Yes-No Questions

Yes-no questions are closed questions, meaning they only require a single word answer with no elaboration. These questions are often asked in Toki Pona by using the X ala X? construction (lit. This not this?). This type can be answered by responding with either repeating the verb to indicate yes or negating the verb to indicate no.

anu seme?

Another common type of yes-no question is the anu seme? construction (lit. or what?). This is used at the end of a sentence, similar to the phrase “isn’t it” in English. You answer this type of question in much the same way as X ala X, either by repeating or negating the verb to answer yes or no, respectively.

Open Questions

The word seme is used to stand in for information you want filled in. For example, if you are checking to see if your entire group is here, you might say mi mute li nanpa seme e jan? (lit. we, what number, people?) to ask how many people we have right now. You can answer these types of questions by simply filling in the information the other person is requesting.

Words

• seme | seme – what, (modify other word to get general wh- questions)
• anu | anu – or
• olin | olin – strong emotional bond: platonic, romantic, familial
• pilin | pilin – experience of emotion, heart (physical or emotional), opinion
• tenpo | tenpo – time, event, duration
• kama | kama – come, become, future, arrive
• lupa | lupa – hole, window, pit, portal, door
• nanpa | nanpa – number, particle to construct ordinal numbers (first, second, third)
• wan | wan – one, single, combine, mix, fuse, join
• tu | tu – two, separate, divide
• mute | mute – multiple, many, twenty

Example Sentences

sina kama e tenpo seme

sina kama e tenpo seme? – What time are you coming?

jan[alenasaa] o, olin ala olin e mi

jan Ana o, olin ala olin e mi – Anna, do you like me?

ma seme li jan olin sina

ma seme li jan olin sina – Where is your girlfriend? (literally: What place, your loved one?)

mi kama e tenpo tu tu wan

mi kama e tenpo tu tu wan – I will come at five

jan[esunlukinalenasa] o, sina sona e pilin mi

jan Elan o, sina sona e pilin mi – Aaron, you know I do (literally: Aaron, you know my heart)

jan olin mi? ona li lupa insa

jan olin mi? ona li lupa insa – My girlfriend? She’s in the hole. (literally: My loved one? They are in the hole)

Conclusion

Now you know how to ask and answer questions in Toki Pona. Now get out there and question everything! Why do snakes shed their skin? Where do we all go when we sleep? What is the meaning of life? Well, once you have found the answers to those questions, why not come back and read the rest of my lessons?

The post Lesson #4 – Questions and Answers appeared first on LanguageBox.

Imperative

When used to make a command, o replaces the subject particle li and the subject is often dropped. You may remember that when using mi or sina as the only subject, li is dropped, but that is often not the case with o. O is our reminder that this sentence is a command, so dropping it would make things especially unclear.

Speaking to someone

To speak to someone, you would usually use their name, right? Well, in Toki Pona, you would use their name with the particle o at the end to get their attention. In this case o is being used as a signal that you are addressing a specific person or thing. When addressing someone and giving a command in the same sentence, you can either say the o twice, or combine them into a single one.

Words

• o | o – particle for imperative and vocative (talking about someone), should
• lape | lape – sleep, rest, take a break
• open | open – open, begin, start, beginning
• lukin | lukin – see, look, eye, read, watch, try to
• kute | kute – ear, listen, pay attention, obey
• utala | utala – fight, skirmish, compete, battle
• pana | pana – give, put, send, release
• insa | insa – inside, center, middle
• pakala | pakala – mistake, broken, damage, messed up
• pan | pan – grain-based foods: bread, noodles, rice, porridge, masa

Example Sentences

o utala ala a

o utala ala a! – Don’t fight!

o kute

o kute – Please listen

jan[alenasaa] o, o pana e poki lili

jan Ana o, o pana e poki lili – Anna, please hand me the small box

o open e musi

o open e musi – Please start the show

jan[esunlukinalenasa] o lape

jan Elan o lape – [Please] Sleep, Aaron

o pakala ala e pan a

o pakala ala e pan a! – Don’t mess up the bread!

Conclusion

Now you know how to recognize and give commands using the Toki Pona particle o. Now get out there and start giving commands! In the next lesson, Lesson 4, we will look at how to ask questions and give answers.

