Toki Pona Notes/Work
Table of Contents
Notes taken whilst I learn Toki Pona
1. Anki vocab
see the file a|(emphasis, emotion, or confirmation) akesi|reptile, amphibian ala|no, not, zero alasa|to hunt, to forage ale|(ali) all; everything; 100 anpa|downward, humble, lowly ante|different, other, changed anu|(connects phrases with “or” rather than “and”) awen|enduring, kept, protected; to continue to e|(direct object marker) en|(multiple subject marker) esun|market, shop, fair ijo|thing, object, phenomenon ike|bad, negative; irrelevant ilo|tool, machine, device, instrument insa|centre, inside, content; organ, stomach jaki|disgusting, unclean, toxic jan|person, somebody jelo|yellow, yellowish jo|to have, carry, contain, hold kala|sea creature kalama|sound; to make a sound, utter kama|arriving, coming, future; to become kasi|plant, vegetation; grass, leaf ken|to be able to, can, may; possible kepeken|to use, with, by means of kijete|santakalu Musteloids, such as racoon [joke word] kili|fruit, vegetable kin|also, too kipisi|to cut, to divide; part, division kiwen|hard object, metal, stone, rock ko|clay, semi-solid, paste, powder kon|air; spirit, essence; unseen agent ku|to interact with kule|color, colorful kulupu|community, group, company, nation kute|ear; to hear la|(context marker) lape|sleeping, resting laso|blue, green lawa|head, mind; ruler; to lead, to regulate leko|square, block len|cloth, fabric; cover, layer of privacy lete|cool, cold; raw li|(predicate marker) lili|small, little; few, a bit; young linja|long and flexible thing; string, cord, hair, thread lipu|flat object; paper, card, document, website loje|red, reddish lon|located at, present at, true luka|arm, hand; five lukin|to see, examine lupa|door, hole, orifice ma|earth, land; outdoors; soil mama|parent; creator; caretaker mani|money, cash, currency item meli|Female mi|first-person pronoun mije|male moku|to eat, to drink; food moli|dead, dying monsi|back, behind, rear monsuta|fear; monster; scary mu|(animal noise) mun|night sky object musi|entertaining, fun, recreational mute|many, a lot; very; quantity namako|spice, additional nanpa|-th; number nasa|strange, unusual; foolish; silly nasin|way, road, doctrine, method nena|bump, hill, nose ni|this, that nimi|word, name noka|foot, leg; lower part o|(vocative / imperative particle) olin|to love, to respect ona|third-person pronoun open|to begin, to start; opening pakala|broken, damaged; to mess up pali|to do, to work on palisa|long hard object; rod, stick pan|grain, pasta, bread, rice pana|to give, to emit, to send pi|(regroups modifiers) pilin|heart, feeling pimeja|black, dark, unlit pini|finished, past, end pipi|bug, insect poka|hip, side; nearby poki|container, bag, box, bowl, cup pona|good, useful, simple, positive pu|interacting with Toki Pona: The Language of Good sama|similar, same; as seli|Fire; heat source selo|outer form, outmost layer; skin, peel seme|what? which? sewi|area above, highest part; divine, sacred sijelo|body, torso. physical state sike|circular object, cycle; of one year sin|new, fresh; another sina|second-person pronoun sinpin|face, front, wall sitelen|image, picture, writing, symbol soko|mushroom sona|to know; wisdom knowledge, info soweli|land animal suli|big, heavy, large suno|light source, sun; bright supa|horizontal surface, thing to put objects on suwi|sweet; cute tan|from, by, because taso|but, however; only tawa|going to; for; moving telo|liquid, water, beverage tenpo|time, duration, moment, period toki|to say; language tomo|indoor space; building, home tonsi|non-binary, trans tu|Two unpa|sex; to have sexual relations uta|mouth, lips; oral utala|to battle; challenge walo|white; light-colored, pale wan|one; unique waso|flying creature wawa|strong, powerful; confident, energetic weka|absent, away wile|must, need, want
2. Grammar
2.1. Sentence Structure (basic)
2.2. Objects
[basic structure] e [object] Ex: ona li pali e tomo -> they construct a building Ex: sona li pona e lawa -> knowledge goods the mind7
2.3. Semantics
Tense/number is context-dependent Most words cover multiple ideas (e.g., "lawa" -> control, mind, rule, head)
2.4. Modification
Modifiers come after the word they modify Ex: jan lili -> small person (where "lili" = small) They group from left to right jan wawa mute -> [jan wawa] mute -> many8 powerful people
2.4.1. pi
