"When" in Toki Pona

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Lingva lernado: Kiel paroli Tokiponon, tradukproblemoj, konsiloj, memoraj helpiloj, iloj kaj metodoj por pli rapide lerni Tokiponon kaj aliajn lingvojn
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jan Oweli
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2019 12:15 pm

"When" in Toki Pona

Post by jan Oweli »

toki! I'm new in toki pona and I would like to know how we can translate "when".
For example: When you wake up in the morning.

Thanks in advance!
jan Son
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2019 3:42 am

Re: "When" in Toki Pona

Post by jan Son »

"tenpo seme" - literally "time what"
janKipo
Posts: 3064
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:20 pm

Re: "When" in Toki Pona

Post by janKipo »

As always, it depends on context. If yiu are asking a question that wants a time specificiation, then ‘tenpo seme?’ is just ritgh, either before or after the specification: “When will you come?” ‘tenpo seme la sina kama?’ or ‘sina kama lon tenpo seme?’. But if it is to cooordinate two events, “when” behaves like “if” and gives rise to a ‘la’ phrase: “I will come whe'n the sun rises” ‘suno li open sewi la mi kama’. Finally (well, there are lots of other cases, but these are the main ones) for a particular time specified by what happened then, you use ‘tenpo’ and a relative clause: I know when the movie starts”: ‘mi sona e tenpo ni: sitelen tawa li open lon ona’.
jan Oweli
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2019 12:15 pm

Re: "When" in Toki Pona

Post by jan Oweli »

And what would it be if we were to translate that part of a poem: "When you wake up in the morning or stay up nights on end, ..."
janKipo
Posts: 3064
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:20 pm

Re: "When" in Toki Pona

Post by janKipo »

Not knowing how the sentence goes on, I can only guess that this is coordinating and so a ‘la’ phrase.
jan Oweli
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2019 12:15 pm

Re: "When" in Toki Pona

Post by jan Oweli »

Ok, thanks!
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