Embedded Files
Answers to the excercises from the previous lesson:
toki ma to English:
mama mi li moku e kili → My father/mother is eating fruit.
jan lamo en jan juna li kanti li tanse → The tall person and the young person are singing and dancing.
mi pana ki si e kali mi → I am giving you my car.
mina lukin e jan kanti e jan tanse → We are watching the singer(s) and the dancer(s).
English to toki ma:
I am giving you and him candy and bread → mi pana ki si ki on e suwi e pan or mi pana e suwi e pan ki si ki on.
My father and I are singing a song → mama mi en mi li kanti e kanti.
This bathroom and this bedroom are big → intawo telo ni en intawo lape ni li suli.
I am looking at the doctor and the soldier → mi lukin ki jan umojo ki jan utala.
Prepositions of place and motion
Prepositions of place and motion
There are four prepositions of this kind in toki ma. They are summarized in this drawing:
All prepositions work in a similar fashion; the preposition is followed by a noun and (optionally) complements. If you come from toki pona, prepositions is one of the major differences between them; in toki pona they can also be used as nouns, verbs or adjectives; this can cause ambiguities, so in toki ma they are a closed class.
in
This is the only preposition that indicates place. By itself, its meaning is similar to English "in, at, on":
mi moku in intawo mi → I am eating in my room
jan in intawo ni li kanti → the man in this room is singing
mi lon in pajan si → I am in your town
Other English prepositions can be constructed with a few other (non preposition) words combined with in, making combinations like "in top of", "in the back of", etc:
in sewi lupa → over the door (lit. in the top of the door)
in monsi tomo → behind the house (lit. in the back of the house)
in ositen pajan → in the west of the city
Notice that the word after in is a noun, with the following being a complement. This is important, because stacking other complements can give unexpected results:
in monsi tomo ni → in this back of the house (not "in the back of this house"!)
You will have to wait until you learn about the word pi to translate this kind of sentences.
The following image is not exhaustive, but gives you an idea (leko means cube).
ki
We have already seen this preposition used to mark the indirect object. But it means more than that: "to, toward, for, from the perspective of". So it means, literally or metaphorically, "movement towards" (including, as metaphor, "perspective"):
mi tawa ki intawo si → I am going to your room
on li moku ki tenpo ni → he/she was eating until now (=this time)
suwi li pona ki mi → I like candy (literally, candy is good to me)
Same as with in, variations of the preposition can be built:
mi tawa ki insa tomo → I am going inside the house
tan
This one is kind of the opposite of ki. It means "by, from, because of, since"; so, literally or metaphorically, "movement from" (including, as a metaphor, "cause"):
mi kama tan tomo si → I am coming from your house
sina tanse tan tenpo ni → you (all) are going to dance from now on
mi moku tan ni → I am eating because of this
And as in and ki, it can be compounded:
tan sinpin tomo → from the front of the house
alen
The last of the motion prepositions, it means, literally or metaphorically, "beyond"; that is, movement from before to after:
mi tawa alen tomo si → I am going beyond your house
ni li lon alen sona mi → this is beyond my knowledge
It is also used to create comparatives and superlatives:
kili li pona alen suwi → fruit is better than candy (lit. fruit is good beyond candy)
jan ni li lamo alen ali → this person is the tallest (lit. this person is tall beyond all)
Other prepositions
Other prepositions
There are two prepositions more that do not express place nor motion: kan and se:
kan
This one express "with, among, in the company of, with the help of, with use of":
mi tawa ki pajan si kan kali mi → I am going to your city in [=with] my car
mi tawa ki pajan si kan si → I am going to your city with you [=in your company]
mi moku e telo kan tiwata ni → I am drinking water with this glass
se
Lastly, se means "as, like":
mi tanse se jan tanse → I am dancing like a dancer
on li lukin se jan utala → he/she looks like a soldier
It can also express the comparative of equality:
kili li pona sa suwi → fruit is as good as candy
Words you have learned in this lesson
Words you have learned in this lesson
alen, anpa, in, insa, kama, kan, leko, lon, monsi, ositen, pajan, poka, se, sewi, sinpin, tan, tawa, tenpo, tiwata, and tomo.
Exercises
Exercises
Practice what you have learned with the following sentences. The answers, in the next lesson:
toki ma to English:
ona li lon in intawo si.
mi tawa tan tomo mi ki tomo si kan kali ni.
mi wiki alen jan ale!
jan in poka tomo li juna se mi.
English to toki ma:
The man in your room is going to the door.
He is going from his town to beyond this town.
The soldier is faster than the doctor.
He is as tall as a house.
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