CAPE VERDEAN CREOLE

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

Contents

Name and relevance

Internal classification

Origins

Status

Writing system

Vocabulary

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants and semi-vowels

Note about the first person singular

Grammar

Sentence structure

Nouns

Personal pronouns

Verbs

Regular verbs

Irregular verbs

Passive

Negative

Adjectives

Determiners

Designatives

Examples of Cape Verdean Creole

References

Bibliography

External links

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 creolistic studies since it is the oldest (still spoken) Creole, it is the Portuguese based Creole with the greatest number of native speakers and it is 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 the 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 will 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 about the 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 about the 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’. '' [ez fɾɐ̃]	''Ês flâ-m’. '' [ez flɐ̃]	''Ês fló-m’. '' [ez flɔm]	''Ês dzê-m’. '' [eʒ dzem]	''Ês dzê-m’. '' [eʒ dzem]	They told me.
''Bú câ ê bunítu. '' [bu kɐ e buˈnitu]	''Bú câ ê bunítu. '' [bu kɐ e buˈnitu]	''Bô câ ê b’nít’. '' [bo kɐ e bnit]	''Bô câ ê b’nít’. '' [bo kɐ e bnit]	''Bô n’ ê b’nít’. '' [bo ne bnit]	You are not beautiful.
''M’ câ sabê. '' [ŋ kɐ sɒˈbe]	''M’ câ sâbi. '' [ŋ kɐ ˈsɐbi]	''M’ câ sabê. '' [m kɐ saˈbe]	''M’ câ sabê. '' [m kɐ saˈbe]	''Mí n’ séb’. '' [mi n sɛb]	I don’t know.
''Cumó’ qu’ ê bú nômi? '' [kuˈmɔ ke bu ˈnomi]	''’Módi qu’ ê bú nómi? '' [ˈmɔdi ke bu ˈnɔmi]	''Qu’ manêra qu’ ê bô nôm’? '' [k mɐˈneɾɐ ke bo nom]	''Qu’ manêra qu’ ê bô nôm’? '' [k mɐˈneɾɐ ke bo nom]	''Qu’ menêra qu’ ê bô nôm’? '' [k meˈneɾɐ ke bo nom]	What is your name?
''Bú podê djudâ-m’? '' [bu poˈde ʤuˈdɐ̃]	''Bú pôdi djudâ-m’? '' [bu ˈpodi ʤuˈdɐ̃]	''Bô podê j’dó-m’? '' [bo poˈde ʒdɔm]	''Bô podê j’dá-m’? '' [bo poˈde ʒdam]	''Bô podê j’dé-m’? '' [bo poˈde ʒdɛm]	Can you help me?
''Spiâ lí! '' [spiˈɐ li]	''Spía li! '' [spˈiɐ li]	''Spiâ li! '' [spiˈɐ li]	''Spiá li! '' [ʃpiˈa li]	''Spiá li! '' [ʃpiˈa li]	Look at here!
''Ê’ cantâ. '' [e kɒ̃ˈtɐ]	''Ê’ cánta. '' [e ˈkãtɐ]	''Êl cantâ. '' [el kɐ̃ˈtɐ]	''Êl cantá. '' [el kɐ̃ˈta]	''Êl cantá. '' [el kɐ̃ˈta]	He/she sang.
''Bú tâ cantâ. '' [bu tɐ kɒ̃ˈtɐ]	''Bú tâ cánta. '' [bu tɐ ˈkãtɐ]	''Bô tâ cantâ. '' [bo tɐ kɐ̃ˈtɐ]	''Bô tâ cantá. '' [bo tɐ kɐ̃ˈta]	''Bô tɐ cantá. '' [bo tɐ kɐ̃ˈta]	You sing.
''M’ stâ cantâ. '' [ƞ sta kɒ̃ˈtɐ]	''M’ sâ tâ cánta. '' [ƞ sɐ tɐ ˈkãtɐ]	''M’ tâ tâ cantâ. '' [m tɐ tɐ kɐ̃ˈtɐ]	''M’ tí tâ cantá. '' [m ti tɐ kɐ̃ˈta]	''M’ tí tâ cantá. '' [m ti tɐ kɐ̃ˈta]	I am 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]	''Pôrc’'' [poɾk]	''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! '' [diˈʃɐ̃ ˈkɛtu]	''Dexâ-m’ quétu! '' [deˈʃɐ̃ ˈkɛtu]	''D’xó-m’ quêt’! '' [ʧɔm ket]	''D’xá-m’ quêt’! '' [ʧam ket]	''D’xé-m’ quêt’! '' [ʧɛm ket]	Leave me alone!
''Dôci'' [ˈdosi]	''Dóxi'' [ˈdɔʃi]	''Dôç’'' [dos]	''Dôç’'' [dos]	''Dôç’'' [dos]	Sweet
''Papiâ'' [pɒˈpjɐ]	''Pâpia'' [ˈpɐpjɐ]	''Papiâ'' [pɐˈpjɐ]	''Falá'' [fɐˈla]	''Falá'' [fɐˈla]	To speak
''Cúrpa'' [ˈkuɾpɐ]	''Cúlpa'' [ˈkulpɐ]	''Cúlpa'' [ˈkulpɐ]	''Cúlpa'' [ˈkulpɐ]	''Cúlpa'' [ˈkulpɐ]	Fault
''Nhôs amígu'' [ɲoz ɒˈmigu]	''Nhôs amígu'' [ɲoz ɐˈmigu]	''B’sôt’ amíg’'' [bzot ɐˈmiɡ]	''B’sôt’ amíg’'' [bzot ɐˈmiɡ]	''B’sôt’ emíg’'' [bzot eˈmiɡ]	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 the Cape Verdean Creole is hard to trace due, first, to the lack of written documents since the formation of the Creole, second, due to the ostracism that the Creole have been relegated during the Portuguese administration.
There exist presently three theories about the formation of the Creole^[1]. 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 the 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, Quint. The neurogenetic theory claims that the 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, Bickerton that would explain how Creoles localized several miles away have similar grammatical structures, even though they have a different lexical basis (check syntactic similarities of creoles). The best that can be said is that none of these theories has been conclusively proved.
According to A. Carreira^[2], the Cape Verdean Creole was formed from a Portuguese pidgin, in Santiago island, starting from the XV century. That pidgin was then transposed to the West coast of Africa through 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 is possible to conjecture some conclusions. The spreading of the Cape Verdean Creole within the islands was done in three phases^[3]:

