mani - money, cash, savings, wealth; large domesticated animal
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
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. the preposition is appended to the end of the sentence, followed by a phrase.
subject li (predicate e object) preposition phrase
mi pali lon tomo moku
~ i work at a restaurant
the preposition can also be the predicate:
ona li lon tomo mi
~ they are at my house
prepositions can also be used as regular words:
tawa sina li musi
~ your movements are amusing
mani mute li lon tomo mani
~ there's lots of money at the bank
jan li tawa tomo sina
~ a person goes to your house
mi pali e ijo mute kepeken ilo
~ i make lots of things with tools
mi toki e pona sina tan ni · mi olin e sina
~ i say good things about you because i love you
mi tawa e tomo sina
~ i move your house
i'm trying to give you a flower
people remember how good you are because you keep reminding them
i wanna know the reasons
a lot of people need a car because their place of work is far away
the document of the people's wishes is at your place
mi lukin e ijo · ona li sama sina tawa lukin
ona li wile pana e mani tawa sina
tomo ni li wile e kasi pi kule mute
ijo li pali tan ike
waso li ken kama sona e ijo mute kepeken lipu