Cape Verdean Creole Totally Explained

Everything about Cape Verdean Creole totally explained

Cape Verdean Creole is a language spoken on the islands of Cape Verde. It is a creole language of Portuguese basis, it's the mother tongue of nearly all Cape Verdeans, and it's used as a second language by descendants of Cape Verdeans in other countries.

Name and relevance

The correct designation of this language is “Cape Verdean Creole”, but in everyday use the language is simply called “Creole” by its speakers. The name “Cape Verdean” (cabo-verdiano in Portuguese, cabuverdiánu in Cape Verdean Creole), or “Cape Verdean language” (língua cabo-verdiana in Portuguese, língua cabuverdiánu in Cape Verdean Creole) has been proposed for whenever the language will be standardized.
Cape Verdean Creole has particular importance for creolistics studies since it's the oldest (still spoken) creole, the Portuguese-based creole with the greatest number of native speakers, the most studied Portuguese-based creole, and one of the few creoles to become an official language.

Internal classification

In spite of the smallness of the country, each island has developed its own way of speaking Creole. Each of these nine ways is justifiably a different dialect, but the scholars in Cape Verde usually call them “variants”. These variants can be classified into two branches: at South there are the Sotavento Creoles, which comprises the Brava, Fogo, Santiago and Maio variants; at North there are the Barlavento Creoles, which comprises the Boa Vista, Sal, São Nicolau, São Vicente and Santo Antão variants. For more details check the articles about each variant.
The linguistic authorities in Cape Verde consider Creole as one language, and not as nine different languages.
   Since some lexical forms of Cape Verdean Creole can be different according to each variant, the words and the sentences in this article will be presented in compromise model, a kind of “middle Creole”, in order to ease the understanding and in order not to favor any variant. Whenever it'll be necessary the phonemic transcription (or sometimes the phonetic transcription) will be shown immediately after the word.
   For the writing system, check the section Writing system.
   From a linguistic point of view, the most important variants are the Fogo, Santiago, São Nicolau and Santo Antão ones, and any deep study of Creole should approach at least these four. They are the only islands that have received slaves directly from the African continent, that possess the most conservative linguistic features, and that are the most distinct from each other.
   From a social point of view, the most important variants are the Santiago and São Vicente ones, and any light study of Creole should approach at least these two. They are the variants of the two bigger cities (Praia and Mindelo), the variants with the greatest number of speakers, and the variants with a glottophagist tendency over the neighboring ones.
   These variants have significant literature:

Brava: Eugénio Tavares
Fogo: Elsie Clews Parsons
Santiago: Carlos Barbosa, Tomé Varela da Silva, Daniel Spínola
São Vicente: Sérgio Frusoni, Ovídio Martins
Santo Antão: Luís Romano Madeira de Melo

Cape Verdean Creole differences:

