Poki pona

okam wepon tokowa pokijoponokowa.

• • poki pona** is my one-night attempt to bring cases into toki pona.

roots

poki pona has a set of word roots that are used as a basis for building words. By default, every poki pona root is a toki pona word, minus any vowel on the end.

for example ---|--- toki|tok jan|jan kala|kal ma|m ni|n pu|p

toki	tok

In order to prevent ambiguity, some exceptions exist. ---|--- mi|mis sina|sins poki|pokik pan|panul seli|selik mije|mijek tu|tow ala|alaw

nouns

A noun is built from root + case suffix

prep|case|suffix|example (kasi)

---

|----|------|--------------

en|accusative|-i|kasi e|nominative|-e|kase alu|conditional|-ula|kasula o|vocative|-ijo|kasijo lon|locative|-ono|kasono tawa|dative|-owa|kasowa tan|ablative|-ana|kasana kepeken|instrumental|-eke|kaseke sama|similaritive|-ama|kasama |genitive|-ok-|kasoki (kas-GEN-ACC)

Every noun ends with a vowel.

verbs

A verb is built from conjugation prefix + root

person/role/mood|prefix|example (pana) mi|mi-|mipan sina|si-|sipan ona|li-|lipan after preverb|ta-|tapan adverb|wi-|wipan connective|we-|wepan o (IMP,should)|o-|opan o (should)|-o-|mijopan ala (NEG)|-ala-|lialapan

prepositional verbs

toki pona allows you to use a preposition as the head word of a predicate, e.g. jan li tawa telo "People go to the water." mi tawa tomo "I go to the building." sina lon ma pi kiwen suli "You'rde in a land of big rocks." mi tawa "I'm going", "goodbye"

poki pona transforms every preposition into a case marking on a noun. tawa telo -> telowa tawa tomo -> tomowa ma pi kiwen suli -> mowa kiwokowa sulokokowa.

When a preposition is used as the head word of the predicate, the head word of its object is inflected with the corresponding case, and used as the head word of the predicate, in verb form. jan li tawa telo -> jani litelou mi tawa tomo -> mitomou sina lon ma pi kiwen suli -> simon kiwokon sulokokon mi tawa -> mijou

The genitive subcase

The genitive affix -ok- may be applied to create a modifier to a noun. Both the head noun and the modifier take the case suffix of the head noun.

e.g. soweli suwi li lukin e mi - soweli suwoki lilukin mise mi wile moku e kala mute - miwil tamok kale mutoke

Compound words

poki pona also allows compounding words via -o-. toki pona -> tokoponi; toki ponoki

Alternatively, -ok- affixes may be stacked. jan pi pilin pona -> jani pilinoponoki; jani pilinoki ponokoki

Examples

from : https://tokipona.org/toki_lili_27_poems_in_toki_pona.pdf

sinsi olukin olukin mise misi sinsi liwan ~ janana Epenokana

mipilin ne: misi ki likonon. mijalajo kone.

mijawen wejawen. tawi likam. misula siwek

~ janana Esiokana

muni pimejoni lisun wiwal lipon wipilin wijan

moli limison wela pilin wijik lijanon pokokon misokokon

kijetesanta- kali tonsoki lilanpan soke misoke

~ janana Jonatanokana

noki liwau wisul wikalam akesi lijawen

~ janana Kolokana

nenon towokon. mesula mijon. miken tason towe.

sewi pimejoki, jaki iloki, lilil sune munoke.

seli lilijoni leti sulijoni nasin tenpoki lin.

~ janoMelonana

mi noki lilet sewula nenokula milukin sune.

~ janoNusana (note: mi = ma-ACC, noki = ni-GEN-ACC) (noki also means noka-ACC, so "mi noki" can be "ma ni" or "ma en noka") ("ma ni" can also be expressed as "moni")

pimejon. silukin wela muni mutoki likam.

~ Ojokana janana

seli lipin. moli likam. owalamonsut.

tenpula kamokula, sijolin wisin. mi towi lipakal.

nimi lisul! poki lilil! kijetesantaka...

~ janoPolijanana

owesun ne: lene janoliloke. oni aloki lisin.

~ janana Simimanana

semi lijon wikin? semi liwau? ali liken tapon!

milukin me miwil tawek wetas - mijalaken.

oson ne: ali lipon olukin one!

~ janana Simonana

awenula mawonula, lukinula wasokula, poni likam tawon.

suni sinsi, lisel wipon, sinpine lawomisoke.

sunula openokula, sewi likul; teli wawoki lijon.

~ janana Siwenana

kiweni lijawen koni wawoki lijon leni lijalau wikiwen.

~ janana sonalana

kalami suloki jani mutoki lijon ali likalam

~ janosunana

...nana: tenpi lijou liwek wela misinsou

~ lonana Jawinana

a a a a a a a a a a a a "yupekosi"

(kili)