Chapter 3: Grammar
You have learned almost all of the tenses and their tense markers. The last one is the conditional tense. The conditional tense describes a dependent relationship between two clauses, where one clause depends on the other being true. In English, this tense is generally associated with the words ‘would, could, and should.’
‘Would and Should’ can be wrapped into one marker sé. This marker is placed before the verb. The two-stem verb retains its long-form. ‘Could’ can be expressed with the use of the word Kapab.
Mo sé di I would say
To sé wa li You should see him
Mo kapab manjé I could eat
In English, the conditional is also present in a hypothetical statement. Usually, the statement contains the word ‘if.’ Creole also uses the conditional in a hypothetical statement. The word for ‘if’ is si. The word can be placed at the beginning of the first or second clause as long as the conditional is used in the dependent clause. Below are a couple examples
Si mo té konné ça, mo sé di li If I knew that, I would tell him
Mo sé manjé li, si li té bon I would eat it, if it was good
When the conditional marker is combined with the past tense marker té, it creates the past conditional. Below are some examples.
Mo té sé kouri I would have gone
Li té sé dèt malad He would have been sick
| Creole | English |
|---|---|
| Sé | should / would |
| Té sé | should have / would have |
| Kapab | could / be able to / can |