Fogo Creole	Santiago Creole	São Nicolau Creole	São Vicente Creole	Santo Antão Creole	English
Ês frâ-m’. [esfɾɐ̃]	Ês flâ-m’. [esflɐ̃]	Ês fló-m’. [esflɔm]	Ês dzê-m’. [eʒdzem]	Ês dzê-m’. [eʒdzem]	They told me.
Bú câ ê bunítu. [bukɐ e buˈnitu]	Bú câ ê bunítu. [bukɐ e buˈnitu]	Bô câ ê b’nít’. [bokɐ e bnit]	Bô câ ê b’nít’. [bokɐ e bnit]	Bô n’ ê b’nít’. [bone bnit]	You are not beautiful.
M’ câ sabê. [ŋkɐ sɒˈbe]	M’ câ sâbi. [ŋkɐ ˈsɐbi]	M’ câ sabê. [mkɐ saˈbe]	M’ câ sabê. [mkɐ saˈbe]	Mí n’ séb’. [min sɛb]	I don’t know.
Cumó’ qu’ ê bú nômi? [kuˈmɔke bu ˈnomi]	’Módi qu’ ê bú nómi? [ˈmɔdike bu ˈnɔmi]	Qu’ manêra qu’ ê bô nôm’? [kmɐˈneɾɐ ke bo nom]	Qu’ manêra qu’ ê bô nôm’? [kmɐˈneɾɐ ke bo nom]	Qu’ menêra qu’ ê bô nôm’? [kmeˈneɾɐ ke bo nom]	What is your name?
Bú podê djudâ-m’? [bupoˈde ʤuˈdɐ̃]	Bú pôdi djudâ-m’? [buˈpodi ʤuˈdɐ̃]	Bô podê j’dó-m’? [bopoˈde ʒdɔm]	Bô podê j’dá-m’? [bopoˈde ʒdam]	Bô podê j’dé-m’? [bopoˈde ʒdɛm]	Can you help me?
Spiâ lí! [spiˈɐli]	Spía li! [spˈiɐli]	Spiâ li! [spiˈɐli]	Spiá li! [ʃpiˈali]	Spiá li! [ʃpiˈali]	Look at here!
Ê’ cantâ. [ekɒ̃ˈtɐ]	Ê’ cánta. [eˈkãtɐ]	Êl cantâ. [elkɐ̃ˈtɐ]	Êl cantá. [elkɐ̃ˈta]	Êl cantá. [elkãˈta]	He/she sang.
Bú tâ cantâ. [butɐ kɒ̃ˈtɐ]	Bú tâ cánta. [butɐ ˈkãtɐ]	Bô tâ cantâ. [botɐ kɐ̃ˈtɐ]	Bô tâ cantá. [botɐ kɐ̃ˈta]	Bô tâ cantá. [botɐ kãˈta]	You sing.
M’ stâ cantâ. [ƞsta kɒ̃ˈtɐ]	M’ sâ tâ cánta. [ƞsɐ tɐ ˈkãtɐ]	M’ tâ tâ cantâ. [mtɐ tɐ kɐ̃ˈtɐ]	M’ tí tâ cantá. [mti tɐ kɐ̃ˈta]	M’ tí tâ cantá. [mti tɐ kãˈta]	I'm singing.
Screbê [skɾeˈbe]	Scrêbi [ˈskɾebi]	Screbê [skɾeˈbe]	Screvê [ʃkɾeˈve]	Screvê [ʃkɾeˈve]	To write
Gossím [ɡɔˈsĩ]	Góssi [ˈɡɔsi]	Grinhassím [ɡɾiɲɐˈsĩ]	Grinhassím [ɡɾiɲɐˈsĩ]	Grinhessím [ɡɾiɲeˈsĩ]	Now
Pôrcu [ˈpoɾku]	Pôrcu [ˈpoɾku]	Pôrcu [ˈpoɾku]	Tchúc’ [ʧuk]	Tchúc’ [ʧuk]	Pig
Conxê [kõˈʃe]	Cônxi [ˈkõʃi]	Conxê [kõˈʃe]	Conxê [kõˈʃe]	Conxê [kõˈʃe]	To know
Dixâ [diˈʃɐ]	Dêxa [ˈdeʃɐ]	D’xâ [ʧɐ]	D’xá [ʧa]	D’xá [ʧa]	To leave
Dixâ-m’ quétu! [diˈʃɐ̃ˈkɛtu]	Dexâ-m’ quétu! [deˈʃɐ̃ˈkɛtu]	D’xó-m’ quêt’! [ʧɔmket]	D’xá-m’ quêt’! [ʧamket]	D’xé-m’ quêt’! [ʧɛmket]	Leave me alone!
Dôci [ˈdosi]	Dóxi [ˈdɔʃi]	Dôç’ [dos]	Dôç’ [dos]	Dôç’ [dos]	Sweet
Papiâ [pɒˈpjɐ]	Pâpia [ˈpɐpjɐ]	Papiâ [pɐˈpjɐ]	Falá [fɐˈla]	Falá [faˈla]	To speak
Cúrpa [ˈkuɾpɐ]	Cúlpa [ˈkulpɐ]	Cúlpa [ˈkulpɐ]	Cúlpa [ˈkulpɐ]	Cúlpa [ˈkulpɐ]	Fault
Nhôs amígu [ɲozɒˈmigu]	Nhôs amígu [ɲozɐˈmigu]	B’sôt’ amíg’ [bzotɐˈmiɡ]	B’sôt’ amíg’ [bzotɐˈmiɡ]	B’sôt’ emíg’ [bzoteˈmiɡ]	Your (plural) friend
Scúru [ˈskuru]	Sucúru [suˈkuru]	Scúr’ [skur]	Scúr’ [ʃkur]	Scúr’ [ʃkur]	Dark
Cárru [ˈkaru]	Cáru [ˈkaɾu]	Córr’ [kɔʀ]	Córr’ [kɔʀ]	Córr’ [kɔʀ]	Car
Lébi [ˈlɛbi]	Lébi [ˈlɛbi]	Lêb’ [leb]	Lêv’ [lev]	Lêv’ [lev]	Light

For more examples check the Swadesh List of Cape Verdean Creole

(in Portuguese).

Origins

The history of Cape Verdean Creole is hard to trace due to a lack of written documentation and to ostracism during the Portuguese administration of Cape Verde.
   There exist presently three theories about the formation of Creole. The eurogenetic theory claims that the creole was formed by the Portuguese, by simplifying the Portuguese language in order to make it accessible to African slaves. That is the point of view of authors like Prudent, Waldman, Chaudesenson, Lopes da Silva. The afrogenetic theory claims that Creole was formed by African slaves, using the grammar of Western African languages and replacing the African lexicon by Portuguese lexicon. That is the point of view of authors like Adam and Quint. The neurogenetic theory claims that Creole was formed spontaneously, not by slaves from continental Africa, but by the population born in the islands, using the grammar with which all human beings are born. That is the point of view of authors like Chomsky and Bickerton, and would explain how creoles localized several miles away have similar grammatical structures, even though they've a different lexical basis (check syntactic similarities of creoles). The best that can be said is that none of these theories has been conclusively proven.
   According to A. Carreira, Cape Verdean Creole was formed from a Portuguese pidgin, on the island of Santiago, starting from the 15th century. That pidgin was then transported to the west coast of Africa by the lançados. From there, that pidgin diverged into two proto-Creoles, one that was the base of all Cape Verdean Creoles, and another that was the base of the Guinea-Bissau Creole.
   Crossing information regarding the settlement of each island with linguistic comparison, it's possible to conjecture some conclusions. The spreading of Cape Verdean Creole within the islands was done in three phases:

In a first phase, the island of Santiago was occupied (2^nd half of the 15th century), followed by Fogo (end of the 16th century).

