Preverbs
Answers to the excercises from the previous lesson:
toki ma to English:
mi kanti ala → I am not singing.
jan ala li tanse in ni → Nobody is dancing here.
si kama ala kama? kama → Are you coming? I am.
on li pali e seme? → What is he doing?
English to toki ma:
I dont want this food → mi wile ala e moku ni.
Who's there? → jan seme li lon (in ni)?
Is the soldier tall? → jan utala li lamo ala lamo? or jan utala li lamo anu seme?
What do you like more than candy? → suwi li pona ki si alen seme?
Preverbs
Preverbs are words that modify the verb that follow them. They are more or less equivalent to modal verbs in English:
mi alasa moku → I'm trying to eat
mi awen moku → I keep eating
mi kama moku → I manage to eat
mi ken moku → I can eat
mi lukin moku → I'm seeking to eat
mi onta moku → I repeatedly/usually eat
mi pana moku → I am feeding (i.e. I am causing another to eat)
mi pesoni moku → I need to eat
mi sona moku → I know how to eat
mi tawa moku → I'm going to eat
mi wile moku → I want to eat
There is not a grammatical difference between a preverb + verb combination and a verb with an adverb, so ambiguities may arise. But, for example, even though mi sona moku can mean also "I eatingly know", context will usually clarify which one you are using.
Some of the preverbs can be used to create new verbs. For example, from sona, "to know", we can create kama sona, "to learn" (lit. to manage to know).
Preverbs can be stacked; the first one modifies the following:
mi wile tawa moku [mi wile (tawa moku)] → I want to go to eat
mi tawa wile moku [mi tawa (wile moku)] → I'm going to want to eat
Negation of preverbs
There are two different ways of using negation with preverbs, each with different meanings - negating the preverb, or negating the verb:
mi ken ala moku → I can't eat
mi ken moku ala → I can fast (=not-eat)
The second one is difficult to translate into English, as it needs a rewording or a careful chosing of words, but it is more common in other languages (Spanish: "no puedo comer" vs. "puedo no comer"; Mandarin Chinese "wǒ bù néng chī " vs. "wǒ néng bù chī").
Questions with preverbs
To ask yes-no questions with preverbs, you can use both the verb ala verb construction, or the anu seme construction:
si ken kute e mi anu seme? → Can you hear me?
si ken ala ken kute e mi? → Can you hear me?
The particle le
Until now, we have been always using the particle li as a separator between the subject and the verb; in fact, li is marking what it's called the imperfective aspect - when an action is seen as having internal composition, as opposed as being seen as a single whole. In practice, most of the times that means that it is an ongoing action (whether it is in the present, in the past or in the future). But to mark something as an action seen as a single whole, a point in time if you want, we use the particle le:
on li moku → he is eating
on le moku → he eats
One difference between the particles is that li is the default, so in first and second person it does not get marked and it is omitted. On the contrary, le cannot be omitted:
mi moku → I am eating
mi le moku → I eat
Vocabulary - Quantity words, animals and plants
Congratulations! You know now most of the grammar of toki ma, so we are going to start learning vocabulary. We are going to start learning ways to express quantities with the words ala, wan, na, lili, mute, sin, and ali, and the terms for animals and plants:
kasi ala → zero [no] plants
kala wan → one fish
soweli na → some animals
waso lili → a few birds
soko mute → a lot of mushrooms
pipi sin → more bugs
akesi ali → all the reptiles
Some of these quantity words can be used not only with nouns, but also with adjectives, verbs, etc. For example:
mi wawa mute → I'm very strong
mi lukin lili → I hardly see
You may have noticed that the plural pronouns are formed with the singular form plus na. This is the only time in toki ma that a word changes its form in plural. The singular pronouns can, of course, use the particle na after them (but then they need the particle li!):
mina kanti → we are singing
mi na li kanti → some of us are singing
And remember that, by default, plural is not marked in toki ma. So unless a word is followed by one of the quantity words, it can be singular or plural; usually context alone is enough to determine if something is singular or plural, so there is no need to mark every word!
soko li pona → a mushroom is good or mushrooms are good
soko ni li pona → this mushroom is good or these mushrooms are good
soko wan li pona → a mushroom is good (only one)
soko na li pona → some mushrooms are good
soko ni na li pona → some of this mushrooms are good
soko na ni li pona → these mushrooms are good
Words you have learned in this lesson
akesi, alasa, ali, awen, kala, kasi, ken, le, lili, mute, na, onta, pesoni, pipi, sin, soko, soweli, wan, waso, and wile.
Exercises
Practice what you have learned with the following sentences. The answers, in the next lesson:
toki ma to English:
soweli ali li pesoni tawa in intawo mute.
mi ken kute e pipi.
waso na le tawa olente.
akesi ni le awen ala moku e soko.
English to toki ma:
Some bugs have entered my house.
I often hear the birds in my bedroom.
I want to hear it from you.
My sibling is trying to learn toki ma.