toki pona Lesson 2: li and "yes"

toki, ale o. Hey everybody. mi jan Tani li pana e sona pi toki pona tawa sina. I'm Daniel (jan Tani), and I'm going to be teaching you toki pona. tenpo suno ni la mi pana e sona pi nimi li. Today, I'm going to teach you about the word "li." pona. Thank you.

nimi li li suli mute. The word "li" is very important. nimi ni li weka e utala. This word dismisses ambiguity. jan kepeken e nimi ni tan ni: jan li ken tu e nimi lawa e nimi ante (pini). One uses this word to separate the subject from its predicate, or the rest of the sentence. mi pana e sona. I'll explain.

[quasi-improv]

-li is used with and only with the 3rd person, and separates the subject from its predicate NOTE: the subject can be as long as you want.
ex: ona li jo e monsi pona mute.
ex: jan Tani li ike.
-With 2nd and 1st persons, li is not required and in fact should not be used.
ex: mi olin e sina.
ex: sina olin e mi.

pona. tenpo ni la mi pana e sona pi nimi "yes." Now, I'll teach you about the word "yes."

-To answer a question as yes, you repeat the verb of the question.
ex: Q~ sina jo (ala jo) e akesi? A~ jo.
Q~ jan Pije li jo (ala jo) e akesi? A~ jo.

pona. See you next time.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• toki
• pona
• sonja
• Golani
• li
• mute
• monsi
• yes
• jan
• Tani
• unpa

[kb7clx]

Interesting, the way you answer yes is just the way you coloquially do it in Brazilian Portuguese. Almost noone says "sim" to a yes or no question. "Você fala Português?" "Falo." "Do you speak Portuguese?" "I speak."

[fiorixF1]

@IpsaPaphum or the word "cu" in lojban, but lojban isn't a natural language

[fiorixF1]

@IpsaPaphum the english "-s" at the third person of present tense!

[melkyd]

@IpsaPaphum akesi: non-cute animal, reptile, amphibian

it works for "lizard", but it's not enclosed to that animal

[IpsaPaphum]

Why does a language with only 120 words have a word for lizard (akesi) and why was that word derived from the Dutch word (of all languages) for lizard (hagedis)?!? Ah, the mysteries of Toki Pona!

[IpsaPaphum]

Are there any natural languages who have a word just like Pona 'li'?

[TSBoncompte]

man, toki pona is simple!