In a second phase, the island of São Nicolau was occupied (mostly in the 2^nd half of the 17th century), followed by Santo Antão (mostly in the 2^nd half of the 17th century).

In a third phase, the remaining islands were occupied by settlers from the first islands: Brava was occupied by population from Fogo (mostly in the beginning of the 18th century), Boa Vista by population from São Nicolau and Santiago (mostly in the 1^st half of the 18th century), Maio by population from Santiago and Boa Vista (mostly in the 2^nd half of the 18th century), São Vicente by population from Santo Antão and São Nicolau (mostly in the the 19th century), Sal by population from São Nicolau and Boa Vista (mostly in the the 19th century).

Status

In spite of Creole being the mother tongue of nearly all the population in Cape Verde, Portuguese is still the official language. As Portuguese is used in everyday life (at school, in administration, in official acts, in relations with foreign countries, etc.), Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole live in a state of diglossia . Due to this overall presence of Portuguese, a decreolization process occurs for all the different Cape Verdean Creole variants.
   Check in this fictional text: � Santiago variant:

   : Quêl mudjêr cú quêm m’ encôntra ónti stába priocupáda púrqui êl sqêci dí sês minínus nâ scóla, í cándu êl bâi procurâ-’s êl câ olhâ-’s. Alguêm lembrâ-’l quí sês minínus sâ tâ pricisába dí material pâ úm pesquisa, entõ êl bâi encontrâ-’s nâ biblioteca tâ procúra úqui ês cría. Pâ gradêci â túdu quêm djudâ-’l, êl cumêça tâ fála, tâ flâ cômu êl stába contênti di fúndu di curaçãu. � São Vicente variant:

   : Quêl m’djêr c’ quêm m’ encontrá ônt’ táva priocupáda púrq’ êl sq’cê d’ sês m’nín’s nâ scóla, í cónd’ êl bái procurá-’s êl câ olhá-’s. Alguêm lembrá-’l qu’ sês m’nín’s táva tâ pr’cisá d’ material pâ úm pesquisa, entõ êl bâi encontrá-’s nâ biblioteca tâ procurá úq’ ês cría. Pâ gradecê â túd’ quêm j’dá-’l, êl c’meçá tâ fála, tâ dzê côm’ êl táva contênt’ d’ fúnd’ d’ curaçãu. � Translation to Portuguese:

   : Aquela mulher com quem eu encontrei-me ontem estava preocupada porque ela esqueceu-se das suas crianças na escola, e quando ela foi procurá-las ela não as viu. Alguém lembrou-lhe que as suas crianças estavam a precisar de material para uma pesquisa, então ela foi encontrá-las na biblioteca a procurar o que elas queriam. Para agradecer a todos os que ajudaram-na, ela começou a falar, dizendo como ela estava contente do fundo do coração. � Translation to English:

   : That woman with whom I met yesterday was worried because she forgot her children at school, and when she went to seek them she didn’t see them. Someone reminded her that her children were needing some material for a research, and so she found them at the library searching what they needed. To thank to everyone who helped her, she started speaking, telling how she was glad from the bottom of her heart.
   In this text, several situations of decreolization / Portuguese intromission can be noted:

cú quêm / c’ quêm — Portuguese order of words com quem;

encôntra / encontrá — Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more commonly átcha / otchá;

priocupáda — Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more commonly fadigáda;

púrqui / púrq’ — Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more commonly pamódi / pamód’;

sês minínus / sês m’nín’s — Portuguese influence (plural marker on both words);

procurâ-’s / procurá-’s — Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more commonly spiâ-’s / spiá-’s;

olhâ-’s / olhá-’s — Portuguese phonetics (intromission of the phoneme /ʎ/);

quí / qu’ — Portuguese lexicon, the integrant conjunction in Creole is ’mâ;

sâ tâ pricisába / táva ta pr’cisá — Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more commonly sâ tâ mestêba / táva tâ mestê;

material, pesquisa, biblioteca — words pretty uncommon in a basilect; if they're Portuguese words used when speaking Creole they should be pronounced in Portuguese and written in italic or between quotation marks;

