Toki Pona Forums

mi wile e ni: jan li pana e sona tawa mi.
cxu iu volus montri al mi kiel uzi sama prepozicie?
pona!

o lon e ona lon monsi pi kulupu nimi pini, sama ni: soweli lili li tawa noka wawa, sama soweli kute. anu o kepeken ona. sama nimi pali, sama ni: jan pi sijelo ike li sama jan moli. anu o ken e ni: ona li kama lon monsi pi nimi ijo, sama ni: jan pi sama jan moli li tawa mi.

Sasin wrote:mi wile e ni: jan li pana e sona tawa mi.
cxu iu volus montri al mi kiel uzi sama prepozicie?
pona!

jan Sasin o, toki"
sina wile lukin e lipu ni.

The Official Toki Pona book:
% pu lesson 16
meli sama mi li open e lupa nanpa wan e lupa nanpa tu.
% pu lesson 17
mama sama Mawijo li jo e tomo lili lon ma kasi.
% Famous Quotations
toki sina en pali sina li sama la sina pilin pona.

http://rowa.giso.de/languages/toki-pona ... 0000000000
jan ni li sama mi. That person is like me.
ona li lukin sama pipi. He looks like a bug.
sama li ike. Equality is bad.
jan li lukin sama pipi. People look like ants.

More example in the texts examples:
http://rowa.giso.de/languages/toki-pona ... 0000000000

sama can be different word types:

adjective: same, similar, equal, of equal status or position
adverb: just as, equally, exactly the same, just the same, similarly
noun: equality, parity, equity, identity, par, sameness
preposition: like, as, seem
verb transitive: to equate, to make equal, to make similar to

http://rowa.giso.de/languages/toki-pona ... 0000000000

Well, the first two cases Lope gives are of 'sama' as an adjective ("relative, near kin"), not a preposition. The third is also an adjective ("identical, same"). The fourth is a predicate preposition, so to the point. The sixth is a noun. The fifth and seventh are problematic, since they say literally (with 'sama' as a preposition, to be sure) that he and people have the visual powers of birds and ants respectively, "they see the same as birds/ants". And, indeed, the English can mean that, but what he presumably meant to say was 'li sama lukin' "are visibly similar to" with 'sama' as an adjective again.

btw 'pali musi li pana ala la ona li pini ala. pana li pilin pona.' is puzzling. It seems to mean "If sports do not give, they are not finished. Giving feels good." But that takes some work to arrive at. And 'pana' as "giving" can't be the subject of 'pilin', since it is abstract, not sentient. So, maybe "the donor" jan pana' would be clearer).

janKipo wrote:btw 'pali musi li pana ala la ona li pini ala. pana li pilin pona.' is puzzling. It seems to mean "If sports do not give, they are not finished. Giving feels good." But that takes some work to arrive at. And 'pana' as "giving" can't be the subject of 'pilin', since it is abstract, not sentient. So, maybe "the donor" jan pana' would be clearer).

nu mi pripensos tion kaj plibonigos mian subskribon pli poste.
pona. (: