Embedded Files
Answers to the excercises from the previous lesson:
toki ma to English:
suno kama la seli ten tu li lon → Tomorrow there will be 12 degrees.
mi wile mani e kali mi kan mani ten mila → I want to sell my car for ten thousand.
sinko mi li sike e suno ita tenpo san → My son is three years old.
mi meta wan osa luka san li kilo luka tu ten → I'm one point eight meters tall and I weigh seventy kilos.
English to toki ma:
When is your birthday? (hint: when do you circle the sun?) → si sike e suno ita tenpo seme?
Go buy two liters of juice. (juice: fruity liquid) → o tawa esun e telo kili pi lita tu.
It's freezing in my house → lete mute li lon in tomo mi.
We had to wait fiveteen minutes → mina le awen pi minuta ten luka.
Relative clauses
Relative clauses
Relative clauses are used to add information about a noun, inside the sentence, with a second sentence embedded inside the first. We can do this in toki ma using the particle te. Let's see a few examples before explaining the details:
ni li tomo te Lisa le pali (e on) → This is the house that Lisa built
kili te pona ki mi, li suwi mute → The fruit that I like is very sweet
mi tawa ki pajan te si kama aja in on → I'm going to the city where you were born
These clauses always function as an adjective modifying a noun (tomo, kili and pajan in the previous examples). That noun is also inside the clause (but either replaced with on/ona or omitted). Compare the previous sentences with these:
ni li tomo. Lisa le pali e on → This is the house. Lisa built it
kili li suwi mute. on li pona ki mi → The fruit is very sweet. I like it
mi tawa ki pajan. si kama aja in on → I'm going to the city. You were born in it
In the first example, e on is the direct object of the clause, so we can remove it from the clause. In the second, on is the subject of the clause, so we remove it - together with the li - if instead of li the original sentence had a le, le would not be omitted, only the on. In the third, in on is in a prepositional phrase, so we can't remove it.
Notice that if the end of the clause is not the end of the sentence, we separate it from the sentence with a comma (or in speech, a small pause):
lipu te mi lukin, li pona mute → The book that I'm reading is very good
Noun clauses
Noun clauses
Sometimes, the subordinate clause will not be modifying a noun, but replacing it. We can distinguish two cases. In the first, the subordinate clause is the subject of the sentence; no particle is needed in this case - only a comma is added after the clause, and a dummy subject (ni, ulun, on or ona) replace the subject in the main sentence:
mama mi kama ki tomo mi, ni li pona ki mi → I like when my parents come to my house
In the second case, the clause replaces any other noun; in this case, te replaces the noun and the clause goes after it (with a comma at the end if necessary):
mi sona ala e te on wile kama → I don't know whether he/she wants to come
Vocabulary - The human body
Vocabulary - The human body
These are some of the words for the human body (sijelo jan) in toki ma:
sijelo refers either to the whole body or, more specifically, the torso.
lawa is the head.
The hair is jun. But a single hair is linja.
The face is sinpin.
The ears are kute.
The eyes are lukin.
The nose is nena.
The mouth is uta.
The teeth are supi.
The chest is titi.
The arms and the hands are luka.
The fingers (and the toes) are talili.
The nails are ewin.
The legs (and feet) are noka.
The back (and buttocks) is monsi.
The skin is selo.
Inside the body you have organs (insa), and most of them do not have a special word for them. Exceptions are pilin, heart, and umami, muscle (or meat); the bodily fluids, specially the blood, are sanke, and fat is oliwa.
The meanings tend to be broader than in other languages, but you can always use modifiers to specify: if you want to say specifically beard, you can say jun sinpin, and so on; or insa kon for lungs.
Words you have learned in this lesson
Words you have learned in this lesson
ewin, jun, lawa, linja, noka, oliwa, sanke, selo, sijelo, supi, titi, umami, and uta.
Exercises
Exercises
Practice what you have learned with the following sentences. The answers, in the next lesson:
toki ma to English:
jan te tawa e lawa, li jo e ijo in sinpin on.
si sona ala sona e te lukin pi pata mi li laso?
pata mi te wile kama, li ken ala kama.
on li tawa tan te si wile.
English to toki ma:
I don't know the man who is speaking to you.
Whoever breaks it, pays for it.
Everybody knows that you need water to survive.
I want him to go.
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