★ In a first phase, the Santiago island was occupied (2^nd half of XV century), followed by Fogo (end of XVI century).

★ In a second phase, the São Nicolau island was occupied (mostly in the 2^nd half of XVII century), followed by Santo Antão (mostly in the 2^nd half of XVII 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 XVIII century), Boa Vista by population from São Nicolau and Santiago (mostly in the 1^st half of XVIII century), Maio by population from Santiago and Boa Vista (mostly in the 2^nd half of XVIII century), São Vicente by population from Santo Antão and São Nicolau (mostly in the XIX century), Sal by population from São Nicolau and Boa Vista (mostly in the XIX century).

Status

In spite of the 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 the administration, in official acts, in relations with foreign countries, etc.), Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole live in a state of diglossia ^[4]. 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 common ''átcha'' / ''otchá'';

★ ''priocupáda'' — Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more common ''fadigáda'';

★ ''púrqui'' / ''púrq’'' — Portuguese lexicon, in Creole it would be more common ''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 common ''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 common ''sâ tâ mestêba'' / ''táva tâ mestê'';

★ ''material'', ''pesquisa'', ''biblioteca'' — words pretty uncommon in a basilect; if they are 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''” does not exist in Creole;

★ ''fála'' — only in São Vicente and Santo Antão that it is used the form ''falá'' (from contemporary Portuguese ''falar''), in the other islands 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 dí «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 d’ «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 is a continuum between basilectal and acrolectal varieties.
In spite of the Creole not being officialized, there exists a governmental directive^[5] that defends the necessary conditions for the officialization of Creole. This officialization has not been made yet, mostly because the language is not standardized yet, for several reasons:

★ There is a big dialectal fragmentation. The speakers are reluctant to speak a variant that it is not 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.: only for the word corresponding to the Portuguese word "algibeira" (“pocket”), A. Fernandes^[6] 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 to the speakers of Creole, when writing, to join different grammatical classes^[7]. For ex.: ''pâm...'' instead of ''pâ m’...'' “for me to...”.

