~sounds (lesson 0)~

toki pona has 14 letters in its alphabet:

a e i k j l m n o p s t u w

all the letters are pronounced like in the IPA. because of the small amount of letters, it's okay if your pronounciation isn't exactly identical to the IPA

for example /dogi bona/ and /toki pona/ are both valid pronounciations of *toki pona*

general guide to pronounciation

vowels

a - like a in father

e - like e in let

i - like ee in bee

o - like o in on

u - like oo in soon

consonants

most of the consonants are just like english, except j.

j is pronounced like y in english yellow

stress

you always stress the first syllable of every word.

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lesson 1 - answers

translate from toki pona to english

i'm cute

you're good

hello! i'm new

translate from english to toki pona

mi toki

mi sina

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lesson 1 - me and you

vocab

󱤴 mi - first-person pronoun (i, me, we, us)

󱥞 sina - second-person pronoun (you)

󱥦 suwi - sweet, fragrant; cute, innocent, adorable

󱥝 sin - new, fresh; additional, another, extra

󱥬 toki - communicate, say, speak, talk, use language, think; hello

󱥔 pona - good, positive, useful; friendly, peaceful; simple

lesson

~ sentences with mi or sina

the most basic sentence structure in toki pona:

mi/sina predicate

mi/sina is the subject of this sentence - the one who is doing or being

the predicate is what the subject is doing or being

~ notes

in toki pona, you don't capitalize the starts of sentences.

toki pona has no built-in tense or number.

~ examples

sina suwi - you are cute

mi toki - i/we talk/talked/are talking/are gonna talk

exercises

~ translate from toki pona to english

mi suwi + + - answer + i'm cute

+ + +

sina pona + + - answer + you're good

+ + +

toki! mi sin + + - answer + hi! i'm new

+ +

~ translate from english to toki pona

we're talking + + - answer + mi toki + + +

i'm you + + - answer + mi sina + +

~ answers page

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lesson 10 - a!

vocab

󱤤 lawa - head, mind; to control, direct, guide, lead, own, plan, regulate, rule

󱤟 kulupu - community, company, group, nation, society, tribe

󱤾 nasa - unusual, strange; silly; drunk, intoxicated

󱥾 tonsi - non-binary, gender-non-conforming

~ particle

󱤀 a - (emphasis, emotion, or confirmation)

lesson

~ a!

a is an emotion particle! you can put it after a word to intensify the word, put it after a sentence to intensify the sentence

put it on its own to indicate something like ah, oh!, or some other emotion sound

often more than three a's indicates laughter

~ examples

a a a - hahaha

a, sina sona pona - ah, you know well

exercises

~ repetition

+ + - answer + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

~ translate from toki pona to english

+ + - answer + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

~ translate from english to toki pona

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

~ answers page

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lesson 11 - questions?

vocab

󱤺 mun - moon, night sky object, star

󱤆 ante - different, altered, changed, other

󱥠 sitelen - image, picture, representation, symbol, mark, writing

󱥓 poki - container, bag, bowl, box, cup, cupboard, drawer, vessel

󱥈 pakala - botched, broken, damaged, harmed, messed up

󱤓 jo - to have, carry, contain, hold

󱥥 supa - horizontal surface, thing to put or rest something on

~ question word

󱥙 seme - (indicates missing information in a question)

~ notes

jo is not the same as english's general to have

i have a lot of work != mi jo e pali mute

i have a lot of work = mi wile pali mute

lesson

there are two ways to ask yes/no questions, and one way to ask an open-ended one

~ verb ala verb

to ask yes or no questions, you repeat the first word in the predicate or preverb by saying word ala word

to answer a question like this you repeat the word for yes, and say ala or word ala for no.

sina wile ala wile pali? - do you want to work?
+ wile / ala - yes / no

jan ni li suwi ala suwi tawa sina? - is this person cute in your opinion?
+ suwi / suwi ala - yes / no

~ anu seme?

you can also form yes/no questions by appending "anu seme?" to the end. (lesson 12 will cover the word anu)

they are answered the same way as verb ala verb questions, by either repeating the word, or saying ala.

if you're unsure of which word to repeat, you could also just say a sentence

sina moku anu seme? - do you eat?
+ moku / ala - yes / no

ona li jan poka sina anu seme? - are they your friend?
+ ona li jan poka mi - they are my friend

