Dèyè mòn gen mòn (Behind mountains there are mountains)

5. - Some pitfalls to avoid

Remember the following points (this is important especially for the French):

1. AN and ÀN - Remember: "an" is a letter whereas "àn" are two letters (à (a with grave accent) and n). There is a huge difference between "dan" (tooth) and "Dàn" (Danne, is a person's name).
2. E - "e" is pronounced always wit an open mouth (like the French "é") Example: lave (to clean); mache (to walk...)
3. EN and ÈN - Remember: "en" is a letter whereas "èn" is formed of two letters (è and n). There is a difference between "ren" (kidney) et "rèn" (queen).
   Some difficult words: lane [la-ne] (year); manyen [man-yen] (to touch) - manyè [man-yè] (means) - mànye [mà-nye] (to handle); anyen [an-yen] (nothing, none); genyen [gen-yen] (to have, to possess, to win); mennen [men-nen] (to lead) ...
4. G - "g" the pronunciation is always tough, just like in game. Example: gè (war) ("guè", and not jè) - lajè (width); figi (figure) (figui, and not fiji) - ajil.
5. J - "j" is not pronounced like the English "j" (as in "job"). If you want to write the word "jazz", you would write it like this: "djaz" and not: jaz.
   If you write the English word "job", you would write it this way: "djòb" and not jòb. (In fact, the latter is a proper name. In this context, Job is a person and not synonymous with the word "work".)
6. IN - Remember this: the syllable "in" consists of two letters, it is never pronounced letters "en". [Machin] We say "ma|chi n" (machine) and not machen....
7. R and W - we never put an "r" in front of o, ò, on, and ou. But we use instead "w". (Actually, if you use "r" in front of the letter "o", it would sound almost the same way... but that is a mistake. We write: pwoblèm and not problèm (problem); pwofesè and not profesè (professor).
   We never put an "r" in front of "w". We write: wa (king) and not rwa; twòp (too much) and not trwòp...
8. X - In Creole there is no letter "x". To give the "x" sound (French or English) we use "ks" or "gz". We don't write "explikasyon" (explaination) but we do write "eksplikasyon"; "extraòdinè" (extraordinary) neither, but we do write "ekstraòdinè"; We don't write "exanp" (example) but "Example".
9. Y and I - In front of a vowell we only use the letter “y” to give the /j/ sound, but we never use “i” for that. Example: "marye" mais non marie (to marry)

6. - The variations

In Creole there are words with multiple acceptable spellings, they are called "variation". There is variation when a word have several spellings, generally these are geographical differences of Haiti. The variations are spelled and pronounced a little differently, but they have the same meaning and are grammatically correct.
Some variations:
Semèn, semenn (week), lanng, lang (language); goch, gòch (left); jón, jòn (yellow); anviwónman, anviwònman (environement); mond, monn (world); fransè, franse (French); anglè, angle (English); espànyòl, espayòl (Spanish); chèn, chenn (chain); pànye, panyen (basket); vèr, vèt (green) ... etc. These spellings are accepted.

7. - The acute accent

Traditionally they did not used the acute accent in Creole in the 1990s. But it is rightly used on the letters "e" et "o" ("é", "ó") in some good recent books.
The acute accent allows us to say "jón" (pronounced like the French "jaune" (yellow)), and you do not have to write "jòn".
We can say "énmi" if we do not want to say "ènmi" (ennemy). We can say "Amón" (Amôn, a name). You can also write "evénman", and you do not have to write "evènman"...
(That's the way people from Port-au-Prince speak(   no discrimination here). Why should they be forced to write "ò" when they commonly say "o"? The acute accent allow us to write these sounds.)

8. - The grave accent

We use the grave accent on the letters a, e and o in front of "n" to pronounce them separately from the letter "n", when we do not want to pronounce them respectively as an, en or on. And, remember "ò" and "è" are letters in the alphabet whereas "à" is not.
We write Antwàn (Antoine) but not Antwan. "Àn" (Ann) which is different from "an" (definite article (the)).

