Bien Chabacano

I was researching the word vale and checking if any usage of this word in Spanish is similar to the common usage of vale in Chabacano which expresses appreciation. An example is vale man ese tuyo camisa which means your shirt is quite nice. I did, however, stumble upon some information on a particular usage of the Spanish valer which is quite similar to one of the usages of this word in Chabacano. If you are ever in Zamboanga city and see a group of children making up rules for a game that they are about to play, you might probably hear them say * no hay vale ___________. Or, if you see some kids playing, you might probably hear one of them say to one another nuay vale ansina. Here is a dialogue which features this phrase: Boy 1: Juga kita entramos! ( entramos is the Chabacano equivalent of the game patintero ) Boy 2:Ok. Pero no hay vale ta jala mano o brazo. Boy 3: Oo, no hay vale ansina. No hay tambien vale ta quita camisa. Here is a rough English translation of th...

Anda in Chabacano means 'to go'. It is the word we use when one uses the verb ir in Spanish. The verb andar in Spanish has several definitions. Here is a Spanish sentence which I found here using the word anda  just like we would in Chabacano. Spanish: Anda a comprar el periódico. English: Go and buy the newspaper. Chabacano: Anda compra el periodico. Here are some examples of the Chabacano anda  being used in a sentence . In bidding farewell: Chabacano: Anda ya yo. English: I’m going/ I’m leaving. To go: Chabacano: Anda tu na pueblo? English: Are you going to the downtown area? Chabacano: Ya anda le compra comida. English: He went and bought food. Chabacano: Anda tu conversa con aquel gente. English: Go speak with that person. Chabacano: Anda kita na Manila. English: Let’s go Manila.

Counting in Chabacano is almost the same as in Spanish. Cardinal numbers are the same except for the words we use for 100 and 1000 in Chabacano. Here's a comparison between the Spanish and Chabacano 100 and 1000: 100 Chabacano: Ciento Spanish: Cien Sample Chabacano sentence: Ciento euro lang ba ese camisa? Spanish translation: Cuesta solamente cien euros esa camisa? English: Does that shirt cost only a hundred euros? Notes on this word: In Chabacano, the noun after the word hundred ( ciento ) does not become plural as it would in Spanish. Also, the only time that you use ciento in Spanish is when counting after 100 ( ciento uno , ciento dos , etc). Cien is used to say 100 in Spanish. In Chabacano, we don't have a word similar to the Spanish costar. Instead, we use the Tagalog 'lang' which is like saying only. In fact, if you would translate the above Chabacano sentence directly to English, it would sound like this: Is the shirt only a hundred euros? ...

The Chabacano animals are more or less the same as Spanish animals. Differences are limited mostly to pronounciaton. One peculiarity though that stands out is that there are some Chabacano animal names that in Spanish refers to the meat or the food (cooked) that comes from that animal. A good example is the Chabacano pescao. In Chabacano, pescao is used both for fish as a food and as an animal. Meanwhile in Spanish, pescao (pescado) is used exclusively for fish as in the food. Pez is used to refer to fishes that are alive (which are not intended for cooking). Another example of this Chabacano anomaly is the word cabrito. In Spanish cabrito means a small goat (a kid) and goat as a food. In Chabacano though, cabrito is used to refer to goats as animals (small or adult) and food. Spanish uses the word cabra to refer to adult goats. Chabacano animals that differ in pronounciation to their Spanish counterparts are the following: Chabacano Spanish Tiboron Tibur...