~ open-ended questions

open-ended questions are formed by making a normal sentence and putting the word seme where the missing information would go.

if you have phrased the question correctly, the responder should be able to replace the word seme with the answer.

sina seme? - what are you doing? / who are you?
+ mi pakala e ijo / mi soweli Tesa - i break things / i'm tess

seme li lon supa? - what's on the table?
+ len jaki - dirty clothes

soweli Sijala li lon seme? - where is tiara?
+ ona li lon insa pi poki kala! - she is inside the aquarium!

exercises

~ repetition

+ + - answer + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

~ translate from toki pona to english

+ + - answer + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

~ translate from english to toki pona

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

~ answers page

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lesson 2 - answers

translate from toki pona to english

they're a bird

people are playing

translate from english to toki pona

ike li ike

suwi li pona

musi li pona

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lesson 2 - the particle li

vocab

󱥆 ona - third-person pronoun (he/she/it/they)

󱤻 musi - artistic, entertaining, frivolous, playful, recreation

󱤑 jan - human being, person

󱤍 ike - bad, negative; non-essential, irrelevant

󱥢 soweli - animal, beast, land mammal

󱥴 waso - bird, flying creature, winged animal

~ particle

󱤧 li - marks the predicate

lesson

~ sentences without mi or sina

we covered sentences with only mi or sina as the subject, but for sentences with any other word as the subject, it's different

in this case, you use the particle li to introduce the predicate: +

subject li predicate

~ examples

ona li suwi - they are cute

waso li waso - birds are birds

exercises

~ translate from toki pona to english

ona li waso + + - answer + they're a bird +

+ +

jan li musi + + - answer + people are playing +

~ translate from english to toki pona

evil is bad + + - answer + ike li ike +

+ +

sweets are great + + - answer + suwi li pona +

+ +

i like movies + + - answer + musi li pona +

~ answers page

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lesson 3 - answers

translate from toki pona to english

many possibilities

the strong animal is not small

they're a bad person

i don't like when you're away (lit. your absence is bad)

this is not good

translate from english to toki pona

soweli lili li suwi mute

waso li ken

jan lili li weka

wawa mi li pona lili

jan mute li toki pona

jan lili weka li musi pona

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lesson 3 - modifiers

vocab

󱤨 lili - little, small, short; few; a bit; young

󱤼 mute - many, a lot, more, much, several, very; quantity

󱤂 ala - no, not, zero; nothing

󱥁 ni - that, this

󱥵 wawa - strong, powerful; confident, sure, energetic, intense

󱥶 weka - absent, away, ignored

󱤘 ken - be allowed to, can, may; possible

lesson

~ modifiers

modifiers go after the word they're modifying

soweli lili - small animal

to do possessive, you modify the word with a pronoun

soweli lili mi - my small animal

~ notes

keep in mind that if you modify mi or sina, you need to use li afterwards

mi mute li wawa - we are strong

(remember - number rarely needs to be specified, so this could just be "mi wawa" instead)

exercises

~ translate from toki pona to english

ken mute + + - answer + many possibilities +

+ +

soweli wawa li lili ala! + + - answer + the strong animal is not small! + +

+ +

ona li jan ike + + - answer + they're a bad person + +

+ +

weka sina li ike + + - answer + i don't like when you're away (lit. your absense is bad) + +

+ +

ni li pona ala + + - answer + this is not good + +

~ translate from english to toki pona

small animals are really cute! + + - answer + soweli lili li suwi mute! + +

+ +

bats are capable + + - answer + waso li ken + +

+ +

the children are gone + + - answer + jan lili li weka + +

+ +

my strength is okay + + - answer + wawa mi li pona lili + +

+ +

lots of people speak toki pona + + - answer + jan mute li toki pona + +

+ +

the children, who are away, are playing nicely + + - answer + jan lili weka li musi pona + +

~ answers page

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lesson 3 - answers

repetition

it's very colourful

colourful drinks are tasty

tomo moku ni li pona

jan olin li moku

translate from toki pona to english

i love you

an evil person is staring at my food

the confident bird ate a bug that built a house

many workers painted the restaurant

i eat your food again

translate from english to toki pona

mi lukin e ni: sina suwi. / sina suwi. mi lukin e ni.

soweli li moku

mi musi e jan pali

olin mi li pona e mi

mi ken e ni: sina moku e moku mi / sina moku e moku mi. mi ken e ni.

