Answers to the excercises from the previous lesson:
toki ma to English:
mama pi jan sona le kama jo e kali pi loje laso → The scientist's mother has got a purple car.
mi sona e nimi pi jan ala in pajan pi mama mi → I don't know the name of anyone in my mother's/father's town.
nimi pi kasi kule ni li seme? → What is the name of this flower? (Flower? Well, yes; a colorful plant is probably a flower, isn't it? You have to start to think like a jan pi toki ma!)
akesi pi moku pipi li lon in tomo pi Maria en mi → An ant-eater lizard is inside Maria's and my house. (Ant? Lizard? Out of context, akesi is any reptile or amphibian, and pipi any bug. I just chose two common examples, but you may have chose others! A spider-eating frog, for example!)
English to toki ma:
Enter the red house very quickly → o tawa pi wiki mute ki insa pi tomo loje.
The young scientist has seen a pink bug → jan sona juna le lukin e pipi pi loje walo. (Did you guess that "young scientist" do not need a pi?)
Young people from every country are coming to this city → jan juna pi ma ali li kama ki pajan ni. (Remember, pi "breaks the chain of modifiers", but that doesn't mean it cannot have other modifiers before! ali modifies ma, juna modifies jan, and pi ma ali modifies jan juna)
I am hearing the sound of a lot of birds → mi kute e kalama pi waso mute.
la is one of the most important words in toki ma, but its definition is not very impressive: "between the context phrase and the main sentence". Context phrase and main sentence are more or less equivalent to what it is called topic (or theme) and comment (or rheme). The context is what is being talked about, and the comment, what is being said about the topic. In practice, there are two different ways to use the context.
In this case, the context gives some information about the whole sentence. It can be used to focus on one part of the sentence. Compare:
pata mi le esun e kali → My sibling has bought a car.
pata mi la on le esun e kali → About my sibling, he/she has bought a car.
kali la pata mi le esun e on → About cars, my sibling has bought one.
See the difference in meaning?
Another way to use it is to add information to the sentence. Remember how toki ma does not have tenses? You can specify when an action takes place using context:
tenpo ni la mi sitelen e lipu → (now/this time) I am writing a book
tenpo pini la mi sitelen e lipu → (in the past/finished time) I was writing a book
tenpo kama la mi sitelen e lipu → (in the future/time to come) I will be writing a book
You can use a lot of other time expressions in the context:
(tenpo) suno ni → today (lit. this sun)
(tenpo) suno kama → tomorrow
(tenpo) suno pini → yesterday
(tenpo) pimeja ni → tonight
(tenpo) mun ni → this month (lit. moon)
(tenpo pi) kama suno → morning
(tenpo pi) weka suno → evening (lit. time when the sun disappears)
tenpo pini lili → not long ago (lit. small finished time)
tenpo mute → many times
Remember that it is not necessary to mark the time in every sentence. If the context is not clear, use it; if not, don't worry, people will understand.
Last but not least (actually not last! You can use context for other things), you can use a word (usually a preverb) to add meaning to the sentence:
ken la mi tawa → Maybe I will go
wile la mi tawa → God willing(Inshallah/ójala) I will go
If the context is a complete sentence, it is understood as a conditional. In general, if (context) then (main sentence):
si kama la mi pali e moku ki si → If you come I will make you food
jan li moku e liko la ona li nasa → when people drink alcohol, they act weird.
Maria li tawa la si tawa ala tawa? → If Maria were to go, would you?
Nested la's are allowed, but they will probably cause ambiguities. If you feel that you need to use one, you are probably overcomplicating the sentence; stop a moment and think how to rewrite it without nested la's
Once you have understood la, ita is exactly the same, only backwards. If la was "between the context and the main sentence", ita is "between the main sentence and the context". Otherwise, they are exactly the same:
on le esun e kali ita pata mi → He/she has bought a car, my sibling.
mi sitelen e lipu ita tenpo pini → I was writing a book
mi tawa ita ken → Maybe I will go
mi pali e moku ki si ita si kama → I will make you food if you come
Same as with la, nesting ita's is complicated; the same about mixing la with ita.
You already know a lot of words indicating directions, but there are a few that yoy havent learned yet:
anpa → down
sewi → up
sinpin → front
monsi → back
jupa → right
soto → left
ositen → west
olente → east
note → north
sute → south
esun, ita, jupa, la, liko, lipu, mun, nasa, note, pini, sitelen, soto, sute, and weka.
Practice what you have learned with the following sentences. The answers, in the next lesson:
toki ma to English:
waso li tawa sute la tenpo seli li kama.
telo li weka ita si seli mute e on.
soweli la ona li pona lukin!
ken la ona li ken kama ki pajan.
English to toki ma:
I will buy a car next month.
The soldier, they are coming!
If you want to grow big, eat your veggies!
Look left and right before crossing the street.