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Toki!

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 12:11 pm
by janAna
Hi all - I've just signed up as I've recently started learning Toki Pona with my sister. I'm using the main book to learn, although probably will also use online resources as well. I've got up to chapter 9 of the book now and it's starting to get a bit tricky, so will probably have lots of questions to ask!

On the subject of questions, can anyone help me with sentence order when asking questions? I get that the use of ala and anu seme, but with broad-answer questions I'm struggling with where to include the word seme and what order the other words should go in.

Also, just generally - what inspired you all to learn this wonderful language? :)

Re: Toki!

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 1:29 pm
by jan_Lope
janAna wrote: On the subject of questions, can anyone help me with sentence order when asking questions? I get that the use of ala and anu seme, but with broad-answer questions I'm struggling with where to include the word seme and what order the other words should go in.
jan Ana o, toki!
mi wile e ni: sina kama sona e toki pona.

In questions the order of the words do not change. Put "seme" instead of the word you would like to ask for. Please see here:

Negation, Yes/No Questions (ala)
http://rowa.giso.de/languages/toki-pona ... 0000000000

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

Conjunctions (anu)
http://rowa.giso.de/languages/toki-pona ... 0000000000

Re: Toki!

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 3:33 am
by janAetherStar
toki a!
a sina kama sona e toki pona poka jan sama sina! pona mute! sina ken toki mute tawa ona :) sina sona ala e ijo la o toki tawa kulupu ni. mi lukin e ni: jan Lope li pana e sona tawa sina :) mi wile e ni: toki pona li pona mute tawa sina!!
mi kama sona e toki pona tan ni: tenpo pini la, toki Inli li ike tawa mi. mi wile sona e toki ante. toki ante mute li suli kin li jo e nimi mute. mi sona e ni: mi ken ala kama sona e ona kepeken tenpo lili. taso mi lukin e toki pona la mi wile kama sona e ona! :)
sina lon ala lon kulupu Pesu? ken la ona li pona tawa sina en jan sama sina. :)
lon pona!
_________________
Hi there!
That's so awesome that you're learning Toki Pona with your sister! You two can chat together heaps :) If you don't know something then feel free to ask this community. I see that jan Lope has answered your question :) I hope that you really enjoy Toki Pona!!
I learnt Toki Pona because once upon a time I didn't like English and wanted to know another language. Many other languages are daunting and have tons of words. I knew I couldn't learn one in a short amount of time. But when I saw Toki Pona I wanted to learn it! :)
Are you on the Facebook group? Maybe you and your sister would like it. :)
Have a good one!

Re: Toki!

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 4:29 am
by jan_Lope

Re: Toki!

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 10:20 am
by janAna
jan Ana o, toki!
mi wile e ni: sina kama sona e toki pona.

In questions the order of the words do not change. Put "seme" instead of the word you would like to ask for. Please see here:

Negation, Yes/No Questions (ala)
http://rowa.giso.de/languages/toki-pona ... 0000000000

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

Conjunctions (anu)
http://rowa.giso.de/languages/toki-pona ... 0000000000

Pona! I think I'm getting confused with subjects and objects but these are making it a bit clearer - I will keep at it!

Re: Toki!

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 10:23 am
by janAna
jan_Lope wrote:jan Ana, o toki!

sina ken kepeken ilo "Twitter".

https://twitter.com/hashtag/tokipona?f= ... t&src=hash

https://twitter.com/jan__Lope

pona! mi kepeken ilo "Twitter" li sona e toki pona.
(I think this is wrong - please correct me if it is)

Re: Toki!

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 10:24 am
by janAna
janAetherStar wrote:toki a!
a sina kama sona e toki pona poka jan sama sina! pona mute! sina ken toki mute tawa ona :) sina sona ala e ijo la o toki tawa kulupu ni. mi lukin e ni: jan Lope li pana e sona tawa sina :) mi wile e ni: toki pona li pona mute tawa sina!!
mi kama sona e toki pona tan ni: tenpo pini la, toki Inli li ike tawa mi. mi wile sona e toki ante. toki ante mute li suli kin li jo e nimi mute. mi sona e ni: mi ken ala kama sona e ona kepeken tenpo lili. taso mi lukin e toki pona la mi wile kama sona e ona! :)
sina lon ala lon kulupu Pesu? ken la ona li pona tawa sina en jan sama sina. :)
lon pona!
_________________
Hi there!
That's so awesome that you're learning Toki Pona with your sister! You two can chat together heaps :) If you don't know something then feel free to ask this community. I see that jan Lope has answered your question :) I hope that you really enjoy Toki Pona!!
I learnt Toki Pona because once upon a time I didn't like English and wanted to know another language. Many other languages are daunting and have tons of words. I knew I couldn't learn one in a short amount of time. But when I saw Toki Pona I wanted to learn it! :)
Are you on the Facebook group? Maybe you and your sister would like it. :)
Have a good one!
I'm glad we're learning it together, as it makes practising a lot easier! I'm on the FB group so will try and make use of it as much as possible. I'm finding sentence structure the hardest at the moment as it's so different to English, but I've managed to learn German and Latin as well so I'm sure I will get it eventually :)

Re: Toki!

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 11:23 am
by janKipo
Sentence structure is very like English, actually, just hidden a bit. tp sentences are all Subject Verb Object, like most of English. The problem comes first when English marks the transitions from one part to another by the shift from nouns to verbs and back again. But tp doesn't have clearly marked nouns and verbs, so it uses 'li' to mark the shift from noun (subject) to verb (Predicate) and then 'e' to mark the shift back from verb to noun (Object). Three problems here: 1. 'mi' and 'sina' don't use 'li' 2: Prepositions in the verb place don't use 'e' before their objects 3. In questions, things don't move around, jumping to the front in WH questions (who,? why?, etc.), but have 'seme' right where the answer would go, and don't stick 'do' on to mark a question (don't do it to mark negation either). So, once you get the SVO order down, you have the gramar well in hand.
The other odd thing about tp is that adjectives come after nouns (and adverbs after verbs). But they do so in perfect mirror-image way: what is closest to the head is the same, just on opposite sides and so on out: "That big red dog" is 'soweli loje suli ni'.
So, not so strange, just taking a little adjustment.
Good luck!