úqui / úq’ — intromission of Portuguese o que;

gradêci â / gradecê â — wrong preposition, the Portuguese preposition “a” doesn't exist in Creole;

fála — this form (from contemporary Portuguese falar) is only used in São Vicente and Santo Antão, in the other islands the word is papiâ (from old Portuguese papear);

cômu / côm’ — intromission of Portuguese como;

curaçãu — Portuguese phonetics (reduction of the phoneme /o/ to /u/ and Portuguese pronunciation /ɐ̃w/ instead of Creole /õ/); The same text “corrected”: � Santiago variant:

   : Quêl mudjêr quí m’ encôntra cú êl ónti stába fadigáda pamódi êl sqêci sês minínu nâ scóla, í cándu quí êl bâi spiâ-’s êl câ odjâ-’s. Alguêm lembrâ-’l ’ma sês minínu sâ tâ mestêba «material» pâ úm «pesquisa», entõ êl bâi atchâ-’s nâ «biblioteca» tâ spía cusê quí ês cría. Pâ gradêci pâ túdu quêm quí djudâ-’l, êl cumêça tâ pâpia, tâ flâ módi quí êl stába contênti di fúndu di coraçõ. � São Vicente variant:

   : Quêl m’djêr qu’ m’ encontrá má’ êl ônt’ táva fadigáda pamód’ êl sq’cê sês m’nín’ nâ scóla, í cónd’ êl bái spiá-’s êl câ oiá-’s. Alguêm lembrá-’l ’mâ sês m’nín’ táva tâ mestê «material» pâ úm «pesquisa», entõ êl bâi otchá-’s nâ «biblioteca» tâ spiá c’sê qu’ ês cría. Pâ gradecê pâ túd’ quêm qu’ j’dá-’l, êl c’meçá tâ fála, tâ dzê qu’ manêra qu’ êl táva contênt’ d’ fúnd’ d’ coraçõ. As a consequence there's a continuum between basilectal and acrolectal varieties.
   In spite of Creole not being officialized, there exists a governmental directive that puts forth the necessary conditions for the officialization of Creole. This officialization hasn't yet occurred, mostly because the language isn't yet standardized, for several reasons:

There is significant dialectal fragmentation. Speakers are reluctant to speak a variant that isn't his/her own.

Absence of rules to establish which is the right form (and also the right spelling) to be adopted for each word. For ex.: for the word corresponding to the Portuguese word algibeira (“pocket”), A. Fernandes records the forms algibêra, agibêra, albigêra, aljubêra, alj’bêra, gilbêra, julbêra, lijbêra.

Absence of rules to establish which are the lexical limits to be adopted. It is frequent for speakers of Creole, when writing, to join different grammatical classes. For ex.: pâm... instead of pâ m’... “for me to...”.

Absence of rules to establish which are the grammatical structures to be adopted. It isn't just about dialectal differences; even within a single variant there are fluctuations. For ex.: in the Santiago variant, when there are two sentences and one is subordinated to the other, there's a tense agreement in the verbs (bú cría pâ m’ dába “you wanted me to give” — both cría and dába are past tense), but some speakers don't practice it (bú cría pâ m’ dâ — past then present — or bú crê pâ m’ dába — present then past).

The writing system (ALUPEC) hasn't been well accepted by all Creole users.

The language levels (formal, informal, scientific, slang, etc.) are not well differentiated yet. That is the reason why, each speaker when speaking (or writing) uses his/her own dialect, his/her own sociolect and his/her own idiolect.
To overcome these problems, some Creole advocates propose the development of two standards: a North (Barlavento) standard, centered on the São Vicente variant, and a South (Sotavento) standard, centered on that of Santiago. If so, Creole would become a pluricentric language There exists no complete translation of the Bible. However, Sérgio Frusoni produced a New Testament in the São Vicente Creole, Vangêle contód d'nôs móda, translated from Bartolomeo Rossetti's version in Rome dialect (Er Vangelo Seconno Noantri).

Writing system

The only writing system officially recognized by the authorities in Cape Verde is called ALUPEC. In spite of having been officially recognized by the government, the ALUPEC is neither officially nor mandatorily used, instead used only by enthusiasts.
In spite of being the only system officially recognized, the same law allows the use of alternative writing models, “as long as they're presented in a systematic and scientific way”. As not all users are familiarized with ALUPEC or the IPA, in this article a slightly different system will be used to make it easier for the reader:

The sound [s] will be represented in an etymological way (“s” when in Portuguese is “s”, “ss” when in Portuguese is “ss”, “c” when in Portuguese is “c”, “ç” when in Portuguese is “ç”) instead of ALUPEC always “s”.

The sound [z] will be represented in an etymological way (“s” when in Portuguese is “s”, “z” when in Portuguese is “z”) instead of ALUPEC always “z”.

The sound [ʧ] will be represented by “tch” instead of ALUPEC “tx”.

The sound [ʃ] will be represented in an etymological way (“x” when in Portuguese is “x”, “ch” when in Portuguese is “ch”) instead of ALUPEC always “x”.

The sound [ʒ] will be represented in an etymological way (“j” when in Portuguese is “j”, “g” when in Portuguese is “g”) instead of ALUPEC always “j”.

