Tales from Rohan

More than half the words in Creole are borrowed from French. However it is useful and kinda fun to understand how certain sounds shifted during the transition. It makes it easy to guess words if you know the word in French already.

First of all you change the spelling to be phonetic (e sounds like pray, ou sounds like hoot, and ch sounds like ship)

papa -> papa
café -> kafe (coffee)
machine -> machin (machine, car)
radio -> radyo
police -> polis
plastique -> plastik
piscine -> pisin (pool)
fois -> fwa (time—as in one more time)

Then you just drop those barely pronounced R’s and L’s the French love so much

filme -> fim
bible -> bib
rancontre -> rankont (meeting)
tard -> ta (late/later)
fort -> fò (strong)
ferme -> fèm (farm)
professeur -> pwofesè (professor)
ingenieur -> enjenye (engineer)
rendre -> rann (to make, to render)
quelque -> kèk (some)

an, en, and on are nasals (except when accented)

pain -> pen (bread)
bon -> bon (good)
fin -> fen (end)
Haïtian -> ayisyen (Haitian man)
quinze -> kenz (fifteen)
employée -> anplwaye (employee)

ro becomes wo

problème -> pwoblem
fromage -> fwomaj (cheese)
erosion -> ewozyon
environnement -> anviwonman  

u becomes i

plus tard -> pli ta (later)
bureau -> biwo (office, desk)
pleasure -> plezi
université -> inivèsite
epui -> epi (and then, therefore)

A lot of words you normally hear with an article or with the preposition “de” just integrate the sound into the base noun:

l’église -> legliz (church)
l’école -> lekol (school)
l’est -> lès (east)
de l’eau -> dlo (water)

Likewise many nouns is French that begin with a vowel that are usually plural, integrated an initial z sound in the base noun (from the liaison that is usually present when speaking about them in French)

les amis -> zami (friend)
les étoiles -> zetwòl (star)
les épaules -> zepol (shoulder)
les armes -> zam (weapon, “arm(s)”)  

Generally if you need to guess a Creole verb from a French verb, use the most common form of the verb in everyday speech in French, which will often be the past participle or the infinitive

changer -> chanje (to change)
manger -> manje (to eat)
chercer -> chache (to look for)
couper -> koupe (to cut)
aider -> ede (to help)
batir (bati) -> bati (to build)
finir (fini) -> fini (to finish)
faire (fait) -> fè (to make, to do)
venir (venez) -> vini (to come)
travailler (travaille) -> travay (to work)
apprendre -> apprann (to learn)
dire (dit) -> di (to say)
lire (lu) -> li (to read)
ouvrir (ouvrit) -> ouvri (to open)
prendre (prends) -> pran (to take)

Sometimes a verb becomes nasal for no apparent reason

connaître (connais) -> konnen (to know, also use for savoir in Creole)
fermer -> fenmen (to close)
aimer -> renmen

Finally Haitians love contractions and simplifying long words. This is especially noticeable with some common verbs.

oublier -> bliye (to forget)
entender -> tande (to listen, also to hear in Creole)
attendre (attends) -> tann (to wait for)
regarder -> gade (to look at)
arriver -> rive (to arrive)
demander -> mande (to ask)
retourner -> tounen (to return, to go back)
vouloir (voudrai) -> vle (to want)
devoir (dois) -> dwe (should)

Hope you found this interesting.