Use of 'awen'?

Language learning: How to speak Toki Pona, translation problems, advice, memory aids, tools and methods to learn Toki Pona and other languages faster
Lingva lernado: Kiel paroli Tokiponon, tradukproblemoj, konsiloj, memoraj helpiloj, iloj kaj metodoj por pli rapide lerni Tokiponon kaj aliajn lingvojn
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janAetherStar
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Joined: Sat May 25, 2013 3:23 am
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Use of 'awen'?

Post by janAetherStar »

So, I recently taught my friend a shiny new word, awen, and described it as 'stop' or 'wait'. She asked me, "so how would you say 'stop being crazy' then," and I hadn't really thought about that ever, as far as I recall. My tp is a bit rusty from lack of use over a few months when I stopped using it. I'm probably stuffing up the grammar, so before I confirm it with my friend, is it something like,
"jan _____, o nasa awen"
or
"jan _____, o awen e nasa"
or something completely different?
Sorry if this sounds stupid and thanks in advance!
ale li pona. :)
sina o sona e ni.
janSilipu
Posts: 288
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2011 9:21 am

Re: Use of 'awen'?

Post by janSilipu »

Well, there is a problem here. 'awen' seems to have contradictory definitions. For most purposes, it has the effect of inertia, maintaining the status quo "keep on" with whatever is going on. But then this notion of stability gets changed to the notion of no motion and thus the achievement sense of stopping. Someday this conflict will be resolved. But, for now, the safest bet seems to be to use 'pini' for "stop", so 'o pini nasa' or 'o pini e nasa'. I suppose the two mean slightly different things, but have no idea what the difference is.
janJoni
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:12 pm

Re: Use of 'awen'?

Post by janJoni »

I would think "o awen ala e nasa sina."

"Don't keep your craziness."
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