The sound [k] will be represented in an etymological way (“c” when in Portuguese is “c”, “qu” when in Portuguese is “qu”) instead of ALUPEC always “k”.

The sound [ɡ] will be represented in an etymological way (“g” when in Portuguese is “g”, “gu” when in Portuguese is “gu”) instead of ALUPEC always “g”.

The nasality of the vowels will be represented by an “m” after the vowel, when this vowel is at the and of the word or before the letters “p” and “b”. In the other cases the nasality will be represented by the letter “n”.

The words will always have a graphic accent. This will be an overwhelming use of accents, but it's the only way to effectively represent both the stressed syllable and vowel aperture.

To show an elided vowel in certain variants an apostrophe ’ will be used.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Cape Verdean Creole comes mainly from Portuguese. Although the several sources don't agree, the figures oscillate between 90 to 95% of words from Portuguese. The remaining comes from several languages from Western Africa (Mandingo, Wolof, Fulani, Temne, Balant, Mandjak, etc.), and the vocabulary from other languages (English, French, Latin) is negligible.
The page Etimologias from this Cape Verdean — Portuguese on-line dictionary

gives a glimpse of the different origins of Creole vocabulary.

Phonology

Cape Verdean Creole's phonological system comes mainly from 15th- through 17th-century Portuguese. In terms of conservative features, Creole has kept the affricate consonants /ʤ/ and /ʧ/ (written “j” (in the beginning of words) and “ch”, in old Portuguese) which are not in use in today’s Portuguese, and the pre-tonic vowels were not reduced as in today’s European Portuguese. In terms of innovative features, the phoneme /ʎ/ (written “lh” in Portuguese) has evolved to /ʤ/ and the vowels have suffered several phonetic phenomena.

Vowels

In Cape Verdean Creole we can find eight oral vowels and their corresponding nasal counterparts, making a total of sixteen vowels:

	Front	Central	Back
	oral	nasal	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
Close	i	ĩ			u	ũ
Close-mid	e	ẽ			o	õ
Open-mid	ɛ	ɛ̃	ɐ	ɐ̃	ɔ	ɔ̃
Open			a	ã

Consonants and semi-vowels

In Cape Verdean Creole we can find the following consonants and semi-vowels:

	Labial		Dental/ Alveolar		Postalveolar/ Palatal		Velar		Uvular
Nasal	m		n		ɲ		ŋ
Plosive	p	b	t	d			k	ɡ
Affricate					ʧ	ʤ
Fricative	f	v	s	z	ʃ	ʒ				(ʁ)
Tap			ɾ
Trill			(r)						ʀ
Approximant	w				j
Lateral			l		ʎ

Note: The sounds [r], [ʁ] and [ʀ] are variants of the same phoneme /ʀ/.

Note about the first person singular

The personal pronoun that represents the subject form of the first person singular has a variable pronunciation according to the islands.
   This pronoun comes from the object form of the first person singular in Portuguese mim, and it's phonetically reduced to the sound [m].
   This pronunciation is nowadays found in the Barlavento variants. In the Sotavento variants that consonant [m] was reduced to a simple nasality [ƞ]. For example: m’ andâ [ƞɐ̃ˈdɐ] ('I have walked'), m’ stâ tâ sintí [ƞstɐ tɐ sĩˈti] ('I am feeling'), m’ labába [ƞlɐˈbabɐ] ('I had washed'). Before plosive or affricate consonants this nasality becomes homorganic nasal of the following consonant. For ex.: m’ bêm [mbẽ] ('I came'), m’ têm [ntẽ] ('I have'), m’ tchigâ [ɲʧiˈgɐ] ('I arrived'), m’ crê [ŋkɾe] ('I want').
   Speakers who are strongly influenced by the Portuguese language tend to pronounce this pronoun as a nasal vowel úm [ũ] instead of m’ [m].
   Before some forms of the verb sêr this pronoun takes back its full form mí [mi], in whatever variant: mí ê [mie] (‘I am’), mí éra [miˈɛɾɐ] (‘I was’).
   In this article, this pronoun is conventionally written m’, no matter the variant.

Grammar

Even though over 90% of Cape Verdean Creole words are derived from Portuguese, the grammar is very different, which makes it extremely difficult for an untrained Portuguese native speaker even to understand a basic conversation. On the other hand, the grammar shows a lot of similarities with other creoles, Portuguese-based or not (check syntactic similarities of creoles).

Sentence structure

The basic sentence structure in Creole is Subject — Verb — Object. Ex.:

Êl tâ cumê pêxi. “He eats fish.” When there are two objects, the indirect object comes first while the direct object comes after, and the sentence structure becomes Subject — Verb — Indirect Object — Direct Object. Ex.:

Êl tâ dâ pêxi cumída. “He gives food to the fish.” A curiosity that makes Cape Verdean Creole closer to other creoles is the possibility of double negation (ex.: Náda m’ câ atchâ. liter. “Nothing I didn’t find.”), or sometimes even triple negation (ex.: Núnca ninguêm câ tâ bába lâ. liter. “Never nobody didn’t go there.”), in forms not allowed in Portuguese.

