Saint Kitts Creole - Grammar

Grammar

In Saint Kitts creole, words are rarely pluralized by adding an ending to the word. The word is usually followed by the word 'dem' to indicate the pluralization. e.g. de gyul dem - "the girls." Note that if the standard English form of the word is not pluralized with an 's', e.g. children, the plural form of the word in Saint Kitts creole will be the standard English plural form followed by 'dem', e.g. "children dem."

Questions ending in "is it" have the "is it" replaced with "y be" (i bee); e.g. who is it? - who y be?, what is it? - wha y be?

Words used to intensify adjectives, such as "very" and "extremely", are rarely used. To replace "very", the adjective in question is repeated. E.g.: "de gyul look bad bad" - the girl looks very ugly. To replace "extremely" the word "so tail" is used. "So tail" is placed at the end of the adjective. e.g.: "de gyul look bad so tail" - the girl looks extremely ugly. The use of "so tail" indicates a very strong emphasis or intensification.

A unique aspect of Saint Kitts Creole is to end certain sentences in the speech with the words "burdee", "poopa" or "daady buh". The meaning of the phrase varies with context, but they tend to be used to emphasise the sentence they attach to. e.g.: "Tall poopa" - not at all(extreme). "Hush buhdee" - hush buddy (used when extremely annoyed).

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