Used once you have at least two modifiers after a noun, kinda like Haskell $ In "jan wawa mute", you would add a pi to make it singular (jan pi wawa mute -> a very powerful person9)
2.4.2. a
Used at the end of a sentence to add emphasis/emotion
2.5. Names
Act as modifiers (I'm not Kit, I'm jan Kit ("the Kit person")) Usually are changed to fit into TP ("Tokiponization")
2.6. o
Replace "li" with "o" to mark a sentence as a wish You can omit the subject, in which case the sentence addresses the listener You can move the "o" to the end, marking the sentence as an interjection Ex: suno o -> light! If the subject is mi or sina, you can just add an "o" to make the sentence a "should"
2.7. Questions
X ala X = X-not-X jan li moku ala moku e telo -> Is the person drinking water? moku = yes moku ala = no ala = no seme (what/which) is used as a blank for the listener to fill in nimi sina li seme -> Your name is what? Can be combined with anu to form an "or what", softer question
2.8. Pre-predicates/preverbs
Go at the start of the predicate to change its meaning
2.8.1. List
wile (want, desire) - to want to ken (capability, possibility, ability) - to be able to/to can kama (arrive, come) - to become awen (stay, continue, protect) - to continue sona (understand, know) - to know how alasa (hunt, seek, forage) - to try to (more modern usage, replaces lukin) lukin (look, see, eyes) - to try to
2.9. la
Adds context before a sentence [context] la [sentence] Ex: tenpo pini la mi lape -> in the context of a finished time, I sleep ("I slept") Ex: tomo ni la jan li moku -> in the context of this building, people eat ("people eat in this building")
2.10. Multiple Sentences
No recursion or nesting, so you have to split them up Ex: I see a person who is eating fish -> I see a person. They are eating fish10
2.11. Prepositions
Only five:
- lon (located at, present at) - where
- tawa (going to, toward, for, from the perspective of) - where something's going
- tan (by, from, because of) - cause
- kepeken (using, with, by means of) - how
- sama (as, like) - similarity
They go at the end of a sentence Ex: ona li moku e kala lon tomo -> she eats fish in the building Ex: ona li moku e kala lon tomo kepeken ilo -> she eats fish in the building using utensils Prepositions can become the entire predicate Ex: kala li lon telo -> the fish are in the water Ex: mi tawa sina -> I am towards you (I am going to you) Prepositions can function as things other than prepositions Ex: mi li ilo tawa -> this is a moving tool
2.12. Conjunctions
Add more predicates by adding [li [predicate]] onto the predicate block Ex: soweli li moku li lape -> an animal eats and sleeps Add more objects by adding [e [object]] onto the object block Add more prepositions by adding [preposition [object]] onto the preposition block Add multiple subjects with [en [subject]]11 anu ≈ "or" Ex: soweli li moku anu lape -> An animal eats or sleeps
3. Punctuation
No strict rules, do whatever feels natural
4. Pronunciation
Basic word structure: consonant-vowel-n Consonant is mandatory in every syllable but the first Syllables starting in wu, wo, ji, and ti are banned nn and nm are banned First syllable is always stressed, no stress modifiers Proper nouns are the only things capitalized Proper nouns follow endonyms (e.g, Japan -> ma Nipon (Nippon))
4.1. Consonants
j k l m n p s t w j is pronounced like "yuh" (German j)12
4.2. Vowels
a e i o u
- i = "ee"
- u = "oo"
- e = "eh"
- o = "oh"
- a = "ah"
5. Numbers
wan - 1, united, together tu - 2, separate, cut mute - 3+, many, several, very, quantity ale - all, everything nanpa - number, -th kala nanpa tu wan -> the third fish
5.1. Extended Numbers
wan - 1 tu - 2 luka - 5 mute - 20 ale - 100 Combined like Roman numerals Ex: 42 = mute mute tu
6. General
quick intro cf
7. Elisp
(defun tokipona-lookup () "Look up a toki pona word" (interactive) (let ((i (completing-read "Word: " tokipona-dict ))) (message (cadr (assoc i tokipona-dict))))) (setq tokipona-dict (list '("a" "(emphasis, emotion, or confirmation)") '("akesi" "reptile, amphibian") '("ala" "no, not, zero") '("alasa" "to hunt, to forage") '("ale" "(ali) all; everything; 100") '("anpa" "downward, humble, lowly") '("ante" "different, other, changed") '("anu" "(connects phrases with “or” rather than “and”)") '("awen" "enduring, kept, protected; to continue to ") '("e" "(direct object marker)") '("en" "(multiple subject