'dispela' and 'ya'

01

'dispela' in Front

• Dispela buk em i olpela.

  This book is old.

• Dispela bebi i gat naispela nus.

  This baby has a nice nose.

• Dispela em nupela haus bilong mi.

  This is my new house.

• Ol dispela flawa i gat naispela kala stret.

  These flowers have really nice colours.

02

No 'this' Against 'that'

English splits the near from the far - this/that, these/those. Tok Pisin does not. dispela covers all four, and if the distance matters you add a word for it, such as hia "here". Most of the time the situation makes it clear and nothing is added at all.

03

'dispela' on Its Own

Without a noun it means "this one" or just "this", and it is used that way constantly - often where English would say "it".

• Hamas long dispela?

  How much is this?

• Yu lukim dispela tu?

  Do you see this too?

• Mi ken karim dispela.

  I can carry this.

• Dispela i no bikpela mani.

  This isn't a lot of money.

• Dispela em wok bilong grup.

  This is group work.

04

'ya' Behind

ya follows the noun and marks it as one both speakers already know about. It does not point out into the world the way "this" does - it points backwards, into the conversation.

• Man ya tu slip.

  That man is asleep too.

• Meri ya i no slip.

  That woman isn't asleep.

• Meri ya save ronim liklik kar stret.

  That woman drives a small car.

• Man ya bai stretim televisin bilong mi long Tunde.

  That man will fix my television on Tuesday.

• Mi save long meri ya.

  I know that woman.

"That man" in the English here does not mean the man over there. It means the man we were just discussing - which is much closer to English "the".

05

The Closest Thing to 'a' and 'the'

Tok Pisin has no articles, but wanpela and ya between them cover a lot of the same ground. These two sentences show how.

• Mipela ritim wanpela buk.

  We read a book.

• Buk ya em narakain tru.

  The book was really unusual.

The first sentence brings the book into the conversation - wanpela, "a". The second refers back to that same book, now established - ya, "the". English does exactly this with its articles; Tok Pisin does it with a number in front and a particle behind.

06

'ya' for Emphasis

At the very end of a sentence, rather than attached to a noun, ya adds emphasis - something like English "that's what it is" or a firm final "you know".

• Em faul tru ya.

  That's really ridiculous.

• Dispela em pik ya.

  That's pork, that is.

• Twenti dola ya.

  Twenty dollars, that is.

07

A Note on Spelling

This word is written both ya and ia. The two are equally common and entirely interchangeable.