lipu-sona/pages/tokipona/7.md

% toki pona page 7 - interjections, questions, commands and names
% /dev/urandom
% march 2020

The vocabulary for this page:

| word  | meaning                          |
|-------|----------------------------------|
| a     | (emotional interjection)         |
| anu   | or (for yes/no questions)        |
| mu    | (any animal sound)               |
| o     | (addressing people, commands)    |
| seme  | what? (for questions)            |

| word  | meaning                          |
|-------|----------------------------------|
| kute  | listen, hear, obey, ear          |
| nimi  | word, name                       |
| lawa  | head, control, own, rule, main   |
| anpa  | lowly, humble, to conquer/defeat |
| insa  | inside, contents, center, stomach|

## Interjections and commands

The word "a" functions like a emotional interjection. It is usually either added
at the end of a sentence or functions as a sentence on its own.

> sina suwi a! -- You are so cute!

More specifically, laughter is indicated with the sentence "a a a!" (ha ha ha!).

The word "mu" substitutes for any sound made by any animal.

The word "o" is used to address people and issue commands.

When used on its own at the beginning of a sentence, it turns the rest of the
message into a command.

> o kute e mi! -- Listen to me!

When used after a noun phrase, it addresses a person.

> sina o! -- Hey, you!

Both uses can be combined.

> jan pali o, kepeken e ilo awen! -- Worker, use protective equipment!

## Questions

There are two ways to ask questions in toki pona.

If you want to ask a yes-or-no question, you phrase the sentence normally, but
replace the word being questioned with a "[word] ala [word]" structure.

> sina pona ala pona? -- Are you okay?

There are no words for "yes" and "no", so to answer positively, you repeat the
verb, and to answer negatively, you add "ala".

> pona. -- Yes.

> pona ala. -- No.

(From what I understand, this structure is similar to what is used in Mandarin.)

> ona li pali ala pali? -- Are they working?

> jan lili li moku ala moku? -- Are the children eating?

Alternatively, you can add "anu seme" ("or what?") instead.

> sina pona anu seme? -- Are you okay?

For freeform questions, you start with a regular sentence and insert "seme" into
the part you want to ask:

> sina pali e seme? -- What are you (doing/working on)?

> jan seme li pakala e ona? -- Who broke it?

> ijo ni li seme? -- What is this thing?

## Names (unofficial words)

So far, these pages only relied on native toki pona words to refer to things and
people. But this is clearly not enough when you need to call someone by their
name. For proper names, toki pona uses so-called "unofficial words". These are
usually names of people, cities, countries, etc., taken from their native
languages and adapted to toki pona's pronunciation rules. Unlike all toki pona
words, they're spelled with the first letter capitalized.

Unofficial words are always treated as adjectives, which means that before them
is always a noun or a noun phrase describing what is being referred to.

> jan Mimi -- (the person) Mimi

> ma Kanata -- (the country) Canada

> ma tomo Napoli -- (the city) Naples

Alternatively, the unofficial words can actually be used as adjectives:

> jan Kanata -- a Canadian person

Thanks to different people interpreting both the native names and toki pona's
sounds in different ways, there may ultimately be several different unofficial
names for the same city or country's name.

Also, people speaking toki pona are free to pick their own personal toki pona
names, either by adapting the name from their native language or coming up with
something new.

> %info%
> The [page 7a](7a.html) contains some more information about how
> unofficial words are created.

## Examples

> o toki ala a! -- Shut up!

> sina pali ala pali e ni? -- Did you do this?

> mi jan San. mi lon ma Mewika. -- I am John. I live in the United States.

> nimi sina li seme? -- What is your name?

> jan lawa mi li ike mute. -- (My boss / our leader) is very bad.

> jan Lopin o, toki! -- Hi, Robin!

## Exercises

Now, try to figure out the meaning of these sentences.

* o moku ala e kili ni a!
* kulupu Kensa li anpa e kulupu ale ante.
* o toki insa ala e ni: jan pali li anpa tawa jan lawa.
* sina pali e ni tan seme? 
* insa mi li pakala. o pona e mi a!

And try to translate the following sentences into toki pona.

* I don't think gods exist.
* Don't make noise in the library. 
* My boss tells me not to sleep in the office. 
* Your brother looks just like you. 
* Don't go outside.

<a name="answers" href="#answers" onclick="revealSpoilers();">Reveal answers</a>

> %spoiler%
> * Don't eat this fruit/vegetable/mushroom!
> * The Kansas team defeated all other teams.
> * Don't think that workers are lowly before the leaders.
> * Why did you do this?
> * My (stomach / internal organs) are hurt. Help me!

> %spoiler%
> * mi toki insa e ni: jan sewi li lon ala.
> * o kalama ala lon tomo lipu.
> * jan lawa mi li toki e ni: o lape ala lon tomo pali.
> * jan sama mije sina li lukin sama mute sina.
> * o tawa ala lon ma.

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