Places and Tools

Toki Pona 1

Chapter 6 · Places and Tools

📍 Places and Tools — lon, tawa, tan, kepeken, sama

Until now a sentence has said who does what to whom. This chapter adds the rest: where, to where, from where, with what, and like what. Toki Pona does this with just five small words, called prepositions because they go before a noun phrase. By the end you will say "I am at the house", "I go to the market", "I work with a tool" and "she is like me".

🧭 The Five Prepositions

Word	Core meaning	Example	English
lon	at, in, on	mi lon tomo.	I am at the house.
tawa	to, towards; for	mi tawa ma.	I go to the land.
tan	from; because of	mi kama tan tomo.	I come from the house.
kepeken	using, with (a tool)	mi pali kepeken ilo.	I work with a tool.
sama	like, the same as	ona li sama mi.	She is like me.

The Pattern — Verb, Object, Then the Preposition Phrase A preposition phrase goes after the verb and after the object, if there is one:
mi moku e pan lon tomo. "I eat bread at the house."
jan li pali e tomo kepeken ilo. "The person builds a house using a tool."
Nothing changes in the rest of the sentence: li and e still go where they went in Chapters 2 and 4.

🗺️ Position Words After lon

For exact positions, Toki Pona uses ordinary nouns after lon. Read the pair as "at the [position] of [thing]":

Toki Pona	Literal	English
lon insa tomo	at inside house	inside the house
lon sewi tomo	at above house	above the house; on the roof
lon anpa supa	at below table	under the table
lon poka mi	at side me	beside me
lon sinpin tomo	at front house	in front of the house
lon monsi tomo	at back house	behind the house

🔄 Same Words, Different Roles

Several of these words have other jobs, as you learned in Chapter 3. The position in the sentence tells you which:

Toki Pona	Job of the word	English
mi tawa.	tawa is the verb	I go.
mi tawa tomo.	tawa is the verb; tomo is the destination	I go to the house.
mi pali tawa sina.	tawa is a preposition	I work for you.
mi lon.	lon is the verb	I exist, I am here.
mi lape lon tomo.	lon is a preposition	I sleep at the house.

Watch Out — Verb or Preposition? If a sentence has no other verb, the word is the verb: mi tawa tomo "I go (to) the house". If there is a verb before it, the word is a preposition: mi moku lon tomo "I eat at the house". Do not stack two prepositions without a verb between them, and do not add e after a preposition: mi lon e tomo is wrong.

💬 Five Short Dialogs

① Where Are You — lon seme?

A: sina lon seme? Where are you?

B: mi lon tomo. I am at the house.

A: sina lon insa tomo anu lon ma? Are you inside the house or outside on the land?

B: mi lon insa tomo. I am inside the house.

② Going Somewhere — tawa seme?

A: sina tawa seme? Where are you going?

B: mi tawa tomo esun. I am going to the market (trading house).

A: mi tawa kin. I am going too.

③ Where From — tan

A: sina kama tan ma seme? Which land do you come from?

B: mi kama tan ma lete. I come from a cold land.

A: ma sina li pona ala pona? Is your land good?

B: pona. Yes.

④ With a Tool — kepeken

A: sina pali e tomo kepeken seme? What do you build the house with?

B: mi pali kepeken ilo. I work with a tool.

B: mi kipisi e kasi kepeken ilo. I cut the plant with the tool.

⑤ Like Me — sama

A: jan ni li sama mi. This person is like me.

B: mi sama sina. I am like you.

A: mi mute li sama. We are the same.

📖 Vocabulary — nimi

15 words from the official 120, the last of the common nouns, adjectives and prepositions. Stress is on the first syllable.

#	Toki Pona	Say it	Meaning	Type
1	tan	tan	from; because of; reason	prep
2	kepeken	KE-pe-ken	use, using, with	prep
3	sama	SA-ma	same, like, equal	prep
4	insa	IN-sa	inside, centre, stomach	noun
5	anpa	AN-pa	below, low, humble	noun
6	poka	PO-ka	side, hip, near	noun
7	sinpin	SIN-pin	front, face, wall	noun
8	monsi	MON-si	back, behind, rear	noun
9	weka	WE-ka	away, absent, far	adj
10	nena	NE-na	hill, mountain, bump, nose	noun
11	lete	LE-te	cold, raw	adj
12	moli	MO-li	dead, die, kill	adj / verb
13	namako	NA-ma-ko	spice, extra, flavouring	noun
14	musi	MU-si	fun, play, art, game	adj / noun
15	suwi	SU-wi	sweet, cute, dear	adj

Real Toki Pona Tip — Reasons and Purposes tan is not only "from a place": mi pilin pona tan sina is "I feel good because of you", and tan seme? is "why?". tawa likewise covers a purpose: mi pali tawa sina is "I work for you". When you meet an unfamiliar sentence, ask what each preposition is pointing from, to or with. That is the same economy that Constructed Languages 4 describes: a few small words carry the whole structure.

📜 Reading — lukin

mi kama tan ma lete. mi lon tomo sin. mi pali kepeken ilo. jan pona mi li lon poka mi. mi pilin pona tan ona. I come from a cold land. I am at a new house. I work with a tool. My friend is beside me. I feel good because of her.

True or false? (a) The speaker's land is warm. (b) The speaker lives in a new house. (c) The friend is far away. (d) The speaker feels good because of the friend.

Show answers

(a) False: ma lete. (b) True: lon tomo sin. (c) False: lon poka mi. (d) True: mi pilin pona tan ona.

✍️ Try It Yourself — pali

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

1. Say "I am inside the house" and "The bird is above the tree".

Show answer

mi lon insa tomo. · waso li lon sewi kasi.

2. Say "I go to the market" and "I come from the hill".

Show answer

mi tawa tomo esun. · mi kama tan nena.

3. Say "I cut bread with a tool" and "The person eats fruit beside the water".

Show answer

mi kipisi e pan kepeken ilo. · jan li moku e kili lon poka telo.

4. Find the mistake: mi lon e tomo, mi moku kepeken e ilo, mi tawa lon ma.

Show answer

No e after a preposition: mi lon tomo and mi moku kepeken ilo. For "I go to the land", use mi tawa ma; mi tawa lon ma would mean "I move about on the land".

5. Say "My friend is like you" and "My friend is far away".

Show answer

jan pona mi li sama sina. · jan pona mi li weka.

6. Ask "Why are you sleeping?" and answer "Because I work".

Show answer

sina lape tan seme? · mi lape tan pali. (literally "I sleep because of work")

Coming Up in Chapter 7 Numbers, colours and feelings: counting with wan, tu, luka, mute, the colour words, and the words for feelings and states, plus nanpa for order.