★ Absence of rules to establish which are the grammatical structures to be adopted. It is not 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 is 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 do not practice it (''bú cría pâ m’ dâ'' — past then present — or ''bú crê pâ m’ dába'' — present then past).

★ The writing system (ALUPEC) has not been accepted by 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^[8] 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, the 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

Main articles: ALUPEC

The only writing system officially recognized by the authorities in Cape Verde is called ALUPEC. However, this writing system has not received a good acceptance by the majority of Creole speakers.
In spite of being the only system officially recognized, the same law allows the use of alternative writing models, “as long as they are presented in a systemized and scientific way”. As not all users are familiarized with the 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. We are aware that it will be an overwhelming use of accents, but it is 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 do not 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

The Cape Verdean Creole phonological system comes mainly from XV to XVII century Portuguese. Among conservative features the 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. Among 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 up a total of sixteen vowels:

	Front unrounded	Central unrounded	Back rounded
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:

Place of articulation →	Labial						Coronal				Dorsal
Manner of articulation ↓	Bilabial		Labiodental		Labiovelar		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alveolar		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
Medial approximant					w								j
Tap									ɾ
Trill									r								ʀ
Lateral approximant							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 of the singular has a variable pronounciation according to the islands.
This pronoun comes from the complement form of the first person of the singular in Portuguese ''mim'', and it is phonetically reduced to the sound [m].
This pronounciation is nowadays found in the Barlavento variants. In the Sotavento variants that consonant [m] was reduced to a simple nasality [ƞ]. For ex.: ''m’ andâ'' [ƞ ɐ̃ˈdɐ] “I have walked”, ''m’ stâ tâ sintí'' [ƞ stɐ tɐ sĩˈti] “I am feeling”, ''m’ labába'' [ƞ lɐˈbabɐ] “I had washed”. Before plosive or affricate consonants this nasality becomes in the 'homorganic' nasal of the following consonant. For ex.: ''m’ bêm'' [m bẽ] “I came”, ''m’ têm'' [n tẽ] “I have”, ''m’ tchigâ'' [ɲ ʧiˈɡɐ] “I arrived”, ''m’ crê'' [ŋ kɾe] “I want”.
The speakers who are strongly influenced by the Portuguese language tend to pronounce this pronoun as a 'nasal vowel' ''úm'' [ũ] instead of ''m’'' [m].
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, what makes extremely difficult for un 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 close to other Creoles is the possibility of the double negation (ex.: ''Náda m’ câ atchâ.'' liter. “Nothing I didn’t find.”) or sometimes even the triple negation (ex.: ''Núnca ninguêm câ tâ bába lâ.'' liter. “Never nobody didn’t go there.”).

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 names in Creole have number inflection only when they are 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 does not 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.:

★ ''minínu's''' “boys”

★ ''nhâ's' minína'' “my girls”

★ ''minínu's' bunítu'' “beautiful boys”

★ ''nhâ's' dôs minína buníta í simpática'' “my two kind and beautiful girls”

Personal pronouns

According to the 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 am here, and 'you', you are 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 forms of the present of the verbs. Ex.:

★ ''M’ odjâ-'’l'.'' “I have seen 'it'.”

