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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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How To Use 'Ba' & Where To Place It


One of the difficult things when learning Chabacano is where to put the particle ba. If you speak Cebuano or Hiligaynon, you probably don't have this problem because the word order used in Chabacano is (most of the time) the same. For romance language and English speakers however, this is often a source of confusion.

But what is ba in the first place? Ba is, in general a particle used to turn declarative sentences into yes or no questions. However, there are several times when a sentence with the word ba is not a yes or no question as we shall later see. In Cebuano and Hiligaynon, there are even instances wherein the usage of ba does not indicate that a sentence is a question.

So where does one put the word ba in a sentence and how do we use it? One simplified rule is to always put it after the verb but this isn't always the case.

Ya anda ba tu na pueblo este dia works but you can't say cuando tu anda ba na pueblo? Instead, you have to put ba after the question word cuando. So this should be written as cuando ba tu anda na pueblo?

Similarly, you can't say donde ta queda ba tu? It has to be donde ba tu ta queda?

Here are other examples of sentences with question words:

Chabacano: Cosa ba tu quiere?
English: What do you want?

Chabacano: Quien ba el de tuyo marido?
English: Who is your husband?

If the question involves an adjective or an adverb, ba comes right after the adjective or the adverb. Here are some examples:

Chabacano; Bonita ba yo?
English: Am I pretty?

Chabacano: Mareng ba tu?
English: Are you gay?

Chabacano: Bueno ba ele canta?
English: Does he sing well?

Chabacano: Duele ba tuyo barriga?
English: Does your stomach hurt?

Chabacano: Amo ba el cosa yo ta habla?
English: Is what I'm saying correct?

If there is a ya after the adjective, adverb, verb or question word, ba should come right after ya.

Chabacano: 'Cabao ya ba tu baña?
English: Are you done taking a bath?

Chabacano: Donde ya ba tu ta queda ahora?
English: Where do you live these days?

Chabacano: Ya dale ya ba tu con ele el cen?
English: Have you already given him the money?

Chabacano: Rico ya ba tu?
English: Are you already rich?

Sometimes, a question does not need to have ba in it. Be careful with this word because using it may make you sound irritated or impatient. But do go ahead and pepper your speech with ba to add color to your Chabacano. Besides, it'll make you definitely sound like a native speaker.

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