sama (sentence)

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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janMato
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sama (sentence)

Post by janMato »

o pali Puta sama lawa sina li seli!

Practice (Buddhism), like your hair was on fire!

tan ni la mi tawa noka wawa li pana e kalama nasa tan uta suli mi lon tomo sewi Puta!

sama phrases seems like an obvious place to put an entire sentence, sama ni would make it legal, but I imagine in a hypothetical world of constant real use, some people would analyze it as a preposition, samani used with clauses and sentence complements.
janEli
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Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:04 pm

Re: sama (sentence)

Post by janEli »

Although it is a minor detail sama ni is the better way to say it. Most people would understand either form but sama by itself could potentially be confused as a modifier to Puta.

Toki pona would not be the only language to have sentence structures that are mildly confusing to foreign speakers, and people are bound to mess up on both sama and sama ni occasionally regardless of which form becomes generally accepted. So long as the current speakers can agree on a standard form we can help future learners to use sama ni the right way.

Also, with religions you have to use "nasin" or "nasin sewi" before them just like you use jan with names of people or toki with names of languages. i.e. o pali e nasin sewi Puta...
janKipo
Posts: 3064
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:20 pm

Re: sama (sentence)

Post by janKipo »

or else 'Puta' is an adverb to 'pali' "act Buddhaly" , which is a properly Buddhist way of thinking ('o pali taso ala li awen')
Allowing 'sama' + Senternce would really complicate the grammar, even if we could put restrictions on Sentence. So, we'll stick with 'sama ni:' and ignore the vulgate 'samani' + Sentence.
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