★ ''M’ tâ bejá-'bu'.'' “I kiss 'you'.”
The 'stressed' object pronouns are used with the forms of the past of the verbs, when they are 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 show the idea of reflexivity the Creole uses the expression ''cabéça'' after the possessive determiner. Ex.:

★ ''Ês mordê sês cabéça.'' “They have bitten themselves.”
There are no reciprocal pronouns. To show the idea of reciprocity the Creole uses the expression ''cumpanhêru''. Ex.:

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

Verbs

The verbs do not 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 morphemes (called “'verbal actualizers'” by Veiga⁸), as in the majority of Creoles.
The verbs are generally reduced to two base forms, one for the 'present', another for the 'past'. The form for the 'present' is the same to the form for the 'infinite' (exception: ''sêr'' “to be”), that in turn comes, in the majority of the verbs, from the infinite in Portuguese but without the final ''r''. Ex.: ''cantâ'' /kɐ̃ˈtɐ/ (from Portuguese ''cantar''), ''mexê'' /meˈʃe/ (from Portuguese ''mexer''), ''partí'' /pɐɾˈti/ (from Portuguese ''partir''), ''compô'' /kõˈpo/ (from Portuguese ''compor''), ''
★ lumbú'' /lũˈbu/ (from Portuguese ''lombo''). The form for the 'past' is formed from the from for the infinite to which it is joined the particle for the past ''~ba''. Ex.: ''cantába'' /kɐ̃ˈtabɐ/, ''mexêba'' /meˈʃebɐ/, ''partíba'' /pɐɾˈtibɐ/, ''compôba'' /kõˈpobɐ/, ''
★ lumbúba'' /lũˈbubɐ/ (in the Barlavento variants, the particle for the past ''~va'' (or ''~ba'') is joined to the 'imperfective actualizer', and not to the verb). It is noteworthy the fact that the Upper Guinea Creoles (the Cape Verdean Creole and the Guinea-Bissau Creole) put the past tense marker after the verbs, and not before like the majority of the Creoles (check syntactic similarities of creoles).
It is important to mention that in the Santiago variant, the stress goes back to the before the last syllable in the present tense forms of the verbs. Therefore we have: ''cánta'' /ˈkãtɐ/ instead of ''cantâ'' /kɐ̃ˈtɐ/, ''mêxe'' /ˈmeʃe/ or ''mêxi'' /ˈmeʃi/ instead of ''mexê'' /meˈʃe/, ''pârti'' /ˈpɐɾti/ instead of ''partí'' /pɐɾˈti/, ''cômpo'' /ˈkõpo/ or ''cômpu'' /ˈkõpu/ instead of ''compô'' /kõˈpo/, ''búmbu'' /ˈbũbu/ instead of ''bumbú'' /bũˈbu/. In the pronominal forms, however, the stress remains in the last syllable: ''cantâ-m’'' /kɐ̃ˈtɐ̃/, ''mexê-bu'' /meˈʃebu/, ''partí-’l'' /pɐɾˈtil/, ''compô-nu'' /kõˈponu/, ''bumbú-’s'' /bũˈbuz/.

Regular verbs

As it was said before, the regular verbs are reduced to a form for the present tense and a form for the past tense, and the notions of mood and aspect are expressed through verbal actualizers.
The following table shows a paradigm of the annunciative (indicative) mood with the verb ''dâ'' “to give” with the first person of the singular:

	Present Tense	Past Tense
Perfective Aspect	''M’ dâ''	''M’ dába''
Imperfective Aspect	''M’ tâ dâ''	''M’ tâ dába''
Progressive Aspect	''M’ stâ tâ dâ''	''M’ stába tâ da''