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lesson 4 - objects eh?

vocab

󱤮 lukin - eye; look at, see, examine, observe, read, watch; look for, seek

󱤞 kule - colourful, pigmented, painted

󱥉 pali - do, take action on, work on; build make, prepare

󱥭 tomo - indoor space; building, home, house, room

󱥪 telo - water, liquid, fluid, wet substance; beverage

󱤶 moku - to eat, drink, consume, swallow, ingest

󱥅 olin - love, have compassion for, respect, show affection to

~ particles

󱤉 e - marks the direct object

~ notes

pali is not a general do like in english. every word in toki pona has the act of doing built into it when used as a verb.

i did this - mi ni,
+ not mi pali e ni

lesson

~ direct objects

you use the particle e to indicate who is being affected by the subject's action (the predicate)

subject li predicate e direct object +

jan li pali e tomo - the people are building a house

~ complex ideas

when you want to express more complex ideas, you should often split it up into several sentences.

i saw the person who's building the house -
mi lukin e jan. ona li pali e tomo.
(i saw a person. they were building a house.)

you can also use the word ni to refer to an idea from a previous sentence, or to indicate you will elaborate on an idea in a future sentence. you can also use the word ona similarly, but for words instead of ideas.

~ note about punctuation

toki pona has no defined punctuation. anything is valid

often, when using ni to refer to an idea in the next sentence, people use a colon, but the colon doesn't add any semantic meaning and it would be okay to use a period or a line break or anything else too.

exercises

~ repetition

ona li kule mute + + - answer + it's very colourful +

+ +

telo kule li pona + + - answer + colourful drinks are tasty + +

+ +

i like this restaurant + + - answer + tomo moku ni li pona + +

+ +

the lovers are eating + + - answer + jan olin li moku + +

~ translate from toki pona to english

mi olin e sina + + - answer + i love you +

+ +

jan ike li lukin e moku mi + + - answer + an evil person is staring at my food + +

+ +

waso wawa li moku e pipi ni: ona li pali e tomo lili + + - answer + the confident bird ate the bug that built a small house + +

+ +

jan pali mute li kule e tomo moku + + - answer + many workers painted the restaurant + +

+ +

mi moku sin e moku sina + + - answer + i eat your food again + +

~ translate from english to toki pona

i see that you're cute + + - answer + mi lukin e ni: sina suwi / mi lukin e sina. sina suwi. + +

+ +

the animal is eating + + - answer + soweli li moku + +

+ +

i'm entertaining the workers + + - answer + mi musi e jan pali + +

+ +

my girlfriend makes me good + + - answer + olin mi li pona e mi + +

+ +

i allow you to eat my food + + - answer + mi ken e ni: sina moku e moku mi / sina moku e moku mi. mi ken e ni. + +

+ +

~ answers page

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lesson 5 - answers

one for each preverb

i try to build good tools

they wanna eat bugs

people learn to speak toki pona

birds know how to be birds

the cute bird still wants a bug

animals can eat you 😱

repetition

mi awen e sina

the person brings food

ilo ni li wawa e pipi

i wish that you see good bugs

translate from toki pona to english

we can stay strong

their absence empowers the people

tools can't kill

the bat is making a phone (lit. communication device)

people make me want to remain an animal

translate from english to toki pona

mi wile kama sona toki pona / mi wile kama sona e toki pona

mi ken ala lukin e ni

pona sina li ken pona e tomo kule

mi lukin e ni: sina pona e tomo mi / sina pona e tomo mi. mi lukin e ni.

mi lukin lukin e ilo lukin mi

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lesson 5 - preverbs

vocab

󱥑 pipi - bug, insect, ant, spider

󱤷 moli - dead, dying

󱤎 ilo - tool, implement, machine, device

~ preverbs

󱤖 kama - arriving, coming, future, summoned; (pv.) to become, manage, to, succeed in

󱥷 wile - must, need, require, should, want, wish; (pv.) to want to, to need to

󱤈 awen - enduring, kept, protected, safe, waiting, staying; (pv.) to continue to, to keep

