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local Tuesday 19 augusT 2025
Papiamento words and phrases you may want to know!

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

A quick snack for the road

Learn how to make the Aruban Pastechi!

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