The 'perfective' aspect of the 'present' is used when the speech refers to present situations, but that are finished, that are complete. Ex.:
:''M’ dâ.'' [m dɐ] “I gave. / I have given.”
:It corresponds roughly, according to the cases, to the 'past tense' or 'present perfect tense' in English.
The 'imperfective' aspect of the 'present' is used when the speech refers to present situations, but that are not finished yet, that are incomplete. Ex.:
:''M’ tâ dâ.'' [m tɐ dɐ] “I give.”
:It corresponds roughly, to the 'present tense' in English.
The 'progressive' aspect of the 'present' is used when the speech refers to present situations that are happening in a continuous, uninterrupt way. Ex.:
:''M’ stâ tâ dâ.'' [m stɐ tɐ dɐ] “I am giving.”
:It corresponds roughly, to the 'present continuous tense' in English.
::Note: Actually, this model doesn’t exist anymore. It has evolved to ''M’ stâ dâ.'' [ƞ stɐ dɐ] in Brava Fogo and Maio, to ''M’ sâ tâ dâ.'' [ƞ sɐ tɐ dɐ] in Santiago, to ''M’ tâ tâ dâ.'' [m tɐ tɐ dɐ] in Boa Vista, Sal and São Nicolau and to ''M’ ti tâ dá.'' [m ti tɐ da] in São Vicente and Santo Antão.
There is no specific form for the future. The 'future of the present' may be expressed through three resources:
#Using the imperfective of the present but bearing the function of the future. Ex.: ''M’ tâ dâ manhã.'' [m tɐ dɐ mɐˈɲɐ̃] liter. “I give tomorrow.”
#Using the auxiliary verb “to go”. Ex.: ''M’ tâ bái dâ.'' [m tɐ baj dɐ] liter. “I go to give.”
#Using a periphrasis showing an eventuality. Ex.: ''M’ ál dâ. '' [m al dɐ] “I will give.”
:It corresponds roughly to the 'future tense' in English.
The 'perfective' aspect of the 'past' is used when the speech refers to past situations, but that were finished, that were complete. Ex.:
:''M’ dába.'' [m ˈdabɐ] “I had given.”
:It corresponds roughly, to the 'past perfect tense' in English.
::Note: This form does not exist in the Barlavento variants.
The 'imperfective' aspect of the 'past' is used when the speech refers to past situations, but that were not finished yet, that were incomplete. Ex.:
:''M’ tâ dába.'' [m tɐ ˈdabɐ] “I gave. / I use to give.”
:It corresponds roughly, to the 'past tense' in English.
::Note: In the Barlavento variants the particle for the past is joined to the imperfective actualizer and not to verb: ''M’ táva dâ.'' [m ˈtavɐ dɐ]
The 'progressive' aspect of the 'past' is used when the speech refers to past situations that were happening in a continuous uninterrupt way. Ex.:
:''M’ stába tâ dâ.'' [m ˈstabɐ tɐ dɐ] “I was giving.”
:It corresponds roughly, to the 'past continuous tense' in English.
::Note: Actually, this model only exists in Brava and Fogo. It has evolved to ''M’ sâ tâ dába.'' [ƞ sɐ tɐ ˈdabɐ] in Santiago and Maio and to ''M’ táva tâ dâ.'' [m ˈtavɐ tɐ dɐ] in Boa Vista, Sal, São Nicolau, São Vicente and Santo Antão.
There is no specific form for the future. The 'future of the past' may be expressed through three resources:
#Using the imperfective of the past but bearing the function of the future. Ex.: ''M’ tâ dába manhã.'' [m tɐ ˈdabɐ mɐˈɲɐ̃] liter. “I gave tomorrow.”
#Using the auxiliary verb “to go”. Ex.: ''M’ tâ bába dâ.'' [m tɐ ˈbabɐ dɐ] liter. “I went to give.”
#Using a periphrasis showing an eventuality. Ex.: ''M’ ál dába. '' [m al ˈdabɐ] “I would give.”
:It corresponds roughly to the 'conditional' in English.
The remaining moods — subjunctive, conditional (not the same as “conditional” in English), eventual — do not have the different aspects, only the present and past tense, except the injunctive (imperative) mood which has only the present tense.

