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Trini Language lesson: "ent"

Every now and then I get the urge to write about something totally random and this is one such time. I thought I could educate my non-Trini friends on the very versatile "ent". To illustrate its use, I have elected to use a couple of lines from the 2011 movie "Thor" featuring an exchange between the gatekeeper of Asgard, Heimdall, and Odin's son Loki (brother to Thor).


Loki: "Did Odin ever fear you?"

Heimdall: "No."

Loki: "And Why is that?"

Heimdall: "Because he is my king and I am sworn to obey him."

Loki: "He WAS your king and you are sworn to obey me now...yes?"

Heimdall: "Yes."

In this exchange, Loki's response (underlined yes) can be replaced by "ent?"

So a Trini would say:
 "He was your king and now you ha' to obey me, ent?" OR alternatively
"Ent he WAS your king but now you ha' to obey me?"

But Heimdall's final response of "Yes" could not be replaced by "ent". That would be an inappropriate use of "ent". And this concludes the Trini language lesson of "ent".


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Comments

Austin Trini said…
"Ent" is used to confirm something, much like "not so?" or "n'est-ce pas?" in French.
7 October 2012 at 11:13
Savi said…
:) Nice lesson.

Do you think it is a shortened form of "isn't"? And do your kids speak any Trini? (Mine don't, I'm afraid.)
7 October 2012 at 11:21
Austin Trini said…
Hi Savi - you may be correct! And the kids don't speak Trini, and in fact I've been trying to get them to speak English! So I will say "Kung Fu Panda" and they will repeat "Kung Fu Painda" - very American!!
9 October 2012 at 21:37
Savi said…
That's funny! My elder one speaks Scottish (she says "I seen" instead of "I saw", for example) but her little brother speaks standard English. Same upbringing, same education, but I think the difference is that she spends a lot of time with friends and wants to fit in with them, whereas he spends more time with the TV and books (and parents).

I remember the "a" - "ai" difference from visiting my nephews in Canada. I offered one of their friends some "apple" juice and got confused looks, until it occurred to me to say "aipple".
10 October 2012 at 03:27
Austin Trini said…
Hee hee..they should all have learned to speak normal like we! :)
11 October 2012 at 08:01
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