Pidgin English 101

[ogele 0]

Nigerian Pidgin English for Dummies!

Today's sentences,with word pronounciation aid in brackets:

Pidgin:Wetin(Waiting)be your name?

English:What is your name?

Pidgin:My name na/be ......

English:My name is......

Pidgin:Na where you from?

English:Where are you from? This refers to your place of origin.

Pidgin:Na who be(bee)your papa/mama?

English:Who is your father/mother?

Pidgin:My papa/mama be Mr/Mrs.....

English:My father/mother is Mr/Mrs.....

Pidgin:You don chop?

English:Have you eaten?

Pidgin:Eeh,I don chop,thank you! or No,I never chop!

English:Yes,I have eaten,thank you! or No,I haven't eaten!

Pidgin:Wetin you wan chop make I go cook am?

English:What do you want to eat,so that I can cook same.

Pidgin:I wan(one)chop dodo,fresh fish pepper soup,isiewu,pomo,cow tail,nkwobi,with palmy.

English:I want to eat plantain,fresh fish pepper soup,goat head,cowhide,ox-tail,cow parts in special palm oil sauce,with palm wine.

Pidgin:Where/Wey(Way)you dey? Wey you de go?

English:Where are you? Where are you going?

Pidgin:Oyaa O,make una softly softly de learn am.One day now,una go de speak pidgin like correct Naijas.

English:Okay,you should all learn these slowly.One day soon,you will all be speaking pidgin like true Nigerians.

Note:Ain't nothing hard in learning Pidgin English.Once you pick up basic conversations,you're good to go.A good tip is to try your best at "bastardizing"(destroying)English sentences and you are well on your way to becoming a Professor of Pidgin(Broken)English.It's fun!

[JJWashington 0]

Thanks Ogele!

[ogele 0]

Thanks Ogele!

Pidgin:No wahala!

English:No problem (actually means: you're welcome).

[Ta Ta 1]

Tenki tenki Ogele ............................thank you Ogele

Mi ah dae tok Krio, mi nuh kno de Naija dem...........I talk Krio ( Sierra Leone ) and i don't know the Naija dialect.

Ah gladi fer tok wit yuh. ...................... I am glad to talk with you.

Mi ah taia an go ladom pon di bed. ............ I am tired and am going to bed now ( lay on my bed now )

Tek tem do yah....ta ta .............. Be careful please.....bye bye

Edited January 10, 2008 by Omoba

[ogele 0]

Tenki tenki Ogele ............................thank you Ogele

Mi ah dae tok Krio, mi nuh kno de Naija dem...........I talk Krio ( Sierra Leone ) and i don't know the Naija dialect.

Ah gladi fer tok wit yuh. ...................... I am glad to talk with you.

Mi ah taia an go ladom pon di bed. ............ I am tired and am going to bed now ( lay on my bed now )

Tek tem do yah....ta ta .............. Be careful please.....bye bye

LOL.Me sef I understand de kind wey you write.Plus,I happy well well to talk with you.Oya now,make you for sleep fine fine,dream better dream!

I understand the variation you wrote.Plus,I am very happy to talk with you.Okay,have a restful sleep and pleasant dreams!

Error in spelling: I can't believe I spelled pronunciation wrong in my original post.People,my mother must not see this...."pronounciation"?...talk about "bastardizing"the English language!Shame on me!

[Ta Ta 1]

Tenki tenki Ogele ............................thank you Ogele

Mi ah dae tok Krio, mi nuh kno de Naija dem...........I talk Krio ( Sierra Leone ) and i don't know the Naija dialect.

Ah gladi fer tok wit yuh. ...................... I am glad to talk with you.

Mi ah taia an go ladom pon di bed. ............ I am tired and am going to bed now ( lay on my bed now )

Tek tem do yah....ta ta .............. Be careful please.....bye bye

LOL.Me sef I understand de kind wey you write.Plus,I happy well well to talk with you.Oya now,make you for sleep fine fine,dream better dream!

I understand the variation you wrote.Plus,I am very happy to talk with you.Okay,have a restful sleep and pleasant dreams!

Error in spelling: I can't believe I spelled pronunciation wrong in my original post.People,my mother must not see this...."pronounciation"?...talk about "bastardizing"the English language!Shame on me!

yuh dae kill me wit laf.....

[JJWashington 0]

I will master this...

[ose_n_me 0]

Nigerian Pidgin English for Dummies!

English:Okay,you should all learn these slowly.One day soon,you will all be speaking pidgin like true Nigerians.

abi?......

[JJWashington 0]

Na im

[Queen Jenn 0]

How you dey?

So if I just barely ate, how would I say that? You know - like "i just had lunch" or "I just got done eating"

[Ta Ta 1]

A belful ( S/L Krio, ask Ogele for Naija version.)

Ogele, wetin yuh de du ? Ah mi brodda, we dae go hep dem, yuh don yerriie ? Promis na det

Tem don dae cam near nor do so fer odda lesson ? A dae frade mi nuh can hep dem misef.

[ogele 0]

How you dey?

So if I just barely ate, how would I say that? You know - like "i just had lunch" or "I just got done eating"

You would say one of the following that basically mean the same thing:

Na now now wey I just chop,thank you! or I just finish chop now now,thank you!(PIdgin)........I just ate now,thank you!(English) or

E never tey wey I chop finish(Pidgin)...... It has not been long since I finished eating!(English)

[ogele 0]

A belful ( S/L Krio, ask Ogele for Naija version.)

Ogele, wetin yuh de du ? Ah mi brodda, we dae go hep dem, yuh don yerriie ? Promis na det

Tem don dae cam near nor do so fer odda lesson ? A dae frade mi nuh can hep dem misef.

Omoba,I dey for work.Me sef,I never chop o.Hunger dey wire my belle for here.We go close soon,make man pikin go find food,jare.No wahala,we go dey teach dem softly softly.Dem go learn like play like play.Na promise.Oya now,we go talk later.My oga patapata don enter room.

[idocare 3]

The pidgeon english is alot more easier to understand then the igbo language.

I hear that there r many dialects in Africa and between tribes, but they pretty much all know the pidgeon language.

[ForeverAmen 0]

Ogele - I love this thread! Please keep it coming. I've tried a couple of things with my husband. I have to work on my pronunciation, but otherwise he's happy that I'm making the effort.

Thanks again.

Boaz