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The Little Prince By Antoine De Saint-Exupéry Is Now Available In Chabacano!

While Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) written by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry in 1943 now has over 300 translations in different languages worldwide and is now considered the world’s most translated book (not counting religious works), there have been surprisingly only two translations of his book in the Philippines (Filipino and Bicol). El Diutay Principe is only the third edition featuring a Philippine language. The Little Prince is a classic French novella about a pilot who gets stranded in the desert after a plane crash and encounters a little fellow who asks him to draw a sheep for him. Through the course of their meeting, the pilot rediscovers the true meaning of life and what people should value the most. When I came across the book in 2013, I found that I could relate very well to the negative image given to “growing up” in the book. When the idea to translate the book into my mother tongue was presented to me, I didn’t think twice. I thought, ‘a lot of people my
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4 Different Ways You Can Use the Chabacano Word 'Hace'

There are three ways that one can use the Chabacano word hace.

1.    Literal Meaning

2.    Figurative Meaning

3.    As a Verb when Paired with a Noun

4.    Hace Expressions

Let us now take a look at these three usages.

Of course, the literal meaning of the verb hace is 'to make or do'. Here are two examples on how to use the Chabacano hace this way:

Chabacano: Cosa tu ta hace?
English: What are you doing?  

Chabacano: Cosa ba yo debe hace para ama tu conmigo?
English: What must I do to make you love me?


The second usage of hace is more figurative than literal. Here are some examples:

Chabacano: Puede tu hace adobo este noche? INSTEAD OF Puede tu coce adobo este noche?
English: Can you make/cook adobo for me?

Chabacano: Puede tu conmigo hace café? INSTEAD OF Puede tu conmigo templa café?
English: Can you make coffee for me?

The third usage of the Chabacano hace is very important and is probably an indicator whether you are speaking to a native speaker or at least someone who has lived in Zamboanga city for a long time. It generally works like the Chabacano 'man'. The word hace is paired with (usually) a non Spanish-derived noun and then it becomes a verb. Here are some examples:

Hace + kumu *kumu is a Chabacano noun meaning crumpled, word origin might be the Cebuano komo (fist) or the Hiligaynon kumus (crumple) as was stated in one of the comments below
Hace + halo *halo is a Chabacano noun meaning to mix, it a synonym of mezcla, word origin is Tagalog

Now I’m going to use the two words above in a sentence:

Chabacano: Hace kumu con el papel.
English: Crumple the paper. (Command)

Chabacano: Hace halo con el agua y azucar.
English: Mix the water and sugar. (Command)

At times though, the Chabacano hace is also paired with a Spanish derived word such as duele (an adjective meaning hurtful) to mean to hurt (someone). Here is an example:

Chabacano: Por que tu ta hace duele conmigo?
English: Why are you hurting me?

Just an FYI, another way to say this is: Porque tu ta hace senti duele conmigo? We’re being a bit too emotional now, aren’t we? 😜

Now the fourth usage of the Chabacano hace is similar to the English to make (someone) cry, to make (someone) happy, etc. here are some examples:

Hace llora- to make (someone) cry

Hace alegre- to make (someone) happy

Here are some sentences using these two words:

Chabacano: Ta hace man conmigo llora ese cine. *man here is added just to make it sound a bit more conversational
English: That movie is making me cry.

Chabacano: Tu lang gayod el ta puede conmigo hace alegre.
English: You’re the only one who is able to make me happy.

I heard my aunt recently say hace sampal instead of palmadea. I'm not sure but I think this is something being popularized by radio announcers in local radio stations. Let me know in the comments section if you've heard this before.

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Comments

  1. ElsomnolientoMarch 9, 2013 at 1:12 AM

    Hi There! I've been reading your blog and you had me very interested in Chabacano. Do you have any book recommendations for learning the language? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 21, 2014 at 12:55 PM

    I think "kumuh" came from the Ilongo or Hiligaynon "kumus" which also means to crumple. I know because Ilongo is my native language. I think that in Chavacano, the final -s was aspirated, a trait that came from Spanish.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jerome HerreraAugust 23, 2014 at 3:41 AM

    Wow, thanks for that fascinating information anonymous!

    ReplyDelete
  4. juan vergilloAugust 17, 2016 at 6:51 PM

    hola senor...Jerome...estoy muy agradable...porque por este blog...tu blog...ya hace mi aprendido como ta habla chabacano...desde que...yo se hablar espanol ...y tambien yo se habalar illonggo...por eso...facilmente para mi aprender tus idioma...chabacano..gracias...vamos a aprovecharlo...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jingjong DuquilloMarch 18, 2018 at 11:51 AM

    First time to come across HACE HALO. We usually say mescla.

    ReplyDelete

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