9. - The correct pronunciation of the definite article

En lisant le Creole haïtien, beaucoup de personnes prononcent les articles définis séparément comme les autres mots, ainsi les phrases perdent leurs intonations or le rythme, le sens des phrases est brouillé While reading Haitian Creole, many people pronounce the definite articles "a" and "an" separately as the other words thus the phrases lose their intonation or rhythm, the meaning of sentences might become unclear... . The definite articles might cause some intonation problems.

Here are the definite articles: "la" ( the basic article), it is changed in "a, an, lan, nan" according to the sound (or syllable) that comes just before this article.
The definite article is placed after the noun it determines. It varies depending on the sound of the last syllable of the word that it defines.

We use "la" after an oral consonant: b, ch, d, f, g, j, k, l, p, r, s, t, v, z; and also after "y" and "w".
Example: Kay la, solèy la, sik la (The house, the sun, the sugar)

"A" after an oral vowel: a, e, è, i, o, ò, ou and also after "ui".
Example: po a, chou a, fi a, manje a (the pot, the cabbage, the daughter, the food)

"Nan" or "lan" after a nasal consonant: m, n; and also after "ng". Example: chanm nan, kann nan, paking nan (the room, the cane, the parking)

"An" after a nasal vowel: an, en, on and also after "oun". Example: pen an, ban an, pon an (the bread, the bench, the bridge)
In the phrase: Pawòl Jewova a di. We should read like this "Je|wo|va a" (3 syllables, the last long is longer) and not "Je|wo|va| a", not 4 syllables. (Jehovah's word says.)
There will be also a long sound in: "wa a" (the king); it's the same thing in: "la a" (here); "sa a" (this, that).
Liv mwen an is pronouncedra comme "liv| mwen| yan" and not "liv| mwen| an" (my book).
In simple words, we should make liason with those articles.

10. - The apostrophe (') and the hyphen (-)

BEaucoup de lenguiste sont d'accord qu'il n'est pas indispensable d'utiliser un tiret (ou traitd'union) ni d'apostrophe entre deux mots or pour former des contractions. — Évidemment, en fin de lignes on séparera un mot avec un trait d'union pour le terminer sur la ligne suivante Many linguists agree that it is not necessary to use an hyphen between two words, or to use the apostrophe sign (') to form contractions. — Obviously, we must use the hypnhen at the end of a line to separate a word when we will finish it in the next line  .—
It is not necessary to put an apostrophe after the contraction of personal pronouns (mwen - m, or - w, li - l, nou - n and yo - y).
Don't write "machan-n"; write instead "machann"

Don't write "ba li'l"; write instead "ba li l"

Don't write "antan-n"; write instead "antann"

Don't write "pou'w"; write instead "pou w"

In the same idea, remember not to hang up two or more words to form a single, and the sentences will be clearer:
Don't write "M pat al lavil yè" or "M pa't al lavil yè"; write instead "M pa t al lavil yè"

On n'est pas obligé de mettre un apostrophe (') dans la contraction des verbes suivants: Ale -> al: Melani t al[e] lavil yè maten.
Bay -> ba/ban: Bay kou bliye / Ban m 2 goud / Ba li afè l.
Kapab -> ka/kab: Yo ka[pab/kab] kouri anpil.
Konnen -> konn: Èske or konn[en] moun sa a?
Gade -> gad: Gad[e] jan misye chèlbè.
Genyen -> gen: Jera gen[yen] anpil tan pou sa.
Mete -> met: Met[e] rad sou ou, li fè frèt.
Pote -> pot: Pot[e] komisyon an demen maten.
Rete -> ret: Moun sa yo ret[e] Okap.
Soti -> sot: Sot[i] kò w la!
Vini -> vin: Jak vin[i] pran sa ki te pou li a.