Irregular verbs

There is a group of verbs that do not follow the paradigmatic model presented above. They are the 'auxiliary verbs' ''sêr'' /seɾ/ “to be”, ''stâ'' /stɐ/ “to be”, ''têm'' /tẽ/ “to have” and ''tenê'' /teˈne/ “to have”, and the 'modal verbs' ''crê'' /kɾe/ “to want”, ''sabê'' /sɐˈbe/ “to know”, ''podê'' /poˈde/ “can”, ''devê'' /deˈve/ “must” and ''mestê'' /mesˈte/ “to need”.
: Note.: The designation “auxiliary verbs” is not consensual.
There exist two registers for these verbs.
In a 'first register' (in older speakers, in rural areas speakers or in speakers with little exposure to Portuguese) there is only two forms for the verbs: one for the present (''ê'' /e/, ''stâ'' /stɐ/, ''têm'' /tẽ/, ''tenê'' /teˈne/, ''crê'' /kɾe/, ''sabê'' /sɐˈbe/, ''podê'' /poˈde/, ''devê'' /deˈve/, ''mestê'' /mesˈte/) and one for the past (''éra'' /ˈɛɾɐ/, ''stába'' /stabɐ/, ''têmba'' /tẽbɐ/, ''tenêba'' /teˈnebɐ/, ''crêba'' /kɾebɐ/, ''sabêba'' /sɐˈbebɐ/, ''podêba'' /poˈdebɐ/, ''devêba'' /deˈvebɐ/, ''mestêba'' /mesˈtebɐ/). But on the contrary of regular verbs, when the base form is used alone it represents the 'imperfective aspect' and not the 'perfective aspect'. Therefore, ''mí ê'', ''m’ têm'', ''m’ crê'', ''m’ sabê'' mean “I am, I have, I want, I know”, and not “I’ve been, I’ve had, I’ve wanted, I’ve known”, as it would be expected. Parallelly, ''mí éra'', ''m’ têmba'', ''m’ crêba'', ''m’ sabêba'' mean “I was, I had, I wanted, I knew”, and not “I had been, I had had, I had wanted, I had known”, as it would be expected.
In a 'second register' (in younger speakers, in urban areas speakers or in speakers with more exposure to Portuguese) the system has been enriched with other forms influenced by Portuguese. Therefore, we have:

★ ''ê'' /e/, ''stâ'' /stɐ/, ''têm'' /tẽ/, ''crê'' /kɾe/, ''sabê'' /sɐˈbe/, ''podê'' /poˈde/, ''devê'' /deˈve/, ''mestê'' /mesˈte/ for the imperfective of the present;

★ ''fôi'' /foj/, ''stêvi'' /ˈstevi/, ''têvi'' /ˈtevi/, ''crís'' /kɾis/, ''sôbi'' /ˈsobi/, ''púdi'' /ˈpudi/ for the perfective of the present;

★ ''éra'' /ˈɛɾɐ/, ''stába'' /ˈstabɐ/, ''tínha'' /ˈtiɲɐ/, ''cría'' /ˈkɾiɐ/, ''sabía'' /sɐˈbiɐ/, ''pudía'' /puˈdiɐ/, ''divía'' /diˈviɐ/, ''mistía'' /misˈtiɐ/ for the imperfective of the past;

★ ''sêrba'' /ˈseɾbɐ/, ''stába'' /ˈstabɐ/, ''têmba'' /ˈtẽbɐ/, ''crêba'' /ˈkɾebɐ/, ''sabêba'' /sɐˈbebɐ/, ''podêba'' /poˈdebɐ/, ''devêba'' /deˈvebɐ/, ''mestêba'' /mesˈtebɐ/ for the perfective of the past;
:Note.: Some authors^[9] 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 will 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 will 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'' do not have the progressive aspect: forms like ''
★ m’ stâ tâ stâ'' or ''
★ m’ stâ tâ tenê'' do not exist. The verb ''tenê'' does not 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

The 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 it is joined the particle ''~du''. The form for the past is made with the infinitive to which it is joined the particle ''~da''. Ex.:

★ ''Tâ papiádu inglês nâ Mérca.'' /tɐ pɐpiˈɐdu ĩɡˈlez nɐ ˈɛɾmkɐ/ “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 use to eat a lot of corn.”
:Note.: In the Barlavento variants the form for the past does not exist.

