Page 11 - AHATA

Thursday 11 January 2024 locAl
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Papiamento words and phrases you may want to know!

(Oranjestad)—Aruba is a may look very familiar. The affirmative and nega-
potting melt of different tive expression is very sim-
nationalities, cultures and 1. Bon dia is used in ple in Papiamento. Just like
languages. Primarily for the morning, up to about Spanish, our yeses are “si”
this reason, the average noon. Bon dia essentially and our no’s are “no”. Pret-
Aruban can understand means good morning. The ty easy right? If you want
and speak Dutch, Eng- word “bon” means “good”, to gain some extra points
lish and Spanish relatively and while “dia” does not from younger locals, you
well. However, as much as directly mean “morning” in can also say “se”, which is
we pride ourselves in be- English, it is used often to re- a more casual affirmative
ing able to communicate fer to the morning time. used mostly by the younger
with almost everyone, we 2. Bon tardi. In the af- generation. However, do
cherish our native tongue ternoon to early evening note: some older genera-
Papiamento above all Hi! Bye! the English word “cone”. hours, we use “bon tardi” to tions may find this improper
else. Want to learn some To be fair, there is no unique “Ta bay” refers to how you greet people, which means and not respectful, so keep
common words in our lan- way to say “hello” in Pa- are doing. “good afternoon”. “Tardi” that in mind.
guage? Here are a few ba- piamento. At least, not of- When we say goodbye, we actually comes from the
sic words and phrases that ficially. We often just use use the word “ayo” (not like word “atardi”, which direct- Thanks man…
can get you a hat tip from the English “hello” or “hey”, the Ayo Rock Formation, ly translates to “afternoon”. Lastly, a word that we can
an Aruban. or Dutch “hallo” to greet but also…kinda?). We may However, the shortened also say more often is “dan-
someone. We do howev- also use “te oro”, which “tardi” is used to keep the ki”, which means literally
When you arrive at the air- er, always follow it up with means “see you later”. rhythm on the phrase. And “thank you”. “Danki” is de-
port in Aruba, one of the “con bay?” or “con ta?” the same could be said for rived from the Dutch word
first words in Papiamento Con bay is a shortened Greetings during the day our last greeting of the day. “bedankt”. Though we
you may encounter is “Bon version of “con ta bay?”, Most, if not all, languages 3. Bon nochi. You don’t really have a transla-
bini.” Bon bini in Papiamen- which essentially means have different ways to guessed it, “bon nochi” tion for “I appreciate it” in
to means welcome, and is “how are you?” greet according to the time means “good night”. Just English, we do use “masha
probably the most famous of day, and Papiamento is like “tardi”, “nochi” is actu- danki” to convey the mes-
Papiamento word for tour- The word “con” in Papia- no different. Since Papia- ally the shortened version sage. “Masha” means “a
ists. mento means “how?” mento is heavily influences of the word “anochi”. lot” or “very”, so “masha
and is pronounced with a from Portuguese and Span- danki” means “thank you
rounder “o” sounds, like in ish, some of these phrases Yes…no…maybe? very much”.q

Visit the natural bridges of Aruba!

(Oranjestad)—After you’ve length and 7 meters in height, can also still visit the souvenir
visited the Alto Vista Church, making it the biggest natu- shop on the left of the bridge
the Bushiribana Gold Mill Ru- ral bridge in the Caribbean entrance.
ins and the mini natural pool at the time. For many years,
that is located right next to this site was also a frequently While the natural bridge no
it, you’re next up around the visited beach, as the bridge longer is functional, there is
northern coast line must be had a small opening through now a smaller natural bridge
the Natural Bridge. Once the which the water would flow very close. This bridge is often
largest natural bridge in the into the tiny beach. called the “Baby Bridge” or
Caribbean, this bridge has “Daughter Bridge”.q
been a tourist attraction for Unfortunately in 2005, the
many years. bridge collapsed, and the
little beach dried up. De-
The bridge was formed dur- spite this, this site remained
ing thousands of years, cut a tourist attraction, with
and crafted by the wild many visitors walking along
waves that crash into the the coral cliffs of the bridge
coral stone walls of the to see the spectacular view
coast. Before its collapse, this of the northern coastline and
bridge measured 30 meters in the Caribbean Sea. Visitors