Read the sentence one at a time. Decide if the sentence is an acceptable Pidgin sentence or not. Check OK or Not OK to indicate whether the sentence would be spoken by a Pidgin speaker.

1. *We wen seen dat movie already.

     OK   Not OK

   Changes: We wen see dat movie already.

   Pidgin wen acts as a past tense marker, making the past tense marking on seen ungrammatical.

2. Da car red.

     OK   Not OK

   Changes: none

   Pidgin does not always require the 'to be' verb. Alternatives are possible, however, such as Da car stay red (which makes use of stay and indicates a change of state or comment about the speaker's expectations) as well as Red da car (which follows Hawaiian syntax and may be considered a ‘deeper’ form of Pidgin).

3. *Joe not stay playing football.

     OK   Not OK

   Changes: Joe no stay playing football.

   Not cannot be used before the verb when it is preceded by stay; no is used before stay.

4. She stay eat da cake.

     OK   Not OK

   Changes: none

   Like all languages, Pidgin has variation. This sentence is acceptable, though some Pidgin speakers may debate what it means. For some, it can mean ‘She has eaten the cake,’ while others feel it means that ‘She is eating the cake.’ Some people may feel that She stay eating da cake is also acceptable. This would create the unambiguous meaning of ‘She is eating the cake.’

5. *Mary wen pau cooking da rice.

     OK   Not OK

   Changes: Mary wen pau cook da rice.

   Wen and -ing forms of verbs are not compatible since wen indicates a completed action and -ing marks ongoing action.