󱥡 sona - know, be skilled in, be wise about, have information on; (pv.) to know how to

󱤘 ken - be allowed to, can, may; possible; (pv.) to be able to

󱤮 lukin - eye; look at, see, examine, observe, read, watch; look for, seek; (pv.) try to

~ notes

words have different meanings when used as preverbs and otherwise. the preverb meaning of a word is marked with (pv.)

there are two words you already know on this list, ken and lukin, but their preverb meanings are new.

lesson

~ preverbs

preverbs go before the predicate and modify it.

they can be negated by the word ala, and otherwise you can't modify preverbs.you can also use multiple preverbs at once

subject li preverb predicate (e object) +

~ examples

mi ken ala moli e pipi - i can't kill the bug

jan li wile ala moku e pipi - people don't wanna eat bugs

sina ken kama pona - you can become good +

exercises

~ one for each preverb

mi lukin pali e ilo pona + + - answer + i try to build good tools +

+ +

ona li wile moku e pipi + + - answer + they wanna eat bugs + +

+ +

jan li kama sona toki pona + + - answer + people learn to speak toki pona + +

+ +

waso li sona waso + + - answer + birds know how to be birds + +

waso suwi li awen wile e pipi + + - answer + the cute bird still wants a bug + +

soweli li ken moku e sina 😱 + + - answer + animals can eat you 😱 + +

~ repetition

i am protecting you + + - answer + mi awen e sina +

+ +

jan li kama e moku + + - answer + the person brings food + +

+ +

this tool strengthens the bugs + + - answer + ilo ni li wawa e pipi + +

+ +

mi wile e ni: sina lukin e pipi pona + + - answer + i wish that you see good bugs + +

~ translate from toki pona to english

mi ken awen wawa + + - answer + we can stay strong +

+ +

weka ona li wawa e jan mute + + - answer + their absence empowers the people + +

+ +

ilo li ken ala moli + + - answer + tools can't kill + +

+ +

waso li pali e ilo toki + + - answer + the bat is making a phone (lit. communication device) + +

+ +

jan li pali e ni: mi wile awen soweli + + - answer + people make me want to remain an animal + +

~ translate from english to toki pona

i wanna learn toki pona + + - answer + mi wile kama sona (e) toki pona + +

+ +

i can't see that + + - answer + mi ken ala lukin e ni + +

+ +

your goodness can fix the colourful house + + - answer + pona sina li ken pona e tomo mute + +

+ +

i saw that you fixed our house + + - answer + mi lukin e ni: sina pona e tomo mi / sina pona e tomo mi. mi lukin e ni + +

+ +

i'm trying to see my glasses + + - answer + mi lukin lukin e ilo lukin mi + +

+ +

~ answers page

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lesson 5 - story

chef 󱤑󱤶

i'm a worker. my place of work is a restaurant. a lot of people call me a chef.

i make a lot of food. people eat it. they say bad things about the food

the restaurant doesn't let me work well. they want a lot of work, not good work.

i want people to know how good i am! i can make good food!

some people see me. they say "you're staring at me. i want you to go away!"

i go away. the people make me feel bad. i don't want to be a chef. i don't want to make food. people don't know how good i am

i look at a colourful room. i look at the colourful room a lot. it's nice looking.

a person speaks. "this room really makes you better!"

"it makes me feel better. people say bad things about mi. this room doesn't." +

"these bad people are small. what they have to say is small. i knowledgeable say that you're good."

"you don't know that! you don't know me!"

"i don't know you. i know your work. i eat your food a lot. it fixes me. a lot of people want a lot of work from me. your food strengthens me. this strength makes me able to do the work these people desire."

"what you said made me feel a lot better!!"

what the person said filled me with confidence. i was reminded that i can make good food!

a lot of people eat my good food. they can see i'm the one who makes the food. i know how to be confident. i work confidently. they know my strength. they know my goodness.

i still remember what the person said. it still empowers me

i'm a worker. my place of work is my restaurant!

toki pona version

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lesson 5 - story

jan moku 󱤑󱤶

mi jan pali. tomo pali mi li tomo moku. jan mute li toki e ni: mi jan moku.

mi pali e moku mute. jan li moku e ona. ona li toki e ike moku.

tomo moku li ken ala e pali pona mi. ona li wile e pali mute. ona li wile e pali pona ala.

wile mi li ni: jan li sona e pona mi! mi ken pali e moku pona!

jan li lukin e mi. ona li toki e ni: "sina lukin ike e mi. mi wile e ni: sina weka!"

mi weka. jan li ike e mi. mi wile ala jan moku. mi wile ala pali e moku. jan li sona ala e pona mi.

mi lukin e tomo kule. mi lukin mute e tomo kule. ona li pona lukin.

jan li toki. "tomo ni li pona mute e sina!"

