Answers to the excercises from the previous lesson:
toki ma to English:
ona li lon in intawo si → They are in your room.
mi tawa tan tomo mi ki tomo si kan kali ni → I am going from my house to your house in this car.
mi wiki alen jan ale! → I'm faster than anyone!
jan in poka tomo li juna se mi → The person next to house is as young as me.
English to toki ma:
The man in your room is going to the door → jan in intawo si [or sina] li tawa ki supa.
He is going from his town to beyond this town → on li tawa ki pajan on alen pajan ni.
The soldier is faster than the doctor → jan utala li wiki alen jan umojo.
He is as tall as a house → on li lamo se tomo.
All negations are made with a single word: ala. You will learn a lot more of uses of this word, but for now it is going to work as a modifier (adjective or adverb) or as a noun. When used as an adjective, it means "no, not, none":
mi wawa ala → I am not strong
jan ala li kama → Nobody is coming (lit. no person comes)
kili ni ala li ike → None of these fruits is bad
When used as an adverb, it negates the verb:
mi powe ala → I am not lying
mi tawa ala ki tomo → I am not going home
As a noun, it means "nothing":
ala li lon in ni → There's nothing here (lit. nothing exists here)
mi kute e ala → I'm not hearing anything (=I am hearing nothing)
There are two different ways of making yes-no questions. The first one is the construction verb ala verb, "verb not verb". It may seem strange, but some languages, like Mandarin, ask questions in the same way. There is no need to write the question mark (and speaking, no need for a raising tone!), but it can be written for clarity:
si kanti ala kanti? → Are you singing? (think of it like "are you singing or aren't you singing?")
pata si li kama ala kama ki pajan? → Is your sibling coming to town?
The other word is adding the words "anu seme?" (literally, "or what?") to the end of the sentence:
si kanti anu seme? → Are you singing? (lit. are you singing or what?)
pata si li kama ki pajan anu seme? → Is your sibling coming to town?
Both can be used in "copulative sentences":
mi wiki ala wiki? → Am I fast?
mi wiki anu seme? → Am I fast?
To answer a yes-no question, there are several ways, too. One of them is to repeat the verb, maybe with ala after it to indicate a negative answer:
si wile? wile / wile ala → Do you want? Yes, I do / No, I don't
You can also use "lon" or "ala" respectively as positive or negative answers:
si wile? lon / ala → Do you want? Yes / No
The word oke can also be used:
si wile? oke → Do you want? OK
To ask any other kind of questions, you use the word seme. It can act as any type of word, usually a noun, but also as an adjective, and even as an adverb or a verb, but rarely; you just replace the word you want to ask about with it. In English you move the question word to the beginning of the sentence, but in toki ma the order doesn't change. And as with the yes-no questions, there is no need to write the question mark. For example:
seme li lon in ni? → What's in here?
si pali e seme? → What are you doing?
jan seme li tawa? → Who is going? (lit. what person is going?)
on li siten in seme? → Where does he sit? (lit. he sits in where?)
si toki ki seme? → Who are you talking to? (lit. you talk to who?)
suwi seme li pona ki si? → What candy do you like? (lit. what candy is good for you?)
pata si li kama tan pajan seme? → What city is your sibling from?
jan ulun li kanti tan seme? → Why is that person singing?
Sometimes it can be tricky. For example
si kama kan seme? → Who is coming with you? or What are you coming in? (lit. you are coming with what/who?)
In those cases, additional words may clarify:
si kama kan jan seme? → Who is coming with you?
si kama kan kali seme? → What are you coming in?
Last but not least, there is a special construction to ask "how" with the word nasin, that means a lot of things: way, custom, doctrine, path, road, and method, which is the one interesting to us now:
si pali e ni kan nasin seme? → How are you making this? (lit. you are making this with which method?)
ala, anu, ike, kute, nasin, oke, pali, pata, powe, seme, siten, toki, ulun, and wawa.
Practice what you have learned with the following sentences. The answers, in the next lesson:
toki ma to English:
mi kanti ala.
jan ala li tanse in ni.
si kama ala kama? kama.
on li pali e seme?
English to toki ma:
I dont want this food.
Who's there?
Is the soldier tall?
What do you like more than candy?