Check out the video lesson too!
Table of Contents
Words to Know
Word | Definition | Writing |
---|---|---|
mi mi | I, me, myself, we, mine, ours | Left hand thumb pointing at yourself, other fingers closed |
sina sina | you, yourself, yours, y’all, y’all’s | Right hand index finger pointing away from you |
toki toki | talk, say, conversation, language, hello | Circle with 3 lines (“emitters”) above like sound from a mouth |
pona pona | good, simple, easy, fix, repair, help | Friendly smile |
ike ike | bad, difficult, complex, challenging | Sad frown |
jan jan | person, people, someone, anyone | Person’s head and shoulders |
moku moku | food, eat | Hand outline with thumb and extended fingers, mouth on top |
musi musi | fun, entertaining, artistic, playful | A very wide smile with cheeks circled |
suli suli | big, important, tall, wide | Big “V” shape. Sometimes the sides curve out! |
lili lili | small, miniature, tiny, few, young | Tiny “v” shape |
lape lape | rest, sleep | Person laying on their side, their head to the right |
mama mama | parent, guardian, ancestor, caretaker | Oval with small oval below, like a baby critter under its parent |
tawa tawa | move, go, travel | Pair of legs walking to the right |
As you’re learning, it may seem daunting to learn a brand new writing system and all the words in it. Fortunately, all the glyphs naturally represent the ideas of the word they mean. To help, the “writing” description explains what each glyph represents, and how you can think about each word to help you remember it!
Check out this dictionary! If you ever get lost, set “core words” and “widespread words” then search for what you need.
Overview
You and I
The most basic Toki Pona sentence has two parts: a subject phrase and a predicate phrase.
[subject] [predicate]
For this kind of sentence, two subjects are possible
- mi - First person pronoun. I, me, my, mine, we, our, myself, ourselves
- sina - Second person pronoun. You, yours, yourself, y’all, y’all’s
So the Toki Pona sentence always looks like this:
[mi/sina] [predicate]
The English interpretation looks like this for mi:
I am [description]
I [action]
We are [description]
We [action]
And this for sina:
You are [description]
You [action]
Y’all are [description]
Y’all [action]
The words in the predicate describe the speaker or listener, or what the speaker or listener is doing. For example:
mi jan
Since jan (person/people) doesn’t obviously imply an action, it is reasonable to call it a description here. This sentence means “I am a person” or “We are people.”
mi is the subject, and refers to the speaker. jan is the predicate, and is either an action or description of the speaker. Check under the spoiler for an explanation and interpretation!
sina moku
Because moku (food/eat) could be either a description or an action, this sentence could be “You eat” or “You are food.”
Importantly, “You eat” is much more likely and common than “You are food.” A sentence should be reasonable when you interpret it!
sina is the subject, and refers to the listener. moku is the predicate, and is either an action or description of the listener.
Hello and Goodbye
In Toki Pona, there is no specific word for “hello” or for “goodbye.”
Instead, “hello” is part of the word toki. It covers every kind of greeting!
toki
- Hello!
- Good morning!
- Hi!
- Hey!
And saying “goodbye” is to describe how you’re leaving, by moving!
mi tawa
- I’m leaving
- I’m going
- I’m traveling
- I’m walking
- I’m moving
This is the most common way to say “goodbye” in Toki Pona.
Exercises
Translation is inexact! Toki Pona words have broad meanings, so answers are a list of possibilities, not comprehensive.
Try to figure out what these statements mean in English! All answers are under the spoiler. The first statement will be an in-context interpretation. The rest will be examples of what the sentence could mean, regardless of context.
All Toki Pona to English exercises will include a situation as context for the statement. Language lives in context, and Toki Pona is no exception. Knowing what is going on will help you understand the statement, and will improve your learning.
Toki Pona to English
mi
You’re about to go up to the podium on stage and give a speech. Before stepping on stage, you say to an attendent:
mi toki
I will be speaking next!
- I speak.
- I talk.
- I converse.
- I am language.
- I am a conversation.
- We speak.
- We are languages.
You’re sitting at a table in a restaurant enjoying dinner, but receive a phone call from a friend. They ask what you’re doing, and you say:
mi moku
I’m eating dinner!
- I eat.
- I drink.
- I am edible.
- We eat.
- We drink.
- We consume.
A sharply-dressed fellow has gotten home from a routine doctor’s appointment. His partner asks how he’s feeling, and he says:
mi pona
I’m healthy!
- I am good.
- I am well.
- I am helpful.
- I am simple.
- We are good.
- We are healthy.
