Check out the video lesson too!
Word | Use | Writing |
---|---|---|
e e | (mark an object; begin an object phrase) | Two right-facing arrows |
Word | Definition | Writing |
---|---|---|
wile wile | want, need, to want | Curvy letter "w" |
lipu lipu | paper, card, document, website, leaf, small flat thing | Tall rectangle like a piece of paper |
sona sona | knowledge, understanding, to know | Piece of paper with emitters! |
lukin lukin | eyes, to look, to try | An eye with a pupil in the center |
pali pali | create, work, creation | A hand shape with a circle above it |
kute kute | ear, hear, listen, pay attention to | Ear shape curving out to the right, tiny line in the middle |
jo jo | have, possess, carry, own | "G" shape with circle at top end, like sitting person |
pana pana | give, emit, provide, gift | A hand shape with emitters |
pakala pakala | destroy, break, shatter, explode, ruin, mistake | Paper with jagged middle line, like a crack or tear |
ante ante | change, alter, other, different | Two arrows pointing at each other from the top and bottom |
pilin pilin | feeling, emotion, touch, contact | A heart |
This new sentence is capable of changing things in the world. The subject can now act on other things, applying the predicate to something else, with the use of e!
[mi/sina] [predicate] e [object]
[subject] li [predicate] e [object]
This new phrase introduces a thing the subject acts on in a way that the predicate specifies.
I am using "predicate" to refer to just the position of the action/description of a phrase, excluding the object.
In common grammatical terms, "predicate" refers to the entirety of the action/description and the object(s) it acts on. However, it can also refer to just the action/description clause, which is very convenient for these lessons!
Here are a few guided examples of how the subject acts on the object, applying the predicate to it:
The jan becomes pona in some way, as in the translations given.
Here, sina becomes wawa in some way.
Not everything changes the object! Here are some examples, using two new words:
Here, the kiwen is felt or touched, but it never is or becomes pilin. Instead, the subject is the only one that does any pilin.
Again, the telo is wanted or needed, but it does not become wile or do the action wile or become describable by wile. The subject wants, needs, wile the telo.
As you study, you'll get an intuitive sense for this difference. Some words will be actions the subject takes on an object, but which do not change that object. pana works this way! Other words will change the object, applying a new property to the object.
As you become more advanced in Toki Pona, you'll learn that the above is complicated! It is possible to describe an object as a wanted object, and to apply want to that object. For the time being, this simplification will work.
That said, the following is possible:
mi wile e telo
"I want water."
telo wile li pona e mi
"The water I want will make me feel better."
This uses a modifier (next lesson!) to demonstrate the point, now referencing a "wanted liquid."
Check out this video lesson too! There are a few other topics here, but the very start has what you need!
Like li, e can be used more than once to apply a predicate to more than one object at a time! The predicate before applies to every object that follows. Like li, this is like "and" in English, but now for the object!
The plant is feeling the sun and the water!
Here, the subject kasi (plant) is pilin (feeling) both suno and telo, (light and water).
Here's another example:
I eat sweets and ice cubes!
I eat sugar and ice.
Here, the subject mi (I) is eating suwi (something sweet) and lete, something cold.
When using multiple li and multiple e, objects connect to the predicate right before. We saw this with using two e, but it also applies if you use li twice then e- the first li has no object, only the second one does.
The plant is sweet, and gives off dust!
The plant is cute, and is spitting sap!
Here, the kasi is suwi, and at the same time, it pana (gives) some ko (dust, slime)
The plant gives off dust, and is sweet!
This sentence means the same thing, but has the connected predicate and object, pana and ko swapped with the single predicate pana. The meaning is still the same!
Objects always connect to the predicate before. For multiple e with multiple li, the rules are the same as with just multiple e!
The person made a mess on the book and cleaned the book.
Here, jan (a person) does two actions, acting on to two objects with each: First, they jaki (make gross) a lipu (document, book), then they telo (water, clean) a lipu. Often, the same word referenced twice is referring to the same object- so lipu could be the same both times! But it can be a different object too. Watch for context!
The last part of this section is a bit more advanced- it requires you to be thoughtful and intentional about how you speak. If you wanna get right to practice, check out the exercises!
There is some room for experimentation! The sentence from before can be made shorter but understood the same with relaxed grammar:
If jaki and telo both apply to the lipu:
Somebody made a mess on this book, and cleaned it.
If they are separate statements in the same sentence:
Somebody is gross, and cleaned this book.
Normally, the first predicate jaki would not connect to the object lipu. But some speakers will apply two or more predicates to the same object, like this sentence- it's relaxed!
Here, jan (a person) does two actions, acting on to one object with each: First, they jaki (make gross) a lipu (document, book), then they telo (water, clean) a lipu. Often, the same word in the same position a second time means the same object- so the lipu could be the same both times! But it can be a different object too. Watch for context!
If you haven't checked under the spoiler already, check now. There are multiple meanings possible if you use this relaxed grammar!
When somebody doesn't understand you, try restating yourself. Using more words to be more specific is always helpful!
A parent is doing his best to make his kid eat his dinner, resulting in an argument at the table. The kid offers the very reasonable point that vegetables are gross! But after some arguing back and forth, mom chimes in with convincing wisdom:
The food will make you feel better!