marker)") '("esun" "market, shop, fair") '("ijo" "thing, object, phenomenon") '("ike" "bad, negative; irrelevant") '("ilo" "tool, machine, device, instrument") '("insa" "centre, inside, content; organ, stomach") '("jaki" "disgusting, unclean, toxic") '("jan" "person, somebody") '("jelo" "yellow, yellowish") '("jo" "to have, carry, contain, hold") '("kala" "sea creature") '("kalama" "sound; to make a sound, utter") '("kama" "arriving, coming, future; to become") '("kasi" "plant, vegetation; grass, leaf") '("ken" "to be able to, can, may; possible") '("kepeken" "to use, with, by means of") '("kijete" "santakalu Musteloids, such as racoon [joke word]") '("kili" "fruit, vegetable") '("kin" "also, too") '("kipisi" "to cut, to divide; part, division") '("kiwen" "hard object, metal, stone, rock") '("ko" "clay, semi-solid, paste, powder") '("kon" "air; spirit, essence; unseen agent") '("ku" "to interact with") '("kule" "color, colorful") '("kulupu" "community, group, company, nation") '("kute" "ear; to hear") '("la" "(context marker)") '("lape" "sleeping, resting") '("laso" "blue, green") '("lawa" "head, mind; ruler; to lead, to regulate") '("leko" "square, block") '("len" "cloth, fabric; cover, layer of privacy") '("lete" "cool, cold; raw") '("li" "(predicate marker)") '("lili" "small, little; few, a bit; young") '("linja" "long and flexible thing; string, cord, hair, thread") '("lipu" "flat object; paper, card, document, website") '("loje" "red, reddish") '("lon" "located at, present at, true") '("luka" "arm, hand; five") '("lukin" "to see, examine") '("lupa" "door, hole, orifice") '("ma" "earth, land; outdoors; soil") '("mama" "parent; creator; caretaker") '("mani" "money, cash, currency item") '("meli" "Female") '("mi" "first-person pronoun") '("mije" "male") '("moku" "to eat, to drink; food") '("moli" "dead, dying") '("monsi" "back, behind, rear") '("monsuta" "fear; monster; scary") '("mu" "(animal noise)") '("mun" "night sky object") '("musi" "entertaining, fun, recreational") '("mute" "many, a lot; very; quantity") '("namako" "spice, additional") '("nanpa" "-th; number") '("nasa" "strange, unusual; foolish; silly") '("nasin" "way, road, doctrine, method") '("nena" "bump, hill, nose") '("ni" "this, that") '("nimi" "word, name") '("noka" "foot, leg; lower part") '("o" "(vocative / imperative particle)") '("olin" "to love, to respect") '("ona" "third-person pronoun") '("open" "to begin, to start; opening") '("pakala" "broken, damaged; to mess up") '("pali" "to do, to work on") '("palisa" "long hard object; rod, stick") '("pan" "grain, pasta, bread, rice") '("pana" "to give, to emit, to send") '("pi" "(regroups modifiers)") '("pilin" "heart, feeling") '("pimeja" "black, dark, unlit") '("pini" "finished, past, end") '("pipi" "bug, insect") '("poka" "hip, side; nearby") '("poki" "container, bag, box, bowl, cup") '("pona" "good, useful, simple, positive") '("pu" "interacting with /Toki Pona: The Language of Good/") '("sama" "similar, same; as") '("seli" "Fire; heat source") '("selo" "outer form, outmost layer; skin, peel") '("seme" "what? which?") '("sewi" "area above, highest part; divine, sacred") '("sijelo" "body, torso. physical state") '("sike" "circular object, cycle; of one year") '("sin" "new, fresh; another") '("sina" "second-person pronoun") '("sinpin" "face, front, wall") '("sitelen" "image, picture, writing, symbol") '("soko" "mushroom") '("sona" "to know; wisdom knowledge, info") '("soweli" "land animal") '("suli" "big, heavy, large") '("suno" "light source, sun; bright") '("supa" "horizontal surface, thing to put objects on") '("suwi" "sweet; cute") '("tan" "from, by, because") '("taso" "but, however; only") '("tawa" "going to; for; moving") '("telo" "liquid, water, beverage") '("tenpo" "time, duration, moment, period") '("toki" "to say; language") '("tomo" "indoor space; building, home") '("tonsi" "non-binary, trans") '("tu" "Two") '("unpa" "sex; to have sexual relations") '("uta" "mouth, lips; oral") '("utala" "to battle; challenge") '("walo" "white; light-colored, pale") '("wan" "one; unique") '("waso" "flying creature") '("wawa" "strong, powerful; confident, energetic") '("weka" "absent, away") '("wile" "must, need, want")))
Footnotes:
soweli
tawa
jan
pona
sina
sin
Or, knowledge improves the mind
mute
mute means many AND very (person with many power, lit.)
mi lukin e jan. ona li moku e kala
en ≠ "and", since you need to use the correct "and" for the case that you're using it for
This is because TP is written using the IPA