I must say that I am still in pampers about speaking papiamentu but there is one phrase that really intrigues me as I cant figure out what´s its meeaning hahaha!,I have tried to use translators but I find not trustable the results,the phrase is Ketu bai,if someone knows its meaning I will be very thankful.

Hi Victor,

I'm sat in Kontiki Bar with two locals, and they say that Ketu bai means " everything is going ok"

Bon Nochi

Hi!,wow didn´t expect an answer so quick hahaha!,it´s great!,thank you so much,I really appreciate it,I really would have never found it out by myself even being a spanish speaker hahaha!,thanks again!

Ketubai means literally "all the time"

Ok,thank you,but I have to ask if it also mean the previous translation?

not really, but you never know with papiamentu. Tur kos ta bon is how I would say everythings okay.


The word Ketu means quiet or still. Ketu ketu is very quiet. Bai means to go.

Yeah I personally find papiamentu a little bit confusing.

I would translate Ketu bai as nothing happens or all is quite but I'm with Micheal if I wanted to say that everything is fine.
Tur means all or everything, Kos means things or busyness and Bon means nice or good.
BTW Dushi means sweet (I'm just saying)

I totally understand Victor, it's a bit confusing. Believe me I've been there (sometimes still am LOL). Remember that Papiamentu is a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, English, native African and native Arrowak. On top of that comes that it is only spoken on the ABC islands and every island has some different words and pronunciations.

to complicate matters further .. there are differences between the Rincon and Playa papiamentu and if you read the papiamentu papers regularily you see many different spelling for the same word...

Victor, aren't you using the book I sent you??

Wink...

"I am in pampers"...I love it...not something that is said here...

I agree with Michael. All the time, all the while, all along. Some examples:
Anke e politiko a parce honesto, ketu bai e tawata gaña tur hende. Although the politician seemed honest, all along he was misleading everyone.
Nan a kere ku e ta cupabel pero ketu bai e tabata tras di trali. They believed he was to blame, but all the while he was in jail.
A similar case is mientras tantu, meanwhile.
Some may identify with this situation: Rental agent to a roup of travelers: Boso auto ta na caminda. Boso ke kore buriku mientras tantu? Your car is on the way. Meanwhile how about a donkey?

Hi all and sorry for being absent after I posted this for so long,honestly I didn´t think was going to get some more replies about this topic hahaha!,so it´s cool to get them.
Bette:it´s good to know others have the same feeling I have haha!,even though I find papiamento one of the most similar language with spanish after portuguese,many times I am LOL too.
Mrs,Ann:how you doing?,hope you and Maggie are just fine.Yes I´ve been using the book and it´s been very usefull and nice,unfortunately not all words are there and translated so I resort to other sources hahaha!,like this for instance.
"I am in papers",hahha!,that´s the literal translation of a spanish phrase we use which is,"Estar en pañales",which means one´s just getting to know something,don´t know if you use it the same way in english.
Thank you all for your help!

Lucas:with those three translations you give I can see completely clear the meaning of "Ketu Bai" on all the examples,quisa pasobra bo ta parce ku ta rubiano anto abo ta sa e lenga aki miho ku nos tur hahaha!,danki!