"ona li pona e mi. jan li toki e ike mi. tomo ni li ni ala."

"jan ike ni li lili. toki ona li lili. mi toki sona e ni: sina pona"

"sina sona ala e ni! sina sona ala e mi!"

"mi sona ala e sina. mi sona e pali sina. mi moku mute e moku sina. ona li pona e mi. jan mute li wile e pali mute mi. moku sina li wawa e mi. wawa ni li pali e ni: mi ken pali e wile jan.

"toki sina li pona mute e mi!!"

toki jan li wawa e mi. mi kama sona sin e ni: mi ken pali e moku pona!

jan mute li moku e moku pona mi. ona li lukin e ni: mi pali e moku. mi sona wawa. mi pali wawa. ona li sona e wawa mi. ona li sona e pona mi.

mi awen sona e toki jan. toki ni li awen wawa e mi.

mi jan pali pona. tomo pali mi li tomo moku mi!

english version

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lesson 6 - the particle pi

vocab

󱤄 ale - all; abundant, countless, bountiful, every, plentiful; abundance, everything, life, universe

󱥐 pini - ago, completed, ended, finished, past

󱤪 lipu - flat object; book, document, card, paper, record, website

󱤔 kala - fish, marine animal, sea creature

󱤌 ijo - thing, phenomenon, object, matter

󱥌 pana - give, send, emit, provide, put, release

󱤗 kasi - plant, vegetation; herb, leaf

~ particles

󱥍 pi - regroups modifiers

~ notes

ijo is the most generic word. it can stand in as a placeholder for anything.

lesson

~ the particle pi

pi is a really useful particle that regroups modifiers.

normally, each modifier modifies the sum of all its previous words in the phrase. the particle pi creates a second phrase which modifies the first phrase.

ijo pona mute - many good things
+ ijo pi pona mute - very good thing

in the first example, mute modifies ijo pona, while in the second example, pona mute modifies ijo +

~ notes

when i say phrase, i mean a collection of a headnoun + modifiers, like "jan" or "ilo moku"

a phrase with pi in it consists of two smaller phrases.

~ examples

mi toki e ijo pi pona mute - i talk about very good things

mi toki e ijo pona mute - i talk about many good things

mi toki e ijo mute pi pona mute - i talk about many very good things

exercises

~ repetition

jan ale li kama kala + + - answer + all the people are turning into fish +

+ +

kasi telo li ken moku + + - answer + seaweed is edible + +

+ +

my friend who knows how to build houses is giving out documents about building + + - answer + jan pona mi ni li pana e lipu pali: ona li sona pali e tomo + +

+ +

something is making everything become something + + - answer + ijo li pali e ni: ijo ale li kama ijo + +

+ +

nothing can fix everything + + - answer + (ijo) ala li ken pona e (ijo) ale + +

~ translate from toki pona to english

soweli li pana e lipu pi sona mute + + - answer + the animal is handing out documents with lots of knowledge +

+ +

jan pi sona kala li sona e ni: kala li ken moku e jan + + - answer + the marine biologist knows that fish can eat people + +

+ +

ona li waso pi suwi mute + + - answer + they're a really cute bat + +

+ +

jan sin pi mute pona li kama + + - answer + a good amount of new people are coming + +

~ translate from english to toki pona

i'm reading the book of evil knowledge + + - answer + mi lukin e lipu pi sona ike + +

+ +

the bugs built a little bug cemetery + + - answer + pipi li pali e tomo lili pi pipi moli + +

+ +

the absence of my partner makes everything bad + + - answer + weka pi olin mi li ike e ale + +

+ +

people who are very far away are trying to eat my fish + + - answer + jan pi weka mute li lukin moku e kala mi + +

