Meaning
'They' or 'them', but it does more than the English pronoun: placed after a noun it makes the noun plural, and after a name it means 'and the others'. One small word, three jobs.
Senses
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pronoun 'They' or 'them' — the third-person plural pronoun.
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Dem a come later.
They are coming later.
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Mi give it to dem.
I gave it to them.
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particle Plural marker — placed after a noun to make it plural, where English would add '-s'.
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Di dog dem a bark.
The dogs are barking.
'dem' pluralises 'dog'.
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Di pickney dem hungry.
The children are hungry.
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particle Associative plural — after a name it means that person 'and the others / and them'.
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Mary dem deh a di shop.
Mary and her group are at the shop.
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Mi deh wid John dem.
I'm with John and the others.
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Origin
From English 'them', but grammaticalised in Jamaican to also mark plural nouns and associative groups — features shared with West African languages.
How it’s used
The plural-marker use ('di X dem') is one of the most recognisable features of Jamaican grammar.
Gloss adapted from A Learner's Glossary of Jamaican, Open Grammar Project, licensed under CC BY 4.0. View the source work · CC BY 4.0