Putting It Together
Toki Pona 1
Chapter 10 · Putting It Together
🌟 Putting It Together — toki pona li pona!
You now have every part of the language: the sounds, pronouns, li and e, questions, prepositions, numbers, colours, commands, joining words and names. This last chapter puts them together. You will read a full conversation, read a short story, learn how the Toki Pona community works and how it has added to the language, and see where to go next. The chapter ends with a recap of the whole course.
💬 A Full First Conversation
Two people meet for the first time. Every sentence uses only things you have learned.
① Meeting — toki!
② Getting to Know You — toki e toki
③ A Meal Together — moku
④ Asking for Help — o
⑤ Parting — tawa pona
📖 A Short Story — lipu musi
The story below uses only words and patterns from this course. Read it once for the shape, then again with the English line.
waso lili — The Little Bird
🌍 The Community and Its Extra Words
Toki Pona is a living language with a community of thousands of speakers online, who talk, write and play with it. Because 120 words cannot cover everything, the community has added to the language in several ways:
| What | How it works | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Names | Names are written in the Toki Pona alphabet and capitalised (Chapter 9) | jan Mali, ma Kanata |
| Compound meanings | A noun plus describing words builds a new sense (Chapter 3) | tomo telo "bathroom" |
| Extra words | Some speakers use a few words from outside the official 120, often called "nasin sin" (new way) words | misikeke "medicine", leko "block" |
| Reference books | The official book pu (2014) and a later dictionary, ku (2021), based on how speakers actually use the words | pu, ku |
This is the "fixed core, open growth" pattern described in Constructed Languages 11: a stable foundation (the 120 words and the grammar) with an open edge where the community decides what to adopt. Many speakers stay with the official 120 only.
🎓 Course Complete: What You Can Now Do
| Chapter | You can … |
|---|---|
| 1 Hello, Toki Pona | read the 14 sounds, greet and give a short reply |
| 2 First Sentences | use mi, sina, ona and know when li is dropped |
| 3 Words With Many Jobs | read a word's job from its position and build phrases |
| 4 Actions and Objects | mark objects with e and negate with ala |
| 5 Questions and Answers | ask yes/no questions, use seme and anu, and answer |
| 6 Places and Tools | use lon, tawa, tan, kepeken, sama |
| 7 Numbers, Colours and Feelings | count, name colours and say how you feel |
| 8 Commands and Joining | give commands, join subjects and sentences, and set a scene with la |
| 9 Names and Writing | regroup with pi, adapt names and recognise the script |
| 10 Putting It Together | hold a conversation and read a short story |
📜 Reading — lukin
A last text, a letter, using only what you know.
True or false? (a) The writer is in a new house. (b) The weather is hot. (c) The writer is unhappy. (d) The writer invites the friend.
Show answers
(a) True: tomo sin. (b) False: kon li lete, the air is cold. (c) False: mi pilin pona. (d) True: o kama lukin e mi!
✍️ Try It Yourself — pali
Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.
1. Write a short introduction of yourself with at least five sentences: name, country, languages, a feeling, and a goodbye.
Show answer
For example: toki! nimi mi li Mali. mi kama tan ma Kanata. mi toki e toki Inli e toki pona. mi pilin pona. tawa pona! Your version will differ; check it against the rules for li, e and capitals.
2. Translate: "At night I sleep in a cold house. In the daytime I eat bread and work with a tool."
Show answer
tenpo pimeja la mi lape lon tomo lete. tenpo suno la mi moku e pan e pali kepeken ilo. (several correct versions exist)
3. Ask three questions to a new friend: where they come from, whether they like fruit, and what their name is.
Show answer
sina kama tan ma seme? · sina wile ala wile e kili? · nimi sina li seme?
4. Write a four-sentence story of your own about an animal, using at least one taso, one la and one colour.
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For example: soweli laso li lon ma. ona li wile moku. taso moku li weka. tenpo pimeja la ona li lape. ("A green animal is on the land. It wants to eat. But the food is far away. At night it sleeps.")
5. Find and fix every mistake: mi li wile pan, jan pi pona li lukin mi, mi kama tan ma kanata.
Show answer
mi wile e pan (no li after mi; e before the object). jan pona li lukin e mi (no pi with one word; add e). mi kama tan ma Kanata (capital for a name).
6. Which Toki Pona ideas are the hardest for you, and which are the most useful? Write two sentences, one for each.
Show answer
There is no single right answer. Check that you used the patterns from Chapters 2 to 4, for example toki li ike tawa mi. ("Talking is bad for me.") and sitelen li pona tawa mi. ("Writing is good for me.").