Do you know that Pidgin English is one of the most popular languages in the world? In Nigeria, it is spoken by at least 70 million people. In the South South region of Nigeria, it is the first language of a lot of people. Pidgin is also spoken in Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, and beyond.

Pidgin English is the most popular language used in Nigerian songs. At least 5 in every 6 Nigerian songs contain a fairly large amount of Pidgin. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the late famous musical legend, sang most of his songs in Pidgin. And he was still extremely popular!

At one point, Nigeria almost made the language one of its official languages.

Despite its popularity, a lot of people still get a lot of things wrong about Pidgin English. The main thing is that Pidgin also has its own basic rules too. And I share 3 of those basic rules below. But first, why is the language so darn popular?!

Why is Pidgin English So Popular?
The popularity of Pidgin English can be traced to its simplicity and usage. Although Pidgin is usually blended with local languages, it is somewhat easy to learn and understand if you can speak English.

This is the chief reason why Pidgin English became popular. It is a language that synthesizes English and other native languages to make communication easier. But it doesn’t mean it is extremely easy to speak though.

Over the years still, Pidgin English has evolved greatly. Speaking Pidgin English is not just about meshing two languages together for the sake of communication. Pidgin English now has its own form, its own structure and, yes, its own “grammatical errors”.

And lately, I found out that a lot of people don’t know this.

Sometimes I hear people say sentences in Pidgin English, and I’ll be like: “which kain Pidgin be this again?” That is not a joke; I get quite stupefied by how some sentences sound.

In the past, though, I had no idea what made them wrong. So I started checking.

Rules of Pidgin English
First Rule
While checking, I discovered the first rule of Pidgin English: Always speak in English present tense.

Let’s always keep in mind that Pidgin English is, hmmm, a “fork” (Github?) of the regular English language. And the most important thing that Pidgin English forked from regular English is present tense.

Pidgin English must always be spoken in present tense. Anything else just sounds plain wrong.

Here’s an example. “I dey cum now now.”

Translated to regular English, this is “I will soon be back”.

Other examples are: “Oga show quick”, “I don dey go oo”, “You don dey come?”, “You dey count money?” among others.

You can say these in several types of Pidgin you like, but they must always be in the present tense. Failure to observe this rule will let you make a fool of yourself. And that sucks.

This rule may not be fixed though, even though the language is so widely spoken and undocumented. The only word I can remember for now that breaks this rule is “whine”. You can say “Your whining don dey too much.” Its present continuous and it passes the first rule.

Second Rule
A second rule of Pidgin English is that you must use real words. For any word you use, make sure it exists in the English dictionary, exists in a local language or is slang. Anything outside of these is just damn wrong.

Words like wakaa, shege, collat, oga, padi, shebi, nna, abi, pesin, oyinbo, trafficate and others, may or may not be in the English dictionary. But we use them because they are either in our local languages or they are slangs.

Keep this rule in mind.

Third Rule
A third rule, or principle, in Pidgin English is that the language is very flexible, or rather, extendable. That is you can create your own words and if they go viral enough, then congratulations, you’ve invented a new word.

A word like “yori-yori”, was never in the popular Pidgin English dialect until the music group, Bracket, used it as the title of their popular song some years back.

“Science students” has always been there as a harmless phrase. But when Olamide used it as the title of his song, the phrase got a whole new meaning.

“Shaku Shaku”, is another word that just went popular recently.

Bonus: There's also a very interesting principle that may or may not count. Pidgin English is usually spoken with an accent! And there are so many accents. For instance, you've got the Warri Pidgin accent, the Igbo pidgin accent and the regular Lagos pidgin accent.

A lot of people don't immediately realize how important this is, until they remember Warri jokes.

And I dare say that this is the hardest part about speaking Pidgin. The language get as eh dey roll for tongue, if you no grab am well eh go hard to speak.

Conclusion
So yeah, Pidgin English is alternative language. It is popular amongst illiterates. But it is also popular amongst business men, academics, presidents, wives of presidents (Patience Jonathan), and pretty much everybody that wants to broaden their communication outreach in West Africa.

But Pidgin English is not a silly language that can be spoken anyhow. It has evolved and now has its own form and maybe structure. Understanding the three basic rules above will help you understand how to speak and understand the language easily.

https://africanjotter.com.ng/pidgin-english-basic-rules/

Nice one,
Its about time the pidgin English was cultivated and given the status of a regular language.

