Toki Pona Cheat Sheet ===================== Last Updated 27 Jan. 2023 From: Toki Pona is a language developed by linguist Sonja Lang, with only around 130 words. This side describes the grammar, the other side contains vocabulary. This version is by jan Sa, CC0. Original by blinry. This document is simply a cheat sheet and is not exhaustive. For more, visit Alphabet ======== Toki Pona uses these letters: a e i j k l m n o p s t u w All consonants are the same as English, except j is like English "y". Vowels are all similar to Spanish. Basic sentences =============== The particle /li/ separates the subject from the predicate. /soweli li moku/ -- The cat is eating. /jan li lape/ -- Someone is sleeping. There is no verb "to be." The part after /li/ (predicate) can be a noun or an adjective. /kili li moku/ -- Fruits are food. /telo li pona/ -- Water is good. If the subject is /mi/ or /sina/ alone, the /li/ is always omitted. /mi moku/ -- I eat. /sina pona/ -- You are good. Ambiguity ========= Toki Pona words are less specific than English words, so one-to-one translation is not as easy. /mi moku/ -- I am eating; I was eating; I will be eating Many words have multiple or general meanings. /soweli/ -- cat; dog; (any land mammal) /kili/ -- (any fruit or vegetable) Most words can act as nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. /telo/ -- water; wet; to wash /pona/ -- - good; simple; to improve; to make better; well; greatly Nouns have no default countability. They also do not have any default identifiability. /kili/ -- a fruit; the fruit; some fruits; the fruits /mi/ -- I; me; we; us Direct objects ============== The particle e separates a verb from its direct object. This also makes the word before into a verb. /soweli li moku e telo/ -- The animal drinks the water. /mi telo e soweli/ -- I wash the cat; I apply water to the cat /sina suli e ona/ -- You embiggen it; You make it big Modifying words =============== Words can be modified by appending other words. /jan lili/ -- small human; child /tomo mi/ -- my house /pilin pona/ -- a good feeling To negate a word, append /ala/: /mi lape ala/ -- I'm not sleeping. /jan ala li toki/ -- No one is talking. With multiple modifiers, they all modify the first word. /lipu kasi tu/ -- two plant documents /poki laso pimeja/ -- a blue and black box You can change the way the modifiers interact using /pi/. /lipu pi kasi tu/ -- a document of two plants /poki pi laso pimeja/ -- a dark-blue box Prepositions ============ /kepeken/, /lon/, /sama/, /tan/, and /tawa/ can act as prepositions. They go at the end of a statement. /mi moku kepeken ilo/ -- I eat with cutlery. /soweli li lon tomo/ -- The animal is in the house. /sina toki sama kala!/ -- You talk like a fish! /mi kama tan esun/ -- I arrive from the store. /ona li toki e ni tawa sina/ -- They said this to you. Conjunctions ============ There are many ways to say "and." For multiple subjects, use /en/. /mi en sina li musi mute/ -- You and I are playing a lot. For predicates, repeat /li/. /soweli ni li lili li suwi/ -- This animal is small and cute. For direct objects, repeat /e/. /ona li jo e waso e kala/ -- She has a bird and a fish. For prepositions, repeat the preposition. /mi pali e tomo kepeken palisa kepeken kiwen/ -- - I make the house using sticks and stones. /anu/ can be used to mean "or". /ni li pona anu ike?/ -- Is this good or bad? /mi anu sina li tawa esun/ -- You or I are going to the store. Loaned Adjectives ================= Toki Pona does not use proper nouns, but rather proper adjectives: /jan Sonja/ -- a Sonja person; a person named Sonja /toki Tosi/ -- a Tosi (Deutsch) language, German /ma Mewika li suli/ -- The US is big. Loaned adjectives should follow Toki Pona's phonology. Toki Pona uses a (C)V(n) syllable structure. Vowel clusters, consonant clusters, and the sequences /wu/, /wo/, /ji/, /ti/, /nm/, and /nn/ are disallowed. o (Imperatives) =============== You can use /o/ before a verb to turn it into a command. /o kute!/ -- Listen! /o pali/ -- Work, please. You can use /o/ after a subject to address that subject. /jan Pape o!/ -- O Pape! You can have o between a subject and predicate to express a wish, desire, request, etc. /pona o tawa sina/ -- I wish for goodness to go to you. /mi o pali/ -- I should be working. Or it can also be a contraction of the first two uses. /soweli Ton o moku/ -- Eat, Ton. Interjections ============= Interjections are used often, sometimes paired with a for emphasis. /pona!/ -- Good!; Great!; Thanks! /wawa a!/ -- So powerful! /toki!/ -- Hello!; Hi!; Greetings! /lon!/ -- True!; Correct! /moku pona!/ -- Bon appetit!; What a fantastic meal! Questions ========= There are two ways to form yes or no questions. For yes/no questions, use "verb ala verb." /sina moku ala moku?/ -- Are you eating? To say yes, repeat the verb. To say no, say "verb ala" or "ala." /moku/ -- yes /moku ala/ or /ala/ -- no For open-ended questions, you can also use /anu seme/. /sina moku anu seme?/ -- Are you eating? /kala anu seme li lon poki?/ -- Are fish in the box? /seme/ can also be used to create nonpolar questions. Replace the word in question with /seme/. /jan seme li toki?/ -- Who's talking? /sina pali e seme?