Page 11 - AHATA

a8 local
Friday 7 November 2025
Papiamento words and phrases you may want to know!

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

Beautiful areas around Aruba

(Oranjestad)—Aruban born and San Nicolas and drive up the hill
bred Steve Francees has a pas- till The Point Lighthouse, park your
sion for photography. Being a local car and walk until you reach the
photographer he knows the hidden east point coast and go left along
gems of this island and captures the coastline and good luck going
them in an amazing way. Here are down the cliff.
some of the most beautiful areas
around Aruba. Surfside Beach
This beach was very famous when
The hidden Natural Bridge we were kids and many locals love
Here in Aruba we have three nat- to swim at this beach. After some
ural bridges and many see this years the locals shifted to the more
one on thinking that it’s the world north-west beaches like Eagle,
famous one but it’s not. The why Boca Catalina and Arashi but af-
is easy, its way too dangerous ter the government renovated
to go down the cliff to reach this the whole area it got a new face-
beauty and no tour companies lift and its back as a family beach
will do that. Some people refuse and weekends are just amazing at
to go down due fear of height. To this area.
reach this beauty you must go to
Natural Bridge at Blackstone
Beach
As mentioned, there are three nat-
ural bridges and this one is in the
Arikok National Park. The other two
Bridges you can visit by car but for
this one you must have a 4X4 jeep
or you will get stuck at the Andicuri
Beach.q