Answers to the excercises from the previous lesson:
toki ma to English:
jan lamo li kanti → The tall person is singing.
jan juna musi li kanti pona → The funny young man is singing well.
intawo mi li suli → My room is big.
jan utala suli li tanse wiki → The big soldier is dancing quickly.
English to toki ma:
This food is warm → moku ni li seli.
The soldier is young → jan utala li juna.
A fast song → kanti wiki.
This young doctor is a wise person → jan umojo juna ni li jan sona (be careful with the order of adjectives! It is usually the opposite as in English, even when they are stacked)
If the subject is who performs an action, and the verb is the action, the direct object is who suffers the action. In English it is usually identified because it comes after the verb; in toki ma, it is identified because it goes after the particle e. For example:
mi moku e suwi → I am eating candy
si lukin e ona → you are looking at them
jan ni li pona e kali → this person is fixing the car
ona li seli e moku → they are cooking the food
A sentence can have more than one direct object; in English we do this using "and", but it is not necessary in toki ma: you just repeat e before each one:
mi moku e suwi e kili e pan → I am eating candy, fruit and bread.
The indirect object is who receives the effect of the action. In toki ma there is no a specific particle for the indirect object but, as in many languages, the preposition "to", ki, is repurposed for this. It is better shown with examples:
mi pana e moku ki si → I am giving you the food
on li open e lupa ki mama on → he/she is opening the door for his/her mother/father
As with the direct object, you can repeat ki for every indirect object:
si pana e kali ki mina ki ona → you are giving the car to us and to them
The indirect object can go before or after the direct object:
mi kanti e kanti ki si → I am singing a song to you
mi kanti ki si e kanti → I am singing a song to you
Verbs can also be repeated as we repeat the objects, and the meaning is similar: we would translate it with "and" to English. To repeat them, we use the particle li before each one:
jan ni li kanti li tanse → this person is singing and dancing
If the subject is one of those that don't use li, in the second and following verbs (but not in the first!) we do use li:
mi kanti li tanse → I am singing and dancing
Direct or indirect objects go after the verb they are modifying:
mi seli e moku li moku e on→ I am cooking the food and I am eating it
Finally, subjects can also be repeated. In this case, the particle en is used before the second and following subjects. Note that once you are using en, you must use li, because now you don't have only one of the pronouns:
si en mi li moku → you and I are eating.
e, en, kali, ki, kili, lupa, mama, pan, pana, and suwi.
Practice what you have learned with the following sentences. The answers, in the next lesson:
toki ma to English:
mama mi li moku e kili.
jan lamo en jan juna li kanti li tanse.
mi pana ki si e kali mi.
mina lukin e jan kanti e jan tanse.
English to toki ma:
I am giving you and him candy and bread.
My father and I are singing a song.
This bathroom and this bedroom are big.
I am looking at the doctor and the soldier.