There has been a couple of things I’ve been keeping notes on as I’m learning, and one of them is the mystery of the final “a/an/nan/lan” in some sentences referring to “my thing.”
For example,
“Èske ou bezwen pa m nan?” which is to mean “Do you want mine?”
It parses out fairly easily as “Do” (Èske) “you” (ou) “want” (bezwen) “my thing” (pa m, short for pa / pou mwen, meaning “for me”), but that final “nan” was just mysterious.
In this context “nan” is standing for the idea of “that” or “the.” Example, “dam nan” (or “dam lan”) is “the lady.” You can see the connection with “Dame” and “Dam.” “Nan” or “Lan” are the forms of “the” that match the ending syllable sound of “Dam” (such words are often paired with “Lan” or sometimes “Nan”). As kreyòl ayisyen forms phrases such as “the dog” as “dog-the” (chen an), “dam lan” or “dam nan” are just how it is. Choosing the right form of “the” (a, an, lan, nan) is a matter of what the word sounds like, and it is just as logical as the English use of “a” or “an” as the indefinite article based on the sound of the next syllable. (“A day, an hour, a minute—an eternity” because the “h” in “hour” is not sounded out.)
(Sometimes “nan” also means “in,” so have fun with that. And “pa” can mean negation OR it can mean for as a shortcut for pou. Also more fun.)
But in this case, that final “nan” isn’t the word “in.” It isn’t really a floating “the.” It’s more like the sentence becomes “Do you want this thing of mine?” more than “Do you want mine [my thing]?”
So a sentence like (and I am not making this up) “Se pa pa li, se pa m nan” means “It’s” (se) “not” (pa) “for” (pa or pou) “him/her/it” (li), “it’s (se) for (pa again) “me” (m, short for mwen) “the-mine” (nan). It’s a bit different in construction than just “…se pa m,” and I am marking it down as one of the subtle differences in how the language is constructed.
Fun times.