Skip to main content

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

How to Say 'Have You Ever...' in Chabacano

In Chabacano, there is a distinct way to say the phrase 'have you ever...'. Even if you speak Spanish, you probably won't be able to guess it. 😏

Here are some examples on how we say the phrase 'have you ever...' in Chabacano.

Chabacano: Ya puede ya ba tu proba come sardinas?
English: Have you ever tried eating sardines?

Chabacano: Ya puede ya ba tu anda na Manila?
English: Have you ever been to Manila?

Chabacano: Ya puede ya ba tu mira Spider Man?
English: Have you ever watched Spider Man?

Chabacano: Ya puede ya ba tu anda na pueblo solo?
English: Have you ever been downtown alone?

Chabacano: Ya puede ya ba tu tiene novio antes?
English: Have you ever had a boyfriend before?

Literally, the phrase ya puede ya ba tu... translates to 'have you been able to... ( at any time in the past). An alternative to the word puede is proba (pruba). You can substitute the word puede for the word proba in the sentences above and they will still have the same meaning (except for the first one which will become ya proba ya ba tu come sardinas?) However, when you say ya proba ya ba tu..., it literally means 'have you tried doing this or that in the past'.

If you're looking to form the past perfect tense in Chabacano, you simply have to put a ya both before and after the verb. So in the sentences above, just remove puede to convert them into the past perfect tense.

Chabacano: Ya proba ya ba tu come sardinas?
English: Have you tried eating sardines?

Chabacano: Ya anda ya ba tu na Manila?
English: Have you ever gone to Manila?

Chabacano: Ya mira ya ba tu Spider Man?
English: Have you ever watched Spider Man?

Chabacano: Ya anda ya ba tu na pueblo solo?
English: Have you been downtown alone?

Chabacano: Ya tiene ya ba tu tiene novio antes?
English: Have you had a boyfriend before?

In reality, even without puede, the sentences above will still convey the same meaning (have you ever...). But personally, I feel like putting puede adds emphasis. 😏 The same goes for ba. You may or may not use it.

Here are some real life tweets which I found online using this form (ya puede ya ba...):

Babe. Ya pwede ya ba tu mira unfriended? (Babe, have you ever watched Unfriended)

etu gayot. Ya pwede ya ba tu anda aki? Hehe. Mira ta kwando se nextime. (Have you ever been here? Let's see when that next time is)

As can be seen from the other examples, this form can also be used to convey the past perfect tense.

Everyday gad ele tan ask if ya pwede ya ba daw kame kumpra (He is asking everyday if we have been able to buy (it) already)

ya pwede ya ba ka man exam? Man pass ya daw le grades Tom. :) (Have you been able to take the exam yet? He will pass the grades tomorrow)

Comments

  1. Typically the past perfect tense, it uses Tené instead of Tiene.

    ¿Ya tené ya tú novio antes?
    Or
    ¿Ya tené ya ba tú novio antes?


    Another interesting point also when once upon a time I've read an article in the Zamboangueño Chavacano that uses "Pude" over Puede in the PastPerfect tense.

    Example:
    Instead of saying:
    ¿Ya puede ya (ba) tú andá na pueblo?
    To:
    ¿Ya p(u)/(o)dé ya (ba) tú andá na pueblo?
    So it uses either Podé o Pudé.

    Anyway, Jerome. I hope in your next blog, try to incorporate the use of Acentos. It is really helpful though, since this is part of academic studies on the Chavacano Language.


    Gracias.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's very interesting. Thanks for your comment. :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Porque by Maldita Lyrics (Original Chabacano and Translated Spanish version)

Original Chabacano Version: Solo-solo na mi cuarto Hinde ta puede dormi Vira-vira na cabeza El dolor yo ya senti Por que pa contigo yo ya quiere? Como bula lang tu ya perde Por que contigo yo ya escoge? Ahora mi corazon ta sufri Bien simple lang yo ta pedi Era senti tu el cosa yo ya senti Ta pedi milagro, vira'l tiempo El mali hace derecho Na de mio rezo ta pedi yo Era olvida yo contigo Todo-todo yo ya dale Ahora ta arrepenti Sobra-sobra el dolencia Tormento para vivi Por que pa contigo yo ya quiere? Como bula lang tu ya perde Por que contigo yo ya escoge? Ahora mi corazon ta sufri Bien simple lang yo ta pedi Era senti tu el cosa yo ya senti Ta pedi milagro, vira'l tiempo El mali hace derecho Na de mio rezo ta pedi yo Era olvida yo contigo No tu distorba Y no atraca kay baka palmadea yo contigo Nunca acepta Si tu ay vira por el dolor ya senti Por que contigo yo ya escoge? Ahora mi corazon ta suf

How To Say 'I Love You' And 'I Hate You' In Chabacano

Saying I love you in Chabacano is a bit tricky. Most people just say 'I love you' (pronouncing the word love as lab ). But in songs or formal occasions, Chabacano speakers say 'I love you like this': ta ama yo contigo . Let’s dissect this sentence. Ta= Present tense indicator Ama= love Yo= I Contigo= you Again, you’ll only hear this in songs. You really won’t hear people saying to each other  ta ama yo contigo. Saying I hate you in Chabacano is also a bit difficult. In the dictionary of Santos (2010), the word hate in Chabacano is rabia or odia . However I’m not really sure how to use these two words in a sentence because to me ta rabia yo contigo or ta odia yo contigo just doesn’t sound natural. Rabiao yo contigo (which is something people frequently say in Chabacano) just doesn't convey the correct emotion because it means something like I am angry at you (milder than hate). So how do we say the English 'I hate you' in Chabacano? One of

The Chabacano Expression 'Todo Bagon'

That’s a load of Crap! B*ullsh*t! These are expressions in the English language that are used to mean nonsense, foolishness or hogwash (which is another expression). In the Chabacano de Zamboanga, we say lasang or lasangan . Lasang or lasangan came out during the early 2000s (I think) and was in use for about a decade. Previously though, the favored word was tonterias, pendejadas or locuras . All these words are actually falling into disuse. Today, the favored word is todo bagon.   Todo means 'all' and bagon means shrimp paste (from  bagoong ). So literally, it means all shrimp paste. When you say that a person is todo bagon , it means that that person is not making any sense. One may also say todo vos bagon or you are all shrimp paste. A word of caution though, this sounds very offensive. I heard that this expression is very popular among the people who live in the rural areas or on the outskirts of Zamboanga city. It is quickly gaining popularity though in main