/ -- What are you making? The question mark is a stylistic choice. Toki Pona uses grammar to mark questions, not tone or punctuation. In general, all you need for punctuation is to separate sentences. Preverbs ======== Preverbs go before verbs to modify their meaning. /mi kama sona/ -- I come to know. (I learn) /waso lili li wile suli/ -- The small bird wants to be big. The words that can act as preverbs are /wile/, /kama/, /sona/, /lukin/, /ken/, /awen/, and sometimes /alasa/. Context ======= /la/ can be used to mark the context of a sentence. /X la Y/ means "In the context of X, Y." This can mean time, cause, topic, or any other relationship to the main sentence. /sina lon poka mi la mi pilin pona/ -- - When you are by my side, I feel good. Most prepositional terms can be moved behind a /la/. /mi lape lon tenpo pimeja. tenpo pimeja la mi lape./ -- - I sleep at night. /sina seli tan seme? tan seme la sina seli?/ -- Why are you hot? Numbers ======= Combine number words to add them up. /wan/ -- 1 /tu/ -- 2 /luka/ -- 5 /mute/ -- 20 /ale/ -- 100 /tu tu/ -- 4 /luka tu wan/ -- 8 /nanpa/ can be used to mark ordinals. /jan nanpa wan li pona/ -- The first person is good. /ni li nasin nanpa mute tu wan/ -- That is 23rd Street. And that's it (for grammer)! Vocabulary ========== a -- (emphasis, emotion, or confirmation) akesi -- reptile, amphibian ala -- no, not, zero alasa -- to hunt, to forage ale (ali) -- all, everything, 100 anpa -- downward, humble, lowly ante -- different, other, changed anu -- (connects phrases with "or" rather than "and") awen -- enduring, kept, protected, to continue to e -- (direct object marker) en -- (multiple subject marker) esun -- market, shop, fair ijo -- thing, object, phenomenon ike -- bad, negative, irrelevant ilo -- tool, machine, device, instrument insa -- centre, inside, content, organ, stomach jaki -- disgusting, unclean, toxic jan -- person, somebody jelo -- yellow, yellowish jo -- to have, carry, contain, hold kala -- sea creature kalama -- sound, to make a sound, utter kama -- arriving, coming, future; to become kasi -- plant, vegetation, grass, leaf ken -- to be able to, can, may, possible kepeken -- to use, with, by means of kijete-santakalu ** -- Musteloids, such as racoon kili -- fruit, vegetable kin * -- also, too kipisi * -- to cut, to divide, part, division kiwen -- hard object, metal, stone, rock ko -- clay, semi-solid, paste, powder kon -- air, spirit, essence, unseen agent ku * -- to interact with /Toki Pona Dictionary/ kule -- color, colorful kulupu -- community, group, company, nation kute -- ear, to hear la -- (context marker) lape -- sleeping, resting laso -- blue, green lawa -- head, mind, ruler, to lead, to regulate leko * -- square, block len -- cloth, fabric, cover, layer of privacy lete -- cool, cold, raw li -- (predicate marker) lili -- small, little, few, a bit, young linja -- long and flexible thing, string, cord, hair, thread lipu -- flat object, paper, card, document, website loje -- red, reddish lon -- located at, present at, true luka -- arm, hand, five lukin -- to see, examine lupa -- door, hole, orifice ma -- earth, land, outdoors, soil mama -- parent, creator, caretaker mani -- money, cash, currency item meli * -- Female mi -- first-person pronoun mije * -- male moku -- to eat, to drink, food moli -- dead, dying monsi -- back, behind, rear monsuta * -- fear, monster, scary mu -- (animal noise) mun -- night sky object musi -- entertaining, fun, recreational mute -- many, a lot, very, quantity namako * -- spice, additional nanpa -- Nth, number nasa -- strange, unusual, foolish, silly nasin -- way, road, doctrine, method nena -- bump, hill, nose ni -- this, that nimi -- word, name noka -- foot, leg, lower part o -- (vocative / imperative particle) olin -- to love, to respect ona -- third-person pronoun open -- to begin, to start, opening pakala -- broken, damaged, to mess up pali -- to do, to work on palisa -- long hard object, rod, stick pan -- grain, pasta, bread, rice pana -- to give, to emit, to send pi -- (regroups modifiers) pilin -- heart, feeling pimeja -- black, dark, unlit pini -- finished, past, end pipi -- bug, insect poka -- hip, side, nearby poki -- container, bag, box, bowl, cup pona -- good, useful, simple, positive pu -- interacting with /Toki Pona: The Language of Good/ sama -- similar, same, as seli -- fire, heat source selo -- outer form, surface, skin, peel seme -- what? which? sewi -- area above, highest part, divine, sacred sijelo -- body, torso sike -- circular object, cycle, of one year sin -- new, fresh, another sina -- second-person pronoun sinpin -- face, front, wall sitelen -- image, picture, writing, symbol soko * -- mushroom sona -- to know, wisdom, knowledge, info soweli -- land animal suli -- big, heavy, large suno -- light source, sun, bright supa -- horizontal surface, thing to put objects on suwi -- sweet, cute tan -- from, by, because taso -- but, however, only tawa -- going to, for, moving telo -- liquid, water, beverage tenpo -- time, duration, moment, period toki -- to say, language tomo -- indoor space, building, home tonsi * -- non-binary, trans tu -- two unpa -- sex, to have sexual relations uta -- mouth, lips, oral utala -- to battle, challenge walo -- white, light-colored, pale wan -- one, unique waso -- flying creature wawa -- strong, powerful, confident, energetic weka -- absent, away wile -- must, need, want These definitions have been slightly shortened to better fit two pages. Also refer to other dictionaries and speakers! * These words have been marked as widespread by /lipu Linku/, which that less than 90% of speakers use this word. ** This word is a common joke word, not intended for serious use.