Negative

To conjugate the verbs in the negative it is used the negative adverb ''câ'' /kɐ/ 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 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)
In Santo Antão variant the negative adverb is ''n’'' /n/. Ex.:

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

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

Adjectives

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

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

★ ''bódi prêtu'' / ''cábra préta'' “black buck / white 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 does not appear in the adjectives since it comes in a precedent grammatical category.

Determiners

In Creole there are no definite articles. If it is 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

The 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.”

★ ''Alâ-’l tâ bái.'' “There he goes.”

Examples of Cape Verdean Creole

Example 1 (Santiago variant)

Creole	transcription according to the IPA	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.
Example 2 (São Vicente variant)

Creole	transcription according to the IPA	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.
Example 3

Creole	transcription according to the IPA	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 from (?) of the 1^st article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

References

1. Santos, C., «Cultura e comunicação: um estudo no âmbito da sociolinguística»
2. Carreira, A. (1982)
3. Pereira, D. (2006)
4. Duarte, D. A. (1998)
5. Resolução n.º 48/2005 (Boletim Oficial da República de Cabo Verde – 2005)
6. Fernandes, A. N. Rodrigues (1969)
7. Pereira, D., «Pa Nu Skrebe Na Skola»
8. Veiga, M. (2000)
9. Quint, N. — 2000

Bibliography

;Linguistic books and texts about the Creole:

★ ''Os dialectos românicos ou neo-latinos na África, Ásia e América'' (Coelho, F. Adolpho — 1880; capítulo 1: "Crioulo da Ilha de Santiago")

★ ''O crioulo de Cabo Verde. Breves estudos sobre o crioulo das ilhas de Cabo Verde'' (Botelho da Costa, Joaquim Vieira & Custódio José Duarte — 1886)

★ ''A Parábola do Filho Pródigo'' no crioulo de Santiago, do Fogo, da Brava, de Santo Antão, de S. Nicolau e da Boavista: O crioulo de Cabo Verde (Botelho da Costa, Joaquim Vieira & Custódio José Duarte — 1886)

★ ''Dialectos crioulos-portugueses. Apontamentos para a gramática do crioulo que se fala na ilha de Santiago de Cabo Verde'' (Brito, A. de Paula — 1887)

★ ''O dialecto crioulo de Cabo Verde'' (Silva, Baltasar Lopes da — 1957)

★ ''Cabo Verde. Contribuição para o estudo do dialecto falado no seu arquipélago'' (Duarte, Dulce Almada — 1961)

★ ''O dialecto crioulo - Léxico do dialecto crioulo do Arquipélago de Cabo Verde'' (Fernandes, Armando Napoleão Rodrigues — 1969)

★ The Creole dialect of the island of Brava (Meintel, Deirdre — 1975) in ''Miscelânea luso-africana'' coord. Marius F. Valkhoff

★ ''A linguistic approach to the Capeverdean language'' (Macedo, Donaldo Pereira — 1979)

★ ''O crioulo de Cabo Verde - surto e expansão'' (Carreira, António — 1982)

★ ''Left-dislocation and topicalization in Capeverdean creole'' (Braga, Maria Luiza: Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania — 1982)

★ ''Variation and change in the verbal system of Capeverdean crioulo'' (Silva, Izione Santos —1985)

★ ''O crioulo da ilha de S. Nicolau de Cabo Verde'' (Cardoso, Eduardo Augusto — 1989)

★ ''Kabuverdianu: Elementaria seiner TMA-Morphosyntax im lusokreolischen Vergleich'' (Thiele, Petra. Kabuverdianu — 1991)

★ "O princípio da parcimónia em crioulo de Cabo Verde" (Pereira, Dulce — 1992: in ''Actas do II. Colóquio sobre Crioulos de base lexical portuguesa'', pp. 141–151)

★ ''O crioulo de Cabo Verde: Introdução à gramática'' (Veiga, Manuel — 1995)

★ ''Dicionário Caboverdiano-Português, Variante de Santiago'' (Quint(-Abrial), Nicolas, Lisboa: Verbalis — 1998)

★ ''Bilinguismo ou Diglossia'' (Duarte, Dulce Almada — 1998)

