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LOCAL Wednesday 18 september 2024

Papiamento words and phrases you may want to know!

(Oranjestad)—Aruba is a melting “how are you?”
pot of different nationalities, cul-
tures and languages. Primarily for The word “con” in Papiamento
this reason, the average Aruban means “how?” and is pronounced
can understand and speak Dutch, with a rounder “o” sounds, like in
English and Spanish relatively well. the English word “cone”. “Ta bay”
However, as much as we pride refers to how you are doing.
ourselves in being able to com-
municate with almost everyone, When we say goodbye, we use
we cherish our native tongue Pa- the word “ayo” (not like the Ayo
piamento above all else. Want to Rock Formation, but also…kinda?).
learn some common words in our We may also use “te oro”, which
language? Here are a few basic means “see you later”.
words and phrases that can get which means “good after- some extra points from younger lo-
you a hat tip from an Aruban. Greetings during the day noon”. “Tardi” actually comes cals, you can also say “se”, which
Most, if not all, languages have dif- from the word “atardi”, which is a more casual affirmative used
When you arrive at the airport in ferent ways to greet according to directly translates to “after- mostly by the younger generation.
Aruba, one of the first words in Pa- the time of day, and Papiamento noon”. However, the short- However, do note: some older
piamento you may encounter is is no different. Since Papiamento is ened “tardi” is used to keep generations may find this improper
“Bon bini.” Bon bini in Papiamento heavily influences from Portuguese the rhythm on the phrase. And and not respectful, so keep that in
means welcome, and is probably and Spanish, some of these phras- the same could be said for our mind.
the most famous Papiamento es may look very familiar. last greeting of the day.
word for tourists. 3. Bon nochi. You guessed it, “bon Thanks man…
1. Bon dia is used in the morning, nochi” means “good night”. Lastly, a word that we can also
Hi! Bye! up to about noon. Bon dia es- Just like “tardi”, “nochi” is ac- say more often is “danki”, which
To be fair, there is no unique way sentially means good morn- tually the shortened version of means literally “thank you”. “Dan-
to say “hello” in Papiamento. At ing. The word “bon” means the word “anochi”. ki” is derived from the Dutch word
least, not officially. We often just “good”, and while “dia” does “bedankt”. Though we don’t really
use the English “hello” or “hey”, or not directly mean “morning” in Yes…no…maybe? have a translation for “I appreci-
Dutch “hallo” to greet someone. English, it is used often to refer The affirmative and negative ex- ate it” in English, we do use “masha
We do however, always follow it up to the morning time. pression is very simple in Papia- danki” to convey the message.
with “con bay?” or “con ta?” Con 2. Bon tardi. In the afternoon to mento. Just like Spanish, our yeses “Masha” means “a lot” or “very”,
bay is a shortened version of “con early evening hours, we use are “si” and our no’s are “no”. Pret- so “masha danki” means “thank
ta bay?”, which essentially means “bon tardi” to greet people, ty easy right? If you want to gain you very much”. q

A quick snack for the road: Learn how to make the Aruban Pastechi!

(Oranjestad)—If you ever been to stick to your hands or the surface pinch the sides shut with a fork. If
Aruba before, you probably heard on which you’re kneading it. Let you have a folding tool, feel free to
of (and even tried) the Aruban your dough rest covered for 15-20 use it for this process. Your pastechi
Pastechi. Beloved by young and minutes. is ready for the fryer!
old, this tasty treat is a staple for
party snacks, a quick lunch or After resting, divide your dough If you want to store some pastechis
even breakfast! into approximately 100 gram balls for later use, you can freeze them.
and roll it flat with a rolling pin. The A good tip is to place a piece
Here’s how to make the Pastechi thickness of the pastechi depends of wax paper in between each
dough. on your taste, but the average pastechi if you are to store them
thinness would be around ¼ inch on top of one another. This way the
Ingredients: or so. pastechis don’t stick to each other
4 cups of wheat flour when defrosting.
1 tbsp baking powder (if using self- Filling for the pastechis varies
rising flour, omit baking powder) it a quick mix. Next add the butter, according to your taste. The easiest Here in Aruba we enjoy pastechi
1 tsp salt water and egg and mix until and most common filling you’ll find at any time of the day, but it
1 tbsp sugar thoroughly combined. At this point, in Aruba is a simple cheese filling. has become almost tradition to
0.5 cup of melted butter your dough will start to get sticky; For this, we usually use shredded eat pastechis for breakfast on
1 cup water time for an arm workout. Knead Gouda, but feel free to use any the way to work. Many roadside
1 egg your dough into the bowl you are cheese that melts well when frying snack trucks sell pastechi from
using or on a clean surface with the pastry. early morning to noon, and offer a
Directions: some flour lightly dusted until its variety of fillings like cheese; ham
Sift your flour into a bowl and add surface is smooth. You'll know your Place the filling on your rolled out and cheese; ground beef and
all the dry ingredients before giving dough is ready when it doesn’t piece of dough, fold it in half and pulled chicken to name a few. q