in French and English. Many grammatical features, particularly the pluralization of nouns and indication of possession, are indicated by appending certain markers, like , to the main word. There has been a debate going on for some years as to whether these markers are
affixes or
clitics, and if punctuation such as the hyphen should be used to connect them to the word. There is no difference between direct and indirect objects.
Possessive pronouns Singular Plural Plural of nouns Definite nouns are made plural when followed by the word ; indefinite plural nouns are unmarked.
Possession Possession is indicated by placing the possessor or possessive pronoun after the item possessed. In the Capois dialect of northern Haiti, or is placed before the possessive pronoun. Note, however, that this is not considered the standard Kreyòl most often heard in the media or used in writing. Possession does not indicate definiteness ("my friend" as opposed to "a friend of mine"), and possessive constructions are often followed by a definite article.
Indefinite article The language has two indefinite articles, and (pronounced and ) which correspond to French and . is derived from the French . Both are used only with singular nouns, and are placed before the noun:
Definite article In Haitian Creole, the definite article has five forms, and it is placed
after the noun it modifies. The final syllable of the preceding word determines which form the definite article takes. If the last sound is an
oral consonant or a glide (spelled 'y' or 'w'), and if it is preceded by an
oral vowel, the definite article is : If the last sound is an
oral consonant and is preceded by a
nasal vowel, the definite article is : If the last sound is an
oral vowel and is preceded by an
oral consonant, the definite article is : If the last sound is any
oral vowel other than
i or
ou and is preceded by a
nasal consonant, then the definite article is also
a: If a word ends in , , , , or if it ends with any
nasal vowel, then the definite article is
an: If the last sound is a
nasal consonant, the definite article is , but may also be :
Demonstratives There is a single word that corresponds to English "this" and to "that" (and to French , , , and ). As in English, it may be used as a
demonstrative, except that it is placed
after the noun that it qualifies. It is often followed by or (in order to mark
number): ("this here" or "that there"): As in English, it may also be used as a pronoun, replacing a noun:
Verbs Many verbs in Haitian Creole are the same spoken words as the French
infinitive, but there is no
conjugation in the language; the verbs have one form only, and changes in
tense,
mood, and
aspect are indicated by the use of
markers:
Copula The concept expressed in English by the
verb "tobe" is expressed in Haitian Creole by three words, , , and sometimes . The verb (pronounced similarly to the English word "say") is used to link a subject with a
predicate nominative: The
subject of a sentence with might not be included. In which case, the sentence is interpreted as if the subject were ("this" or "that") or ("he", "she" or "it"): To express "I want to be", usually ("tobecome") is used instead of . also means "tobe", but is placed exclusively at the
end of a sentence, after the
predicate and the
subject (in that order): Haitian Creole has
stative verbs, which means that the verb "tobe" is not
covert when followed by an
adjective. Therefore, means both "sick" and "":
To have The verb "to have" is , often shortened to .
There is The verb (or ) also means "there is" or "there are":
To know The Haitian Creole word for "to know" and "to know how" is , which is often shortened to .
To do means "do" or "make". It has a broad range of meanings, as it is one of the most common verbs used in
idiomatic phrases.
To be able to The verb (or shortened to , or ) means "to be able to (do something)". It refers to both "capability" and "availability":
Tense markers There is no
conjugation in Haitian Creole. In the present non-progressive tense, one just uses the basic verb form for
stative verbs: When the basic form of
action verbs is used without any verb
markers, it is generally understood as referring to the past: means both "food" and "to eat", as does in
Canadian French; means "I am eating good food". For other
tenses, special "tense marker" words are placed before the verb. The basic ones are:
Simple past or
past perfect: Past
progressive:
Present progressive: For the
present progressive, it is customary, though not necessary, to add ("rightnow"): Also, can mean "will eat" depending on the context of the sentence: Near or definite
future:
Future: Other examples:
Recent past markers include and (both mean "just" or "just now" and are often used together): A verb
mood marker is , corresponding to English "would" and equivalent to the French conditional tense:
Negation The word comes before a verb and any tense markers to negate it: ==Lexicon==