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
kal	kal
ma	m
ni	n
pu	p

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

Every noun ends with a vowel.

verbs

A verb is built from:

prefix + root

A prefix represents person, relation to the head verb, and mood.

sense		prefix	example (pana)
mi	1st person	mi-	mipan
sina	2nd person	si-	sipan
li	3rd person	li-	lipan
after preverb	auxverb arg	ta-	tapan
	adverb	wi-	wipan
	connective	we-	wepan
o	imperative	o-	opan
o	"should"	-o-	mijopan
ala	negation	-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're 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"

(kilana)