I really need a good Pidgin English teacher.
Female, preferably married.

nice post.

Pidgin is coming up gradually to rule

NwaAmaikpe:



I really need a good Pidgin English teacher. Female, preferably married.

wetin you wan use married woman do?

Shooo see as person siddon analyse pidgin so

Igbos they try o, dem no go the school and they still fluent wella for the language. In fact they follow the rules OP just highlighted!

Even The President Of Nigeria Sabi Pidgin...

#PURPLE

Op, I gbadu wetin you yan so.

What are you saying OP?

Pidgin English doesn't have correction that's why we love it. No fear of embarrassment.

It only has two rules...

1 If you claim to speak it better, you are only diverting to pure English.

2 The more badly you speak it the better you are at speaking it.

internationalman:
What are you saying OP?

Pidgin English doesn't have correction that's why it's lovable by majority of Nigerians.

It only has two rules...

1 The If you claim to speak it better, you are only diverting to pure English.

2 The more badly you speak it the better you are at speaking it.

Let me bust your bubble. Read this:

"If I catch my husband dey sexing with another woman, what I do him?"

That's a combination of Jenifa's English ("What I do him" and pure wrong use of Pidgin English ("sexing".

If you SERIOUSLY dare speak this one outside people go laff you die.

the broken language.

Mr OP your head dey there.... E clear say you bad well for pidgin...I dey see the mistakes when some people dey speak am... Correct yarning... As na pidgin we dey talk about, I need flow for the language...

op,Oil dea ur head

PharmaGirl:
Shooo see as person siddon analyse pidgin so

e tire me oo

you just make me remember one warri guy wey i meet for A10 hostel Wailo Camp (bauchi state). the guy mk me love warri pidgin like bae

NwaAmaikpe:



Nice one,
Its about time the pidgin English was cultivated and given the status of a regular language.

I really need a good Pidgin English teacher.
Female, preferably married.

Ekun



Ekun

ur rule 2 and 3 contradicts each other

Make me jux dey here dey gbadu wetin una dey yarn....

But pidgin sweet no b small

I remember when I was in SS1 there was a boy in our class when he is speaking in this pidgin almost all the class will gather around him just to listen to him speak. You know the pidgin language isn't common in the North except those Nyamiris doing business or soldiers. That boy is fluent in pidgin as Balewa is English and he has that warri accent. He was a celebrity student

internationalman:
What are you saying OP?

Pidgin English doesn't have correction that's why it's lovable by majority of Nigerians.

It only has two rules...

1 If you claim to speak it better, you are only diverting to pure English.

2 The more badly you speak it the better you are at speaking it.

CONFIRM!

Its called PIDGIN because it has no rules. Nigerians just like to complicate simple things and sound smarter than they really are.
Even the normal engish language, we would rather use a higher sounding synonym compared to the English man who would use simpler words. Very soon schools and tutorial centres would spring up for learning pidgin.

I can tell you na even here in italy! Morocco. Guinea. Mali. Senegal. Ivory coast. Some of dem dy yarn pidgin english. Pidgin is goin piu.

Fuçk Off

Where was pidgin English originated from?

ortakida:



Let me bust your bubble. Read this:

"If I catch my husband dey sexing with another woman, what I do him?"

That's a combination of Jenifa's English ("What I do him" and pure wrong use of Pidgin English ("sexing".

If you SERIOUSLY dare speak this one outside people go laff you die.

Hmmm if i catch ma husband Weh em deh kwash anoda woman for outside i swear i go gi am gbese!


If i catch ma husband deh shuk anoda woman...wetin i go do am Eeeh..

And pidgin is the only language that the question means almost the same thing with the answer eg
Question:they don come?
Answer :they don come
Question:she clean house?
Answer :she clean house
Question:na you be this?
Answer :na me be this

Really Interesting.

Who dey shocking agbada for skinny?? Op does this Sound well

imstrong1:
And pidgin is the only language that the question means almost the same thing with the answer eg
Question:they don come?
Answer :they don come
Question:she clean house?
Answer :she clean house
Question:na you be this?
Answer :na me be this

Lol!!!

This is so true!!!

Waffi pigin na the bomb,e dey scatter brain. That kevwe girl for MR DO GOOD series,wet them dey show for Africa magic ,that girl dey use pigin English mesmerize the viewers...