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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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When Tense Markers are Implied in Chabacano


In Chabacano, there are several times when the tense markers are omitted because they are already implied. This is especially true for the future tense marker ay which hardly even occurs in spoken Chabacano. Here are some examples:

Chabacano: Mira kame cine mañana.
English: We will watch a movie tomorrow.

Chabacano: Anda kame na Manila.
English: We will go to Manila.

Chabacano: Luego ya kame come.
English: We will eat later.

Chabacano: Descansa anay kame.
English: We are going to rest for a while.

Chabacano: Man ulan gaha mañana?
English: Do you think it will rain tomorrow?

This doesn't apply though, if the subject is another person or not including the speaker because the sentence then becomes a command.

If these sentences were in the past or present tense, it would sound incorrect to omit the past tense marker ya or the present tense marker ta. There are instances though when the past tense marker gets omitted. Here are some examples:

Chabacano: Habla ya yo!
English: I already said so!

Chabacano: No quiere daw el de suyo nana contigo, habla si Josie.
English: Her mother doesn't like you, said Josie.

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