Haitian Creole/Se

se#Haitian Creole The concept expressed in English by the verb "to be" is expressed in Haitian Creole by two words, se and ye. The verb se (pronounced "say") is used to link a subject with a predicate nominative: Haitian CreoleEnglishLi se frè mwenhe is my brotherMwen se yon doktèI am a doctorSa se yon pye mangoThat is a mango treeNou se zanmiwe are friends The subject sa or li can sometimes be omitted with se: Haitian CreoleEnglishSe yon bon ideThat is a good ideaSe nouvo chemiz mwenThis is my new shirt For the future tense, such as "I want to be", usually vin "to become" is used instead of se. Haitian CreoleEnglishL ap vin bòfrè mHe will be my brother-in-lawMwen vle vin yon doktèI want to become a doctorSa ap vin yon pye mangoThat will become a mango treeN ap vin zanmiWe will be friends "Ye" (pronounced "yay") also means "to be", but is placed exclusively at the end of the sentence, after the predicate and the subject (in that order). This happens especially with question words: Haitian CreoleEnglish"Ayisyen mwen ye" = "Mwen se Ayisyen"I am HaitianKi moun sa ye?Who is that?Kijan ou ye?How are you? The verb "to be" is not overt when followed by an adjective or prepositional phrase, that is, Haitian Creole has stative verbs. So, malad means "sick" and "to be sick": Haitian CreoleEnglishM gen yon zanmi maladI have a sick friend.Zanmi mwen malad.My friend is sick.Ou nan kay la.You are in the house.