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LOCAL Wednesday 19 november 2025

Papiamento words and phrases you may want to know!

(Oranjestad)—Aruba is Bon dia is used in the morn- Yes…no…maybe?
a melting pot of different ing, up to about noon. Bon The affirmative and nega-
nationalities, cultures and dia essentially means good tive expression is very sim-
languages. Primarily for this morning. The word “bon” ple in Papiamento. Just like
reason, the average Aruban means “good”, and while Spanish, our yeses are “si”
can understand and speak “dia” does not directly and our no’s are “no”. Pret-
Dutch, English and Spanish mean “morning” in English, ty easy right? If you want to
relatively well. However, as it is used often to refer to the gain some extra points from
much as we pride ourselves morning time. younger locals, you can also
in being able to commu- say “se”, which is a more ca-
nicate with almost every- Bon tardi sual affirmative used mostly
one, we cherish our native In the afternoon to early by the younger generation.
tongue Papiamento above evening hours, we use
all else. Want to learn some “bon tardi” to greet peo- However, do note: some
common words in our lan- ple, which means “good older generations may
guage? Here are a few ba- mento—at least not official- When we say goodbye, we afternoon”. “Tardi” actually find this improper and not
sic words and phrases that ly. We often just use the Eng- use the word “ayo” (not like comes from the word “atar- respectful, so keep that in
can get you a hat tip from lish “hello” or “hey”, or Dutch the Ayo Rock Formation, but di”, which directly translates mind.
an Aruban. “hallo” to greet someone. also…kinda?). We may also to “afternoon”. However,
We do however, always use “te oro”, which means the shortened “tardi” is used Thanks man…
When you arrive at the air- follow it up with “con bay?” “see you later”. to keep the rhythm on the Lastly, a word that we can
port in Aruba, one of the or “con ta?” Con bay is a phrase. And the same could also say more often is “dan-
first words in Papiamento shortened version of “con Greetings during the day be said for our last greeting ki”, which means literally
you may encounter is “Bon ta bay?”, which essentially Most, if not all, languages of the day. “thank you”. “Danki” is de-
bini.” Bon bini in Papiamen- means “how are you?” have different ways to greet rived from the Dutch word
to means welcome, and is according to the time of Bon nochi. “bedankt”. Though we don’t
probably the most famous The word “con” in Papia- day, and Papiamento is no You guessed it, “bon nochi” really have a translation for
Papiamento word for tour- mento means “how?” and is different. Since Papiamento means “good night”. Just “I appreciate it” in English,
ists. pronounced with a rounder is heavily influences from like “tardi”, “nochi” is actu- we do use “masha danki” to
“o” sounds, like in the English Portuguese and Spanish, ally the shortened version of convey the message. “Ma-
Hi! Bye! word “cone”. “Ta bay” refers some of these phrases may the word “anochi”. sha” means “a lot” or “very”,
To be fair, there is no unique to how you are doing. look very familiar. so “masha danki” means
way to say “hello” in Papia- “thank you very much”.q

Rock stacking and its harmful effects

(Oranjestad)—The organization Aruba Birdlife Conservation has in the past raised con-
cerns about the phenomenon of “rock stacking” in the area of Baby Beach and warned
about the dangers it poses, especially for children.

As known, “rock stacking” is not illegal in Aruba, but its impact on nature is harmful as the
stones form part of the natural habitat of small animal species living in Aruba’s wilder-
ness. Experts warn that “rock stacking” could even lead certain species to extinction.

In Aruba, much of the “rock stacking” also occurs near Arikok National Park. Although
this activity is not illegal in Aruba, it may be time for park authorities to impose stricter
regulations on this activity.
Tourists often believe that the meaning behind this activity is making a wish, but they do
not realize its negative impact.

Aruba Birdlife Conservation’s post not only raises alarms about the activity but also now
that this phenomenon has reached Baby Beach, some of the stacked stone towers are
up to 1.7 meters high, which can be very dangerous, especially for children.q