+ +

~ answers page

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lesson 7 - prepositions

vocab

󱤲 mani - money, cash, savings, wealth; large domesticated animal

~ particles

󱤬 lon - located at, present at, real, true, existing

󱥩 tawa - going to, toward; for; from the perspective of; moving

󱥧 tan - by, from, because of; origin, cause

󱥖 sama - same, similar; each other; sibling, peer, fellow; as, like

󱤙 kepeken - to use, with, by means of

lesson

~ prepositions

lon, tawa, tan, sama, and kepeken are prepositions.

prepositions are used to express specific details about the predicate, like how or where. just like preverbs, prepositions can be negated by the word ala.

mi pali lon tomo moku - i work at a restaurant

the preposition can also be the predicate

ona li lon tomo mi - they're at my house

prepositions can also be used as regular words

tawa sina li musi - your movements are amusing

~ examples

mani mute li lon tomo mani - there's lots of money at the bank

jan li tawa tomo sina - a person comes over to your house

mi pali e ijo mute kepeken ilo - i make lots of things with tools

mi tawa e tomo sina - i move your house

exercises

~ repetition

jan mute li wile e ilo + + - answer + a lot of people need a car +

+ +

mi wile sona e tan + + - answer + i wanna know the reasons + +

+ +

i want a really colourful flower + + - answer + mi wile e kasi pi kule mute! + +

~ translate from toki pona to english

mi lukin pana e kasi tawa sina + + - answer + i'm trying to give you a flower +

+ +

jan li awen sona e pona ona tan ni: sina toki e pona ona tawa ona + + - answer + people remember how good you are because you tell them how good they are + +

+ +

lipu pi wile jan li lon tomo sina + + - answer + the document of the people's wishes is at your place + +

+ +

jan li pali e moku pona tan soweli lili + + - answer + someone makes good food because of a small animal (this is intended to be a ratatouille reference but it is very easily misread as something else) + +

~ translate from english to toki pona

i saw someone who looked just like you + + - answer + mi lukin e jan. ona li sama sina tawa lukin + +

+ +

i wanna give you money + + - answer + mi wile pana e mani tawa sina + +

+ +

people work for bad reasons + + - answer + jan li pali tan tan ike + +

+ +

i can learn a lot of things with books + + - answer + mi ken kama sona e ijo mute kepeken lipu + +

+ +

~ answers page

navigation

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lesson 8 - locative and temporal statements

vocab

~ temporal

󱥫 tenpo - time, duration, moment, occasion, period, situation +

~ locative

󱤅 anpa - bowing down, downward, humble, lowly, dependent; bottom, lower part, under, below, floor, beneath; low, lower, bottom, down

󱥒 poka - hip, side; next to, nearby, vicinity

󱤸 monsi - back, behind, rear

󱥟 sinpin - face, foremost, front, wall

󱥚 sewi - area above, highest part, something elevated; awe-inspiring, divine, sacred, supernatural

lesson

~ locative

to express relative location, use the locative words.

you can combine them with the preposition lon to say "at (place)

lon sewi - up, aboce

~ locative examples

jan li lon anpa tomo - people are under the house

waso li tawa lon sewi pi soweli sina - birds are flying above your house

~ temporal

to talk about the time, you can also use the preposition lon, and describe the time using the word tenpo

~ temporal examples

mi tawa sina lon tenpo kama - i go to you in the future

jan li pali lon tenpo ni - the person is working at that time

mi wile ala pali lon tenpo lon - i don't want to work right now

waso li tawa sewi lon tenpo ale - birds always move in the sky

exercises

~ repetition

+ + - answer + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

~ translate from toki pona to english

+ + - answer + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

~ translate from english to toki pona

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

~ answers page

navigation

+ prev 󱤖 + 󱤪 index 󱤪 + 󱥩 next +

lesson 9 - names

vocab

󱤱 mama - parent, ancestor; creator, originator; caretaker, sustainer

󱤰 ma - earth, land; outdoors, world; country, territory; soil

󱥂 nimi - name, word

󱤦 lete - cold, cool; uncooked, raw

󱥗 seli - fire; cooking element, chemical reaction, heat source

󱤥 len - cloth, clothing, fabric, textile; cover, layer of privacy

lesson

~ names

in toki pona, proper names are treated as adjectives, with a capitalized first letter. this means that you have to pick a word which describes what the thing is, and then modify that word with the name.