★ ''Le créole du Cap-Vert. Etude grammaticale descriptive et contrastive'' (Veiga, Manuel — 2000)

★ ''Le Cap-Verdien: Origines et devenir d'une langue métisse'' (Quint, Nicolas — 2000)

★ ''Grammaire de la langue cap-verdienne: Étude descriptive et compréhensive du créole afro-portugais des Iles du Cap-Vert'' (Quint, Nicolas — 2000)

★ ''Dictionnaire Cap-Verdien/français'' (Quint, Nicolas — 2000)

★ ''Dicionário do Crioulo da Ilha de Santiago - Alemão'' (ed. por Jürgen Lang: Tübingen — 2002)

★ ''The syntax of Cape Verdean Creole. The Sotavento Varieties'' (Baptista, Marlyse — 2002)

★ ''Dicionário Prático Português-Caboverdiano/Disionári Purtugés-Berdiánu Kiriolu di Santiagu Ku Splikasom di Uzu di Kada Palábra'' (M. Mendes, N. Quint, F. Ragageles, A. Semedo, Lisboa: Verbalis — 2002)

★ ''O Cabo-verdiano em 45 Lições'' (Veiga, Manuel — 2002)

★ ''Parlons capverdien : Langue et culture'' (Nicolas Quint, Aires Semedo — 2003)

★ ''Le créole capverdien de poche'' (Nicolas Quint, Aires Semedo, Chennevières-sur-Marne: Assimil — 2005)

★ ''Crioulos de base portuguesa'' (Pereira, Dulce — 2006)
;Literature in Creole:

★ ''Os Lusíadas (estâncias 8 e 9 do Canto V)'' Teixeira, A. da Costa — 1898

★ ''Folk-Lore from the Cape Verde Islands'' (Parsons, Elsie Clews — 1923: Capeverdian Stories; book 1: English, book 2: Creole)

★ ''Mornas - Cantigas Crioulas'', Tavares, eugénio — 1932

★ ''Renascença de uma civilização no Atlântico médio'' (Melo, Luís Romano de Madeira — 1967: Collection of poems and stories in Portuguese and in Creole)

★ 100 Poemas — Gritarei, Berrarei, Matarei, Não vou para pasárgada Martins, Ovídio, 1973 — Poems in Portuguese and in Creole

★ ''Negrume/Lzimparin'' (Melo, Luís Romano de Madeira — 1973: Stories in Creole with Portuguese translation)

★ "Textos crioulos cabo-verdianos" (Frusoni, Sérgio — 1975) in ''Miscelânea luso-africana'' coord. Valkhoff, Marius F.

★ ''Vangêle contód d'nôs móda'' (Frusoni, Sérgio : Fogo — 1979; Novo Testamento)

★ ''A Poética de Sérgio Frusoni - uma leitura antropológica'' (Lima, Mesquitela; Lisboa — 1992)

External links

'Note': Ethnologue considers Cape Verdean Creole one language, and names it ''Kabuverdianu'', although this name is not used by native speakers or others to refer to the language.
;Linguistic texts about the Creole:

★ Kabuverdianu Ethnologue report on Cape Verdean Creole.

★ Criol language

★ Creole grammars and dictionaries from Cape Verde

★ A Perspective on Capeverdean Crioulo by Robert French

★ Santiago Creole

★ Literaturas Africanas (African literatures in the Portuguese language and Portuguese creoles, pdf: in Portuguese)

★ Student Survey 2000 about teaching Crioulo in the high school.

★ ''Language Policy in Cape Verde: A Proposal for the Affirmation of Kriolu'', by Manuel Veiga.

★ Priberam dictionary of Cape Verdean Creole

★ Initiation au Créole Capverdien
;Literature in Creole:

★ "Morna aguada" by Eugénio Tavares (Creole of Brava)

★ Extracts from "Os Lusíadas" in the creole of Santo Antão

★ Poetry of Sérgio Frusoni, in Creole of São Vicente

★ Adriano Gominho (Creole of São Nicolau)

★ Santo Antão

★ Poetry in Creole