Nouns

Only the animated nouns (human beings and animals) have gender inflection. Ex.:

inglês / inglésa “Englishman / Englishwoman”

pôrcu / pórca “pig (male) / pig (female)” In some cases the distinction between sexes is made putting the adjectives mátchu “male” and fémia “female” after the nouns. Ex.:

fídju-mátchu / fídju-fémia “son / daughter”

catchôrr’-mátchu / catchôrr’-fémia “dog (male) / dog (female)” The nouns in Creole have number inflection only when they're well determined or known in the context. Ex.:

Minínus dí Bía ê bêm comportádu. “The children of Bia are well behaved.” When the noun refers to something in general that noun doesn't have number inflection. Ex.:

Minínu devê ruspetâ alguêm grándi. “Children must respect grown up people.” If in a sentence there are several grammatical categories, only the first bears the plural marker. Ex.:

minínus “boys”

nhâs minína “my girls”

minínus bunítu “beautiful boys”

nhâs dôs minína buníta í simpática “my two kind and beautiful girls”

Personal pronouns

According to their function, the pronouns can be subject pronouns or object pronouns. Furthermore, in each of these functions, according to the position within the sentence the pronouns can be unstressed or stressed.
The unstressed subject pronouns generally bear the function of the subject and the come before the verb. Ex.:

Nú crê. “We want.” The stressed subject pronouns bear the function of some kind of vocative and usually are separated from the verb. Ex.:

Mí, m’ stâ lí, í bô, bú stâ lâ. “Me, I'm here, and you, you're there.” The object pronouns, as the name shows, bear the function of the object (direct or indirect). The unstressed object pronouns are used with the present-tense forms of verbs. Ex.:

M’ odjâ-’l. “I have seen it.”

M’ tâ bejá-bu. “I kiss you.” The stressed object pronouns are used with the past-tense forms of verbs, when they're the second pronoun in a series of two pronouns, and after prepositions. Ex.:

Ês’ tâ odjába-êl. “They saw it.”

Bú dâ-m’-êl. “You gave it to me.”

M’ stâ fártu dí bô! “I’m fed up of you!” When there are two object pronouns, the indirect pronoun comes first while the direct pronoun comes after, and the sentence structure becomes Subject — Verb — Indirect Pronoun — Direct Pronoun.
There are no reflexive pronouns. To indicate reflexivity, Creole uses the expression cabéça ("head") after the possessive determiner. Ex.:

Ês mordê sês cabéça. “They have bitten themselves.” There are no reciprocal pronouns. To indicate reciprocity, Creole uses the expression cumpanhêru ("companion"). Ex.:

Ês mordê cumpanhêru. “They have bitten each other.”

Verbs

The verbs don't have inflection. They have the same form for all the persons, and the notions of tense, mood and aspect are expressed through the presence (or absence) of certain morphemes (called “verbal actualizers” by Veiga call these verbs “stative verbs” and to these verbs they add others: gostâ, conxê, merecê, morâ, tchomâ, valê. However that designation is contested: not all those verbs are in fact stative; not all those verbs are irregular (for ex. morâ); some of those verbs are regular in some variants (m’ tâ gostâ — imperfective of the present with tâ), and irregulars in other variants (m’ gostâ — imperfective of the present but without tâ).

There is a parallelism between the pair of the verbs sêr / stâ “to be” and the pair of the verbs têm / tenê “to have”.

The verb sêr is a copulative verb that expresses a permanent quality. Ex.: � :Mí ê úm ómi. /mi e ũ ˈɔmi/ “I am (I’ve always been and I'll always be) a man.”

The verb stâ is a copulative verb that expresses a temporary state. Ex.: � :Êl stâ trísti. /el stɐ ˈtɾisti/ “He is (in this precise moment) sad.”

The verb têm is a possessive verb that expresses a permanent quality. Ex.: � :M’ têm péli scúru. /m tẽ ˈpɛli ˈskuɾu/ “I have (I had and I'll always have) dark skin.”

The verb tenê is a possessive verb that expresses a temporary possession. Ex.: � :M’ tenê úm canéta nâ bôlsu. /m teˈne ũ kɐˈnɛtɐ nɐ ˈbolsu/ “I have (in this precise moment) a pen in the pocket.”

	permanent	temporary
copulative verbs	sêr	stâ
possessive verbs	têm	tenê

� Note.: The verbs stâ and tenê don't have the progressive aspect: forms like *m’ stâ tâ stâ or *m’ stâ tâ tenê don't exist. The verb tenê doesn't exist in the Barlavento variants. In São Vicente and Santo Antão the verb stâ has the form stód’ for the infinitive, tâ for the imperfective of the present, tív’ for the perfective of the present, and táva for the imperfective of the past.

