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169 lines
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169 lines
5 KiB
Markdown
% toki pona page 10 - pre-verbs, time and place
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% /dev/urandom
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% 2020-03-19
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The vocabulary for this page -- pre-verbs:
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| word | meaning |
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|-------|----------------------------------|
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| kama | coming, future, event |
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| ken | can, ability, possibility |
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| open | start, begin, open |
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| pini | end, finish, close |
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| sona | knowledge, to know (how to) |
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| wile | want, need, desire |
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> %warning%
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>
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> Words not in this table can be used as pre-verbs as well, such as "awen" and
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> "lukin".
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>
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and regular words:
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| word | meaning |
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|-------|----------------------------------|
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| lupa | hole, door, window |
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| nasin | path, road, directive, way |
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| nena | hill, mountain, button, bump,nose|
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| tenpo | time, moment |
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## Pre-verbs
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Time to cover the last grammatical feature of toki pona: pre-verbs. These are
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words that are added before other verbs and modify their meaning.
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The word "**kama**" is used both as a regular verb to mean "to come" and to
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express that something is a current event:
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> mi jo e moku. -- I have food.
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>
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> mi kama jo e moku. -- I (got / am getting) food.
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> mi kama tan ma Losi -- I come from Russia.
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As a pre-verb, the word "**ken**" functions much like the English word "can":
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> mi pali e tomo. -- I work on a house.
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>
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> mi ken pali e tomo. -- I can work on a house.
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It can be used on its own to mean "possibility", "ability":
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> ni li ken. -- This is possible.
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> ken la ale li pona. -- Maybe everything is okay.
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The words "**open**" and "**pini**" express that the action is beginning or
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ending.
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> mi open pali e tomo. -- I start working on a house.
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> mi pini pali e tomo. -- I stop/finish working on a house.
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The word "**sona**" by itself can mean "knowledge" or "to know", but as a
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pre-verb, it means "know how to [do the action]":
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> mi sona pali e tomo. -- I know how to work on a house.
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> mi sona e ni. -- I know this.
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> mi sona sitelen. -- I know how to write/draw.
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> mi sona e sitelen. -- I know a writing/picture.
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> ona li sona ala sona e toki Inli? -- Do they know English?
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When "kama" is added before "sona", you get a phrase that means "to learn":
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> jan lili li kama sona toki. -- The child is learning how to speak.
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> mi kama sona e toki pona. -- I am learning toki pona.
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or alternatively:
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> mi kama sona toki kepeken toki pona. -- I am learning how to speak in toki
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> pona.
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The word "**wile**" is used to express want or need for the following action or
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thing.
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> jan lili li wile moku. -- The child (is hungry / wants to eat).
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> jan lili li wile e ijo musi. The child wants a toy ("amusing thing").
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> wile sina li suli mute. -- Your needs/desires are very big.
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In addition to these words, the words "**awen**" and "**lukin**" can also be
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used as pre-verbs. "awen" as a pre-verb means "to keep/continue [doing
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something]" and "lukin" means "to look for, to seek, to try [to do something]".
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> ona li lukin e lipu. -- They are reading a book.
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> ona li awen lukin e lipu. -- They are still reading a book.
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> mi jo e tomo. -- I have a house.
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> mi lukin jo e tomo. -- I'm searching for a house (to own).
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## Time
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The word "tenpo" is useful, because it's at the basis of many phrases that allow
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one to define time at which something is happening. Since toki pona doesn't have
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grammatical tenses, the way time is generally described is by using an
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additional phrase:
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> tenpo ni la mi moku. -- (Right now, ) I eat.
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or
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> mi moku lon tenpo ni. -- I eat (at this time).
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(As explained in [page 9](9.html), such uses of "lon" and "la" are
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interchangable in other cases as well.)
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The phrases "tenpo pini" and "tenpo kama" are commonly used to mean "past" and
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"future".
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> tenpo pini la mi pali e ijo ike mute. -- I did a lot of bad things in the
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> past.
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> tenpo kama la o moku ala e kasi ni. -- In the future, don't eat this plant.
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Of course, you can ask questions regarding time by using "tenpo seme":
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> tenpo seme la sina pini e pali sina? -- When will you finish your work?
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## Dialectal differences
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> %info%
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> This part of the document describes how certain toki pona courses differ in
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> explaining certain ideas, or how communities differ in using them.
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The words "open" and "pini" are used as pre-verbs by some in the toki
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pona community, but they're not defined or used as such in the official toki
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pona book or the "o kama sona e toki pona!" course.
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## Exercises
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Now, try to figure out the meaning of these sentences.
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* o open e lupa.
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* tenpo lili la mi kama tawa sina.
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* mi wile tawa ma ante.
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* sina ken ala ken kama tawa tomo mi?
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* sina kama tawa tomo mi la o kepeken e nasin Linkan.
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* sina lon nena la sina ken lukin e ijo mute.
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And try to translate the following sentences into toki pona.
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* Do you know how to do it?
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* Everything is possible.
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* Can you open the door?
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* If you don't listen to experts ("people of knowledge"), your work will be bad.
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* I work on this for a long time.
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* I'm still learning toki pona.
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[Answers](answers.html#p10)
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[Previous page](9.html) [Top page](index.html) [Next page](11.html)
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