First Sentences

Toki Pona 1

Chapter 2 · First Sentences

🧱 First Sentences — mi pona, jan li pona

Chapter 1 gave you short sentences with mi and sina. This chapter shows the pattern behind them, and the one small word that joins everything else together: li. By the end you will build sentences about people, animals and things, and say what they are, what they are like and what they do. Everything here is a sentence with a subject and a predicate and no object; objects arrive in Chapter 4.

The Pattern — Subject, li, Predicate A basic sentence has two parts: the subject (who or what) and the predicate (what is said about it). The word li sits between them. There is no verb "to be", so the predicate can be a describing word, a noun or a verb:
jan li pona. "The person is good."
ona li jan. "She is a person."
soweli li moku. "The animal eats."

👤 Three Pronouns — mi, sina, ona

Word	Say it	Meaning
mi	mi	I, me, we, us
sina	SI-na	you (one or many)
ona	O-na	he, she, it, they

There is no "he" versus "she", no singular versus plural, and no "it" as a separate word. To be specific, add a word: mi mute "we" (literally "I many"), ona mute "they".

✂️ The Rule for li

Use li after the subject, with one exception: when the subject is exactly mi or sina on its own, li is dropped.

Subject	Pattern	Example	English
mi	no li	mi pona.	I am well.
sina	no li	sina suli.	You are big (important).
ona	li	ona li pona.	He / she / they are good.
any noun	li	tomo li suli.	The house is big.
mi mute	li	mi mute li pona.	We are well.

Watch Out — "mi mute" Needs li mi li pona is wrong, and so is mi mute pona. The exception is for mi and sina standing alone. As soon as another word joins the subject (mi mute, sina wan), li comes back. A good habit: look at the subject; if it is just mi or sina, leave out li; otherwise put it in.

🏷️ Three Kinds of Predicate

The predicate is …	Example	English
a describing word	kasi li suli.	The plant is big.
a noun	mi jan pona.	I am a friend.
a verb on its own	waso li kalama.	The bird makes a sound.

Notice that jan pona is one noun phrase: the first word is the head and the second describes it. The same word can be a describing word in one sentence and a noun in the next; the position tells you which.

💬 Five Short Dialogs

① Who Is That — jan

A: ona li jan pona mi. She is my friend.

B: ona li pona. She is good.

② The Animal — soweli

A: soweli li suli. The animal is big.

B: soweli li moku. The animal is eating.

A: ona li pona. It is good.

③ At Home — tomo

A: tomo mi li sin. My house is new.

B: tomo sina li suli. Your house is big.

A: mi pona. I am happy.

④ A Child — jan lili

A: jan lili li lape. The child is sleeping.

B: mi lape ala. I am not sleeping.

B: mi pali. I am working.

⑤ Birds and Trees — waso, kasi

A: waso li kalama. The bird is singing (making sound).

B: kasi li suli. waso li pona. The tree is big. The bird is good.

Two forms above are previews: tomo mi "my house" and jan pona mi "my friend" put the pronoun after the noun like any describing word (Chapter 3 explains this). ala after a verb makes it negative: mi lape ala, "I am not sleeping".

📖 Vocabulary — nimi

20 words from the official 120. Many can play more than one role.

#	Toki Pona	Say it	Meaning	Type
1	li	li	(links the subject to its predicate)	particle
2	soweli	SO-we-li	land animal	noun
3	waso	WA-so	bird, flying creature	noun
4	kasi	KA-si	plant, tree	noun
5	telo	TE-lo	water, liquid	noun
6	moku	MO-ku	eat, drink; food	verb
7	lape	LA-pe	sleep, rest	verb
8	pali	PA-li	do, make, work	verb
9	kalama	KA-la-ma	make a sound, noise	verb
10	lili	LI-li	small, young	adj
11	sin	sin	new, fresh, another	adj
12	wan	wan	one, unique	adj
13	mama	MA-ma	parent, ancestor, creator	noun
14	meli	ME-li	woman, female	noun
15	mije	MI-je	man, male	noun
16	tomo	TO-mo	house, room	noun
17	jan	yan	person	noun
18	mute	MU-te	many, much	adj
19	suli	SU-li	big, important	adj
20	ala	A-la	not, no, none	particle

Real Toki Pona Tip — Compound Meanings A noun plus a describing word often gives a new, specific meaning: jan lili "small person" is "child"; jan sin "new person" is "newcomer"; meli + mama would be "mother". The community calls this building a meaning from parts, and good speakers prefer it to inventing new words. Compare how Constructed Languages 10 describes growing a vocabulary from a small core.

📜 Reading — lukin

tomo mi li suli. jan mute li lon. soweli li moku. waso li kalama. mi pona. My house is big. Many people are here. The animal is eating. The bird is singing. I am happy.

True or false? (a) The house is small. (b) The animal is sleeping. (c) The speaker is well. (d) There are no people.

Show answers

(a) False: tomo mi li suli. (b) False: soweli li moku. (c) True: mi pona. (d) False: jan mute li lon.

✍️ Try It Yourself — pali

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.

1. Say "I am working" and "You are sleeping".

Show answer

mi pali. · sina lape. (no li after mi or sina)

2. Say "The bird is small" and "The woman is big".

Show answer

waso li lili. · meli li suli.

3. Which of these has a mistake, and how do you fix it: mi li moku, ona pona, jan li pona?

Show answer

mi li moku should be mi moku (no li after bare mi). ona pona should be ona li pona (ona needs li). jan li pona is correct.

4. Say "We are well" and "They are well".

Show answer

mi mute li pona. · ona li pona. (mi mute is not bare mi, so it keeps li.)

5. Say "My friend is a child" and "The child is not eating".

Show answer

jan pona mi li jan lili. · jan lili li moku ala.

6. What does jan sin mean literally and naturally? What does soweli lili mean?

Show answer

jan sin: "new person", i.e. a newcomer. soweli lili: "small animal".

Coming Up in Chapter 3 Words that do many jobs: how one word is a noun, a verb and a describing word, and how to build longer phrases such as jan pona mi and tomo telo by stacking describing words after the head word.