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% toki pona page 9 - complex adjectives and contexts % /dev/urandom % march 2020
The vocabulary for this page:
| word | meaning |
|---|---|
| pi | "of" (groups adjectives) |
| la | "if/when" (introduces context) |
| luka | hand, arm |
| linja | long flexible object, hair |
| palisa | long solid object, branch, stick |
| selo | outer form, shell, skin, boundary |
| sijelo | body, physical state, torso |
| len | cloth, clothes, layer of privacy |
| lete | cold, raw |
| musi | entertaining, artistic, fun, game |
Time to introduce two another particles in this language: "pi" and "la".
pi
The word "pi" works by grouping several adjectives together. Normally, all adjectives in a phrase apply to the first word.
For example:
jan wawa -- strong person
jan wawa ala -- no strong people
If you need to say "weak people", you need to negate "wawa", but not "jan". That's where "pi" comes in handy:
jan pi wawa ala -- weak person/people ("of no strength")
It is also useful for phrases that use unofficial words.
ma tomo Wasintan li ma tomo lawa pi ma Mewika. -- (the city of) Washington is the capital ("main city") of the United States.
la
The word "la" allows to combine two sentences to form conditions and introduce context.
[sentence A] la [sentence B].
In the context of [sentence A], [sentence B].
In the most common case, translates to something like:
If/when [sentence A], then [sentence B].
For example:
moku ni li pona la mi pana e ona tawa sina. -- If this food is good, I'll give it to you.
ona li moli la ni li ike tawa jan ale. -- If they die, it will be bad for everybody.
But there are also other uses. It can replace "lon [phrase]" when talking about location or time (more on that in the next page:
o kalama ala lon tomo lipu. -- Be quiet in the library.
tomo lipu la o kalama ala. -- In the library, be quiet.
It can also introduce perspective, much like "tawa":
ni li pona tawa mi. -- This is good for me. / I like it.
mi la ni li pona. -- (From my point of view / In my opinion), this is good.
Or be used to link multiple sentences:
tan ni la... -- Because of this, ...
ni la... -- In the context of all this, ...
Dialectal differences
%info% This part of the document describes how certain toki pona courses differ in explaining certain ideas, or how communities differ in using them.
The official book, the "o kama sona e toki pona!" course and my personal style differ on how to place punctuation in sentences that use "la".
The official book sometimes uses a comma before "la" and sometimes uses no punctuation.
The online course doesn't use any punctuation.
I personally prefer using the comma after "la" for aesthetic purposes, but in this series, no punctuation will be used. Since commas are not used as actual grammatical features in written toki pona, it is possible to vary their usage.
Exercises
Now, try to figure out the meaning of these sentences.
- kulupu pi jan mute li ike tawa mi.
- tomo ni la mi toki kepeken toki pona, mi toki kepeken toki Inli.
- sina moku e soweli lete la ona li ike tawa pakala sina.
- kalama musi ona li pona mute.
- sina kepeken ike e ilo la ona li pakala.
And try to translate the following sentences into toki pona.
- If it's dark outside, stay at home.
- He is in the bar ("house of crazy water").
- The loud person ("person of large sounds") says weird things.
- That blonde ("woman of white hair") is good-looking.
- If you don't talk to people, you won't have friends.
%spoiler%
- I don't like communities with lots of people.
- In this house, I speak toki pona and English.
- If you eat raw meat, it will be bad for your body.
- Their music ("entertaining sounds") is very good.
- If you misuse ("use badly") the tools, they will break.
%spoiler%
- sewi li pimeja la o awen lon tomo.
- ona li lon tomo pi telo nasa.
- jan pi kalama suli li toki e ijo nasa.
- meli ni pi linja walo li pona lukin.
- sina toki ala e jan la sina jo ala e jan pona.