Passive

Cape Verdean Creole has two voices. The active voice is used when the subject is explicit. The passive voice is used when the subject is indeterminate or unknown. There is also two forms for the passive. The form for the present is made with the infinitive to which is joined the particle ~du. The form for the past is made with the infinitive to which is joined the particle ~da. Ex.:

Tâ papiádu inglês nâ Mérca. /tɐ pɐpiˈɐdu ĩɡˈlez nɐ ˈmɛɾkɐ/ “It is spoken English in America.”

M’ inxinádu tâ andâ. /m ĩʃiˈnadu tɐ ɐˈdɐ/ “I was taught to walk.”

Úm vêz, tâ cumêda tchêu mídju. /ũ vez tɐ kuˈmedɐ ʧew ˈmiʤu/ “Once, one used to eat a lot of corn.” � Note.: In the Barlavento variants the form for the past doesn't exist.

Negative

To negate a verb, the negative adverb câ /kɐ/ is used after the subject and before any verbal actualizer. Ex.:

Nú câ tâ bebê. /nu kɐ tɐ beˈbe/ “We don’t drink.”

Êl câ tâ odjába. /el kɐ tɐ oˈʤabɐ/ “He didn’t see.”

Bú câ bái. /bu kɐ baj/ “You haven’t gone.” In the Santo Antão variant, the negative adverb is n’ /n/. Ex.:

Nô n’ dâ bibê. /no n dɐ biˈbe/ “We don’t drink.”

Êl n’ dáva o’á. /el n davɐ oˈa/ “He didn’t see.”

Bô n’ bé. /bo n bɛ/ “You haven’t gone.” In imperative sentences the negative adverb câ /kɐ/ is always in the beginning. Ex.:

Câ bú bái! /kɐ bu baj/ “Don’t go!” (you — singular)

Câ nhôs fazê! /kɐ ɲoz fɐˈze/ (Sotavento), Câ b’sôt’ fazê! /kɐ bzot fɐˈze/ (Barlavento) “Don’t do!” (you — plural) And in the Santo Antão variant:

N’ bô bé! /n bo bɛ/ “Don’t go!” (you — singular)

N’ b’sôt’ fezê! /n bzot feˈze/ “Don’t do!” (you — plural)

Adjectives

Adjectives in Creole almost always come after the noun. Only the animated nouns (human beings and animals) demand gender inflection in their adjectives. Ex.:

ómi fêiu / mudjêr fêia “ugly man / ugly woman”

bódi prêtu / cábra préta “black buck / black goat” The adjectives for unanimated nouns have the same form as the masculine adjectives. Ex.:

bistídu bráncu “white dress”

camísa bráncu “white shirt” In general the plural marker doesn't appear on adjectives since it comes in a preceding grammatical category.

Determiners

In Creole there are no definite articles. If it's absolutely necessary to determine the noun, the demonstrative determiners are used instead.
For the indefinite articles there are two forms, one for the singular, another for the plural:

úm… /ũ/ “a, an (singular)”, úns… /ũz/ “a, an (plural)” The possessive determiners have number inflexion, but the plural refers to the objects possessed, and not to the owners. Ex.:

nhâ cárru “my car”

nhâs cárru “my cars”

nôs cárru can be either “our car” or “our cars” The demonstrative determiners have only two degrees of proximity: close to the speaker (êss “this, these”) and away from the speaker (quêl “that”, quês “those”). � Note.: Only the São Vicente and Santo Antão Creoles make a phonetic distinction between the singular êss /es/ (“this”) and the plural ês /eʒ/ (“these”).

Designatives

Creole possesses a special grammatical category for presenting or announcing something. It appears in two forms, one to present something near, (alí… /ɐˈli/) and another to present something far (alâ… /ɐˈlɐ/). Ex.:

Alí nhâ fídju. “Here is my son.”

Alá-’l tâ bái. “There he goes.”

Examples of Cape Verdean Creole

Example 1 (Santiago variant)

Creole	transcription	translation to English
Ôi Cábu Vêrdi, Bô qu’ ê nhâ dôr más sublími Ôi Cábu Vêrdi, Bô qu’ ê nhâ angústia, nhâ paxõ Nhâ vída nâce Dí disafíu dí bú clíma ingrátu Vontádi férru ê bô nâ nhâ pêtu Gôstu pâ lúta ê bô nâ nhâs bráçu Bô qu’ ê nhâ guérra, Nhâ dôci amôr Stênde bús bráçu, Bú tomâ-m’ nhâ sángui, Bú rêga bú tchõ, Bú flúri! Pâ térra lôngi Bêm cába pâ nôs Bô cú már, cêu í bús fídju N’ úm dôci abráçu dí páz	/oj ˈkabu ˈveɾdi bo ke ɲɐ doɾ mas suˈblimi oj ˈkabu ˈveɾdi bo ke ɲɐ ɐ̃ˈɡustiɐ ɲɐ pɐˈʃõ ɲɐ ˈvidɐ ˈnɐse di dizɐˈfiw di bu ˈklimɐ ĩˈɡɾatu võˈtadi ˈfɛʀu e bo nɐ ɲɐ ˈpetu ˈɡostu pɐ ˈlutɐ e bo nɐ ɲɐz ˈbɾasu bo ke ɲɐ ˈɡɛʀɐ ɲɐ ˈdosi ɐˈmoɾ ˈstẽde buz ˈbɾasu bu toˈmɐ̃ ɲɐ ˈsãɡi bu ˈʀeɡɐ bu ʧõ bu ˈfluɾi pɐ ˈtɛʀɐ ˈlõʒi bẽ ˈkabɐ pɐ noz bo ku maɾ sew i buz ˈfiʤu nũ ˈdosi ɐˈbɾasu di paz/	Oh Cape Verde, It is you who are my most sublime pain Oh Cape Verde, It is you who are my anguish, my passion My life was born From the challenge of your ungrateful climate The will of iron is you in my chest The taste for the fight is you in my arms It is you who are my war, My sweet love Stretch your arms, Take my blood, Water your ground, And blossom! In order to distant land Come to an end for us You with the sea, the sky and your sons In a sweet hug of peace