You've been struggling in class, trying your hardest to follow along with the lessons and lab. You hire a tutor to help, and they provide well-practiced teaching and piles of useful examples. Late one night, you are thoroughly reading over the textbook and you realize you actually understand every word. You exclaim:
I understood the textbook!
Halloween night! A group of sheet-clad friends, dressed like classic ghosts, walk from home to home shouting "Trick or treat!" and get piles of sweets in hand at each door! At the end of the night, everyone compares their hauls. One friend pulls a weighty, dirty chunk from his bag and says...
I have a rock...
You and your brother are up to no good, trying to play a prank the neighbor. You just finished setting up the sprinkler system to go off when your neighbor walks out, when your brother yells a warning out at you:
Mom sees you!
You're standing out on the beach in a late summer evening, watching the waves roll in. As time passes, and only the moon is left illuminating the surface of the water, you begin to notice a soft white foam piling at the water's edge. You remark to yourself:
The water is making foam.
You and your friends are playing hide-and-seek. The one friend who is "it" is standing at the base of the tree, but only pretending to close their eyes while counting. As soon as the game starts, they rush to tag everyone they saw hide, and then when the game ends, everyone complains at once:
You ruined the game!
You're a project manager, working with one of your developers on a new project. Your developer comes to you with a problem, and as you work through it, you identify the issue: one of the supporting tools has a change you don't recognize. You check who wrote it, and inform the confused developer:
You changed the code...
You're late to a choir performance! You race from the parking lot to the auditorium doors, pushing them open with a thump and then pause- and listen. You hear the opening piece, and whisper under your breath:
I hear the choir.
A young child is confused- for years, she's stayed home and spent all her time playing. Suddenly she now has to go to "school," and spend so much time there! Her mom drops her off, crying and wailing, for her first day. Then mom shushes her and explains how school works, her child's eyes widening as she listens:
People will teach you!
On a walkthrough of a science museum, you find yourself in a hands-on exhibit full of boxes! You can't see what's inside, but the organizer directs you to reach in and feel. You reach into a box and feel something gooshy and rubbery. You squish it- but you have no idea what it is! The organizer tells you:
You're feeling the gum!
You walk through the forest toward your personal getaway, a cozy cabin far from home. When you get there, you find the cabin in disrepair! Vines now creep up the sides, and weeds overgrow the garden; the home is clearly starved of care! You resolve to restore the garden and cabin, and remark to yourself:
The garden needs help! I will help the plants.
You're touring a greenhouse full of strange plants. The tour guide stops at a small, orange flower with its bulb hanging down toward the floor. Your guide directs you to lean in and smell the flower, and you just barely notice them smirking before the smell hits you! Then you say:
The flower is super weird and smelly!
You and your sister wake up early for school, but you both feel awful- you must have gotten sick and it set in over night, oh no! But not to worry: your mom and dad tell you to stay in bed. Later, your sister asks if you're both gonna be okay, and you tell her:
Mom and dad are gonna make you and I better!
You and your dad are looking through an old family photo album. As you look through the album, you see yourself and your brother as babies, and lots of old pictures of your mom and dad! Later, your brother asks what you got up to this afternoon, and you say excitedly:
I looked at me, and you, and mom, and dad!
You've been holed up in your home for a few days, stressfully cleaning and doing other chores as a work deadline looms. Your roommate notices your stress, and invites you along on a walk to relax, saying:
Walking helps you, and is important!
You're wandering around a festival, enjoying the sights and crafts work. You can smell smoke, but you expect it's outdoor cooking- until somebody runs past you, yelling:
Somebody has fire, and burnt the garden!!
In an old building decorated with whimsical artifacts and stacks of strange old books, you sit among a vast audience, overlooking a magician's display. An old man stands center stage, demonstrating his act: a person enters one door, and the very same instant, exits another door on the opposite side of the stage! With booming theatrical tone, he explains:
The magic moves you, and confuses you!
moku li suli e sina
pona li wawa e kulupu
jan li pilin e kasi
jan li pilin e lipu
sona li ante e jan
pana li pona e jan
sina jaki e lipu
mi lukin e jaki
mi lukin e pakala
mi pali e seli
jan li kute e ante
sina jo e lukin
sina pakala e kasi
sina ike e kasi
sina ko e telo! telo li ko
sina jaki e telo. telo li jaki
The following use "and." Remember how multiple e works, and multiple li too!
mi suwi e moku e telo
mi ko e moku e telo
Don't worry that the detail of "batter" and "drinks" are lost. If you got close to this translation, you're fine!
mi wile e lipu e telo
jan li sona e pilin e ante.
kute li ante e jan e kasi
jan li pakala e kasi e kiwen!
jaki li pakala e musi e lipu
jan li lukin e kulupu, li pana e lipu
wile li pona e sina li ike e sina
wile li pona li ike e sina
Toki Pona sentences now look like this:
[subject] (li) [predicate] (e [object])
Parentheses indicate something which is optional or conditional, and brackets are stand-ins for words as before.
Breaking it down, we can talk about what the speaker and listener do, or what describes the speaker/listener:
[mi/sina] [predicate]
We can talk about what other things do or are like:
[subject] li [predicate]
We can now talk about what the speaker and listener do to other things.
[mi/sina] [predicate] e [object]
And the same goes for what third person things do to other third person things, including themselves!
[subject] li [predicate] e [object]
The list of particles we know has grown to include e! Every other new word is a content word.
Try remembering the words with this game by James Moulang! Getting ahead of the lessons on words will help!