Nature and Weather in Saint Lucian Kwéyòl

Saint Lucia's landscape is packed into a small island: mountains, rainforest, rivers and the sea are never far apart. The words in this lesson describe that landscape and the weather that shapes island life.

The land and the sea

Saint Lucia even has its own volcano, at Soufrière, home of the island's famous sulphur springs.

Weather and seasons

Saint Lucia has a drier part of the year and a wetter part, and the wetter months overlap with the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June to November. Two words here name those seasons directly.

Patterns to notice as you learn

As you start reading and hearing Saint Lucian Kwéyòl, a few patterns come up again and again. Knowing them makes new sentences much easier to follow:

• "The" comes after the word. Where English puts the in front of a noun, Kwéyòl adds a short word after it, joined with a hyphen, such as -la, -a or -an. When you see one of these endings, think the.
• The ending changes with the sound before it. Which of those endings appears depends on how the word ends, so let your ear guide you rather than trying to memorise a rule on day one.
• Plurals often use sé. When a sentence talks about several things, look for sé in front of the noun, with the ending still after it.

You do not need to master grammar to start. Hearing and reading the words in real sentences, in the games and in everyday life, is how these patterns become natural.

Practise these words

Reading a list is a start; recalling the words is what makes them stick. Try:

• Odd One Out: spot which word does not belong
• Quiz Challenge: check you know what each word means
• Wordle: guess today's five-letter word