Excerpt of the lyrics of Dôci Guérra from Antero Simas. The full lyrics may be found (with a different orthography) in » Blog Archive » Doce Guerra

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Example 2 (São Vicente variant)

Creole	transcription	translation to English
Papái, bêm dzê-m’ quí ráça quí nôs ê, óh pái Nôs ráça ê prêt’ má’ brónc’ burníd’ nâ vênt’ Burníd’ nâ temporál dí scravatúra, óh fídj’ Úm geraçõ dí túga cú africán’ Ês bêm dí Európa farejá riquéza Ês vendê fídj’ dí África nâ scravatúra Carregód’ nâ fúnd’ dí porõ dí sês galéra D’bóx’ dí chicôt’ má’ júg’ culuniál Algúns quí f’cá pralí gatchód’ nâ rótcha, óh fídj’ Trançá má’ túga, ês criá êss pôv’ cab’verdián’ Êss pôv’ quí sofrê quinhênt’s ón’ di turtúra, ôi, ôi Êss pôv’ quí ravultiá tabánca intêr’	/pɐˈpaj bẽ dzem ki ˈʀasɐ ki noʒ e ɔ paj noʒ ˈʀasɐ e pɾet ma bɾɔ̃k buɾˈnid nɐ vẽt buɾˈnid nɐ tẽpoˈɾal di ʃkɾɐvɐˈtuɾɐ ɔ fiʤ ũ ʒeɾɐˈsõ di ˈtuɡɐ ku ɐfɾiˈkan eʒ bẽ di ewˈɾɔpɐ fɐɾeˈʒa ʀiˈkɛzɐ eʒ vẽˈde fiʤ di ˈafɾikɐ nɐ ʃkɾɐvɐˈtuɾɐ kɐʀeˈɡɔd nɐ fũd di poˈɾõ di seʒ ɡɐˈlɛɾɐ dbɔʃ di ʃiˈkot ma ʒuɡ kuluniˈal ɐlˈɡũʒ ki fka pɾɐˈli ɡɐˈʧɔd nɐ ˈʀɔʧɐ ɔ fiʤ tɾɐ̃ˈsa ma ˈtuɡɐ eʒ kɾiˈa es pov kabveɾdiˈan es pov ki soˈfɾe kiˈɲẽtʃ ɔn di tuɾˈtuɾɐ oj oj es pov ki ʀɐvultiˈa tɐˈbãkɐ ĩˈteɾ/	Daddy, come tell me which race are we, oh dad Our race is blacks and whites melted in the wind Melted in the storm of slavery, oh son A generation of Portuguese with Africans They came from Europe to scent richness They sold sons of Africa in slavery Loaded deep in the hold of their ships Under the whip and colonial yoke Some that remained by here hidden in the mountains, oh son Mixed with the Portuguese, and created this Cape Verdean people This people that has suffered five hundred years of torture, oh, oh This people that has rebelled completely

Excerpt of the lyrics of Nôs Ráça from Manuel d’ Novas. The full lyrics may be found (with a different orthography) in Cap-Vert :: Mindelo Infos :: Musique capverdienne: Nos raça Cabo Verde / Cape Verde

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Example 3

Creole	transcription	translation to English
Túdu alguêm tâ nacê lívri í iguál nâ dignidádi cú nâ dirêtus. Ês ê dotádu cú razõ í cú «consciência», í ês devê agí pâ cumpanhêru cú sprítu dí fraternidádi.	/ˈtudu ɐlˈɡẽ tɐ nɐˈse ˈlivɾi i iˈɡwal nɐ diɡniˈdadi ku nɐ diˈɾetus ez e doˈtadu ku ʀɐˈzõ i ku kõʃsiˈẽsiɐ i ez deˈve ɐˈʒi pɐ kũpɐˈɲeɾu ku ˈspɾitu di fɾɐteɾniˈdadi/	All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Free translation of the 1^st article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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