Toki Pona Forums

tenpo suno pini la mi pilin ike tan ni: kasi li lon kon e ko lili.
ko lili li pakala e nena kon mi.
mi ken ala tawa e kon.
mi ken ala lape pona.
mi tawa e kon kepeken uta mi.
telo li anpa.
telo li telo e kon.
tenpo ni la mi ken tawa e kon kepeken nena kon mi.

Comments / corrections please.

Yesterday, I felt bad because plants are releasing pollen into the air.
The pollen messes up my nose.
I cannot breathe.
I can't sleep well.
I breathe using my mouth.
It is raining.
The rain cleans the air.
Now I can breathe with my nose.

I would say:
kasi li pana e ko lili. = Plants are emitting pollen.

'mi ken ala tawa e kon.' for breathe is not very clear.

'telo li telo e kon.' in fact is not "the rain cleans the air", but "the rain wets the air".
telo li telo e kon. tan ni la ko lili li anpa tawa ma. ?

'kon' as an intransitive verb means "breathe" (as a vt it should mean "breathe in" but that usage doesn't occur so far as I can see).
General word for "clean" is (surprise! surprise!) 'pona'.

Oh, I haven't noticed before. The old word-list by jan Sonja contained only meanings for 'kon' used as a noun and as a modifier:

[i]nimi ale[/i] wrote:kon
 n air, wind, smell, soul
 mod air-like, ethereal, gaseous

But the new definition has it all: air, breath, life force, spirit. And the example:
jo e kon - to breathe, be alive

I suppose the example is literally "have breath" -- as in examining a person unconscious on the ground. Does the new list have the va and vt?

No, all the definitions on the new list appear to be nouns.

Thank you both for the feedback.

aikidave wrote:No, all the definitions on the new list appear to be nouns.

Thank you both for the feedback.

I'm not surprised. Many (most?) jan Sonja examples follow the pattern of Basic English or any of those language with 20-50 or fewer verbs-- usually Papua New Guinea or Australian languages where one doesn't swim, but "takes a swim", one doesn't exhale, "one gives a breath", one doesn't inhale, "one takes a breath" and so on, thus allowing most verbs to collapse into a give/take/have/etc plus a stereotypical complement for such an action.