The post Lesson #3 – o appeared first on LanguageBox.

Direct Objects

A direct object in Toki Pona, and indeed in English, is a part of a sentence that describes the object to which the verb is being done. In Toki Pona we mark it with the particle e. Remember how the particle li comes between the subject and verb? E, in a similar fashion, comes between the verb and the direct object of the verb. Let us learn a few more words, then look at some example sentences.

Words

• e | e – direct object particle
• nimi | nimi – name, word
• jo | jo – own, possess, hold
• pali | pali – work, activity, build, create
• poki | poki – container: box, bag, bowl
• suli | suli – big, important, large, long, tall, wide
• lili | lili – little, small, young, few, part
• ma | ma – place, country, earth, land, outdoors
• musi | musi – fun, games, entertainment, art, silly
• ilo | ilo – tool, device, machine
• Bonus: a | a – oh, ha, em, oy, [adds extra emphasis or emotion]

Example Sentences

ma[kulupualenasaalatokia] li suli

ma Kanata li suli – Canada is big

jan[esunlukinalenasa] li pona e mi

jan Elan li pona e mi – Aaron improves me

ona li jo e poki musi

ona li jo e poki musi – He owns an Xbox (literally: [He/She/They] owns [an] entertainment container)

jan[alenasaa] li pali e sitelen suli

jan Ana li pali e sitelen suli – Anna is creating a large drawing

mi pali e kulupu toki

mi pali e kulupu toki – I am creating a language club

Names in Toki Pona

In this lesson, we taught the word nimi, which means word and also name. You may have noticed the proper names in the examples above and be wondering how to write your name in Toki Pona. Because of the language’s (rather limited) phonology, some sounds that are in your name might not exist in the language. Proper names in Toki Pona are “tokiponized,” matching the letters in your name to similar ones in Toki Pona. If you are using the Latin alphabet, that is all you do, just use it as a modifier to the named word. In sitelen pona, these transliterations are written inside a cartouche to show that it is a proper name. You then symbolize each letter in the proper name with a glyph that starts with that letter.

Conclusion

Now you know how to describe direct objects in Toki Pona, as well as how to write your name. In the next lesson, Lesson 3, we will look at how to give commands with the imperative case.

The post Lesson #2 – e appeared first on LanguageBox.

Particles

Particles in Toki Pona are words that act as markers to show what each part of the sentence is doing. Other languages like Japanese and Korean, two also context-heavy languages, also use particles in a similar way. This is very useful, as words in Toki Pona can mean many things, with many having both verb and noun meanings. The particle we are learning about today, li, marks the subject-predicate separation, allowing you to name the subject. To achieve multiple verbs in a sentence, you simply chain lis together. We will see this in the example sentences.

Words

• li | li – particle that marks the subject
• mama | mama – parent, mother, father, creator, caretaker, guardian
• sona | sona – knowledge, information, data, know
• kulupu | kulupu – group, community, team, crowd
• sitelen | sitelen – image, drawing, picture, symbol, writing
• ike | ike – bad, negative, evil, problem
• jaki | jaki – gross, disgusting, rotten, toxic
• ni | ni – this, that, these, those
• ijo | ijo – thing, object, being, matter, phenomenon
• tomo | tomo – building, house, home, room, tent, shack, indoor space
• Bonus: n | n – hmm, um, uh (something to say when you aren’t sure what to say)

Example Sentences

jan li moku

jan li moku – the person eats

kulupu li sitelen li toki

kulupu li sitelen li toki – the group writes and talks

ona li mama

ona li mama – they are my parent

ona li kulupu sitelen

ona li kulupu sitelen – they are a drawing club

ijo ni li jaki

ijo ni li jaki – that thing is gross

mi sona

mi sona – I know, I understand

Wait, what happened in that last sentence?

You may have noticed in that last sentence that there was no li but it was still a grammatically correct sentence. This is an exception to the rule. When the subject of the sentence is only mi or sina, drop the li.

Conclusion

Now you know how to make basic subject-predicate sentences using the particle li. You can now say what someone or something is or is doing. In the next lesson, Lesson 2, we will look at direct objects.

The post Lesson #1 – li appeared first on LanguageBox.