Words in toki ma never inflect - that is, words do not change to form plurals, cases, etc. Actually, they dont even change when acting as a different word type: a noun, a verb, an adverb or an adjective have the same form. All that is formed by using particles.
Word object is always SVOC (subject - verb - object - complements). Subject is unmarked; verb is marked with li (imperfective), le (perfective) or o (imperative); object is marked with e, and the different complements, with one or another preposition; relative clauses are marked with te.
Modifiers (adjectives, determiners, adverbs, relative clauses...) always follow the head. They are not marked: the first word of a sentence (unless is one of the particles) and the first word after one of the particles, or after a pre-verb (group) or preposition, is a head (whether verb or noun), and the following words are modifiers.
Modifiers always modify the whole previous phrase; to modify only part of the phrase, the particle pi groups the words. For example, moku suwi mute means "a lot of sweet food" (suwi, sweet, modifies moku, food; mute, a lot, modifies moku suwi), while moku pi suwi mute means "very sweet food" (mute modifies suwi, and pi suwi mute modifies moku). After pi always goes a noun and at least an adjective, or two noun phrases with en, never only one word.
Negation is always made with the modifier ala after the word or phrase to modify (verb, adjective, etc).
The particle la separates the topic from the main clause, while the particle ita inverts that order: [topic] la [main clause], [main clause] ita [topic]. If the topic is a clause, the meaning of the sentence is a conditional (if [topic] then [main clause]).
Interjections can stand alone as a sentence; some of them are words with lexical meanings and others are particles: a, ala, toki, pona.
As the number of words in toki ma is limited, to create concepts that are not in the dictionary modifiers are used. Instead of creating a word for clock, ilo tenpo (lit. time tool) is used; instead of school, tomo sona (lit. house of knowledge) is used. Those compounds are not fixed and their meaning may depend on context; there is no need to memorize them, as they created on the go.
Proper nouns usually work as adjectives; they are capitalized and must follow a nown, which acts as a noun class; the same word can be used for different classes, for example, the name of a country (with ma) forms the name of its habitants (with jan): jan Susan - Susan (person); ma Kanata - Canada (country); jan Kanata - canadian (person). If the class is easy to understand by context, it can (optionally) be ommited: mi tan ma Kanata/mi tan Kanata.
Words are never inflected in toki ma, and the plural form of a word is the same as the singular form. Gender is also unmarked. If context is enough to clarify the number and gender, nothing else is required. But several words can modify a word to mark different grades of plurality and gender: jan wan (one person), jan tu (two persons), jan lili (few persons), jan mute (many persons), jan ala (zero/no persons), jan na (more than one person), jan mije (man), jan meli (woman), jan tonsi (non-binary/gender-non-conforming person).
Statements follow the basic form [subject] (li or le) [verb]. The particles li and le have two functions: they separate the subject from the predicate and they mark the aspect of the verb; li marks the imperfective aspect (that is, an unfinished action) and le the perfective aspect. For example: on li moku - he/she is eating; on le moku - he/she ate. If the subject is mi, mina, si or sina and the aspect is imperfective, no particle is used: mi moku - I am eating.
There is no verb to be; the predicative expression acts as a verb: mi wawa - I am strong; mi le wawa - I was strong (but I am not anymore).
If the sentence has a direct object or a complements, they follow the verb and a particle; e for the direct object, one of the prepositions for the complements: mi selo e kili, I peel a fruit.
Multiple subjects are joined with the particle en: si en mi li moku - you and I are eating. The particle en also separates multiple modifiers after pi: moku pi mi en si - our food (yours and mine). Multiple predicates sharing the same subject (joined in English by "and") simply have repeated use of li/le: mi le moku li tawa - I ate and I'm leaving. Multiple objects joined by "and" repeat e: mi selo e kili e kasi - I peel a fruit and a vegetable.
Commands and wishes use the particle o between the subject and the verb; if the subject is si it can be ommited: o moku! - (you) eat! on o pona! - may he/she be well! Vocatives are created with the same particle, after the name: jan Ken o! - Ken!; jan o pipi lon lawa si! - Mr./Ms., you have a bug in your head!.
Yes-no questions are made with either the construction [verb] ala [verb], or adding anu seme? at the end of the sentence: on le moku ala moku? - did he/she ate? (lit. he/she ate not ate) on le moku anu seme? - did he/she ate or what? To answer a question, the verb (or the verb negated) is repeated, with or without subject or complements: moku - yes, he/she ate; moku ala - no, he/she didn't.
Non polar questions are formed by substituting the unknown information with the interrogative word seme.
There are six personal pronouns: mi (first person singular), si (second person singular), on (third person singular), mina (first person plural), sina (second person plural) and ona (third person plural). They have the same form as subject or object, possesive, etc., depending on wether they act as a noun (I, me), adjective (my), verb (to be mine), etc. For example: mi moku - I am eating; mi olin e si - I love you; moku mi - my food.
There is only one interrogative pronoun, seme. It simply replaces the word that is asked for.
Other words can act as indefinite pronouns: ala (none, nothing, no one), ijo (some, something), jan (someone), lili (a few), mute (many), ali (everything, everyone)...
There are the following numbers in toki ma: ala (zero), wan (one), tu (two), san (three), po (four), luka (five), ten (ten), kenta (one hundred), mila (one thousand) and mijon (one million). Numbers from six to nine are luka wan (six), luka tu (seven), luka san (eight) and luka po (nine). Tens, hundreds, etc. are formed by joining a number from one to nine (although wan can be omitted) and ten, kenta, etc. Other numbers just join those numbers:
Wan, tu, san, po, luka, luka wan, luka tu, luka ti, luka po, ten, ten wan, ten tu... ten luka po, tu ten, tu ten wan, tu ten tu... san ten, san ten wan... luka po ten luka po, kenta, kenta wan... kenta ten, kenta ten wan... kenta luka po ten luka po, tu kenta... san mijon po kenta luka ten wan mila luka tu kenta san (3 451 703)
Ordinals are created on the model [noun] pi nanpa [number] ([noun] of number [number]), and fractions on the model [noun] pi osa [denominator] ([noun] of part [denominator]) if unit fractions, or [noun] pi [numerator] osa [denominator] ([noun] of [numerator] part [denominator]).
Relative clauses are introduced with the particle te; if the subject of the relative clause is the same as the head, it is ommited; in that case, li is also ommited (but not le). If it is the object of the relative clause that which is the same as the head, it can be ommited or replaced with on/ona. If the relative clause ends before the end of the sentence, a comma separates the clause and the rest of the sentence.
jan te moku e kili, on li toki - the man who is eating a fruit is speaking.
jan te le moku e kili, on li toki - the man who ate a fruit is speaking.
kili te jan li moku e on, li pona - the fruit that the man is eating is good.
kili te jan li moku, li pona - the fruit that the man is eating is good.
mi lukin e jan te moku e kili - I see the man who is eating a fruit.
mi lukin e kili te jan li moku e on - I see the fruit the man is eating.
Comparatives are made with the preposition alen (beyond): mi moku alen si - I eat more than you (lit. I eat beyond you). Superlatives are created the same way, but comparing with ali: mi moku alen ali - I eat more than anybody (lit. I eat beyond everyone). The same rule applies when the sentence is copulative: mi wawa alen si - I am stronger than you; mi wawa alen ali - I am the strongest.
When used as an adjective in English, it is translated as a relative clause: jan te wawa alen ali, li kama - the strongest (person) came.