You’re talking to somebody on voice chat. Of course, on voice chat, nobody knows that you’re a bear. But you need to cover your tracks, so to convince the other people you’re talking to, you say:
mi jan
I’m human!
- I am somebody.
- I am a person.
- We are people.
- We are persons.
- We are somebodies.
A small child is reaching up to the top of the counter, stretching their best to reach a pack of cookies sitting there. The kid can’t quite reach, so they sit down next to the counter and huff:
mi lili
I’m short.
- I am small.
- I am young.
- We are small.
- We are few.
A couple come home to visit one partner’s parents, with big news about their family now being bigger! Excitedly, they say:
mi mama
We’re having a child! / We’re parents!
- I am a parent.
- I am a mother.
- We are fathers.
- We are guardians.
- We are caretakers.
It’s close to bed time. You walk down the hall toward your room, pausing at your parents’ door to say:
mi lape
I’m going to bed.
- I am resting.
- I am sleeping.
- I am napping.
- I rest.
- We are sleeping.
- We sleep.
sina
Your friend tells you a great joke. You don’t laugh, but you still found it funny, so you tell them:
sina musi
You’re funny!
- You are fun.
- You are amusing.
- You are entertaining.
- You are amused.
You walk past your roommate’s door, seeing it barely cracked open. Wondering what they’re up to, you open the door and find they are eating your snacks! You exclaim:
sina moku
You’re eating!
- You eat.
- You drink.
- You are food.
- Y’all are consuming.
A customer in a convenience store has been demanding and unreasonable with the clerk for several minutes, to the discomfort of every other customer in the store. Finally, a customer finds their courage and stands up to the person, saying:
sina ike
You’re rude!
- You are bad.
- You are cruel
- You are difficult.
- Y’all are complex.
- Y’all are upsetting.
A tall woman in a business suit is waiting at a bus station. A parent and child are standing beside her, and the child looks up at the woman and says:
sina suli
You’re tall!
- You are tall.
- You are huge.
- You are important.
- Y’all are a big deal.
Hello and Goodbye
A group of students are sitting in their seats, boredly poking at their phones or doodling in their textbooks, waiting for class to start. The teacher walks in and says to everyone:
toki
Good morning!
- Hello!
- Hi!
- Good evening!
- (literally) Conversation is starting!
Several friends have been playing a board game for hours. When the game ends, they sit around joking together, until one realizes it’s time for them to go home. They say:
mi tawa
I’m going!
- I’m traveling
- I’m moving
- I’m walking
- I’m running
- (non-literally) Goodbye!
English to Toki Pona
No context is given so these translations are simpler. This means the translation will be literal but easier to figure out.
No category is given to not spoil the answer!
I’m eating.
mi moku
I’m tall.
mi suli
I’m leaving!
mi tawa
You’re friendly.
sina pona
You’re funny.
sina musi
Hello!
toki
I’m having a conversation.
mi toki
We’ll sleep.
mi lape
You’re important.
sina suli
You’re young.
sina lili
Takeaway
There are many given definitions and sentence interpretations. This is intended! And it comes from two different effects:
Action/Description Duality
As noted before, words in the predicate may be actions, descriptions, or both! In fact, often if something is an action, it is also a description. In English, you might say that if a person walks, they are also a walking person. Toki Pona runs with this idea. There is no difference between “doing” and “being” expressed by the grammar.
Broadness
Toki Pona words have broad meanings. mi does not refer to only yourself like “I” does. It can refer to a group including yourself like “we”, an action on yourself like “myself”, and something that belongs to you such as “mine” or “my”; all of these depend on context and place in a sentence. sina works the same way, and so do all Toki Pona words.
In short, words do not mark number! jan may talk about one person, four people, everyone in a city, and more.
Words do not mark time either! moku may talk about eating right now, eating in the near future, drinking in the distant past, becoming edible exactly a week from now, and anything else.
Broadness is part of the strength of Toki Pona. It is easier to navigate than you think! Context is everything, and understanding a sentence is much easier when you’re experiencing what it describes.
A helpful strategy for understanding a sentence with less context is to consider how reasonable it is. For example, mi moku is able to mean “we are food”, but it is more likely that mi is just the speaker, and moku is “eat”. You can use this thinking to reason about sentences in the future.
Hello and Goodbye
As in one of the examples, which is not a sentence, you can say toki on its own to mean “hello!”
Another one of the examples is a sentence, and is the most common way to say goodbye: mi tawa, “I am leaving!”
Don’t forget, you can toggle the glyphs back to familiar letters with the Toggle SP button!