~ tokiponization

names in toki pona are "tokiponized," which means fitting the name into toki pona phonotactics. the general guidelines to tokiponization are the following:

use the local name and pronounciation
syllables consist of a consonant, then a vowel, then an optional n. the first consonant may be omitted.
d->t, b->p, r->w/l/k

tapped or trilled r becomes l
french/german r turns to k
english r turns to w

preserving syllable count is more important than preserving consonants
wu, wo, ji, and ti are illegal

wu becomes u, wo becomes o, ji becomes i, and ti becomes si

if you're tokiponizing your own name - don't be scared to break a rule or two if the resulting name makes you happier! it's your name and you can do whatever you want with it

~ note about inclusivity

people use lots of different headnouns in toki pona, depending on what word(s) they identify with more. for example, i use soweli as my headnoun!

keep this in mind when speaking toki pona!
+ for example, since not everyone is a jan, it doesn't make sense to translate "everyone" as "jan ale", instead you should translate it as something like "ijo ale" or just "ale"

basically - don't use jan if you're not actually sure you're referring to a jan!

~ examples

my name, tess, turns into soweli Tesa!
+ technically, my name should be Te, but the s in my name felt important to include, so it's Tesa instead!

my cat, tiara, is soweli Sijala!
+ the r in her name turns into an l because i tap my r's, and the ti turns into si.

a person named Elizabeth could be jan Elisape

exercises

~ repetition

+ + - answer + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

~ translate from toki pona to english

+ + - answer + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

~ translate from english to toki pona

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

+ + - answer + + +

+ +

~ answers page

navigation

+ prev 󱤖 + 󱤪 index 󱤪 + 󱥩 next +

lipu sona mi pi toki pona

hi! welcome to my toki pona course!

i first made this course to teach my girlfriend toki pona, because i disagree with other courses on many things and i didn't want to have to correct the courses while fae was going through them.

(the other courses are great, but i just have my personal disagreements with certain methods they teach and certain teaching methods)

however, i put a lot of work into this course, so i figured i may as well also put it out online for anyone else to use!

i tried my best to do a good compromise between my personal style and the style of pu, and i think it should be a good starting point for anyone interested in learning toki pona. ultimately, it's up to you to form your own style after you're done with this course.

notes

this course will not make you fluent. no course out there will! toki pona may be minimalist, but it's still a complex language to learn. people spend several years before they even start considering themselves fluent, and you will probbaly be no different.

however, this course will give you a good understanding of all the important fundamentals of toki pona, so you can then go on to explore the language on your own.

the recommended way to use this course is to try your best to understand the grammar, do the exercises, and then move on to the next one when you feel comfortable with the grammar.

it's okay if you don't have all the vocabulary memorized yet, it'll come with practicing making and translating sentences

lesson 0 - sounds

general guide to pronounciation

vowels

consonants

stress

navigation

lesson 1 - answers

translate from toki pona to english

translate from english to toki pona

navigation

lesson 1 - me and you

vocab

lesson

~ sentences with mi or sina

~ notes

~ examples

exercises

~ translate from toki pona to english

~ translate from english to toki pona

navigation

lesson 10 - a!

vocab

~ particle

lesson

~ a!

~ examples

exercises

~ repetition

~ translate from toki pona to english

~ translate from english to toki pona

navigation

lesson 11 - questions?

vocab

~ question word

~ notes

lesson

~ verb ala verb

~ anu seme?

~ open-ended questions

exercises

~ repetition

~ translate from toki pona to english

~ translate from english to toki pona

navigation

lesson 2 - answers

translate from toki pona to english

translate from english to toki pona

navigation

lesson 2 - the particle li

vocab

~ particle

lesson

~ sentences without mi or sina

~ examples

exercises

~ translate from toki pona to english

~ translate from english to toki pona

navigation

lesson 3 - answers

translate from toki pona to english

translate from english to toki pona

navigation

lesson 3 - modifiers

vocab

lesson

~ modifiers

~ notes

exercises

~ translate from toki pona to english

~ translate from english to toki pona

navigation

lesson 3 - answers

repetition

translate from toki pona to english

translate from english to toki pona

navigation

lesson 4 - objects eh?

vocab

~ particles

~ notes