Many words can play the role of sina moku e seme? = What are mi moku e kili e telo. = I a noun, adjective, or verb: you eating? consume fruit and water.

Toki Pona telo = water / wet / to wash seme li moku e kili mi? = Who/what ate my fruit? Unofficial words Toki Pona is a constructed pona = good, simple / to fix, to language created by Canadian repair Unofficial words (like names of linguist and translator Sonja Modifying words using countries, languages, or people) Lang in 2001. It’s an experiment Nouns have no singular/plural, pi are capitalized and treated like to see how minimalist a and no definite/indefinite adjectives. They are attached to language can get. article: To modify an expression with a a noun, and often simplified to group of words, separate them Toki Pona’s limited alphabet: This side describes the entire kili = a fruit / the fruit / some with the particle pi. It can often grammar, the other side fruits / the fruits be thought of as “of”. Note the mi jan Kapile. = I’m Gabriele. contains the entire vocabulary. difference: ma Kanata li pona lukin. = Direct objects Cheat sheet by blinry, CC0. tomo telo nasa = crazy water Canada is pretty. The particle e separates a house = strange bathroom morr.cc/toki-pona-cheat-sheet/ mi toki ala e toki Inli. = I don't direct object from the rest of speak English. the sentence: tomo pi telo nasa = house of the Alphabet crazy water = pub ma tomo Nujoka li suli. = New soweli li moku e telo. = The cat York is big. Toki Pona uses nine drinks the water. jan wawa ala = no strong people consonants (j k l m n p s t w) mi telo e soweli. = I’m washing jan pi wawa ala = people of not- Prepositions and five vowels (a e i o u). strong = weak people Pronounciation doesn’t really the cat. lon, kepeken, tawa, and tan can matter. be used as prepositions at the Modifying words Providing context using la end of a sentence: Basic sentences Words can be modified by mi moku lon tomo. = I eat in the appending other words: To add a context to a sentence, The particle li separates the house. prepend another sentence or subject and the verb: jan lili = small human = child expression, followed by la. This mi moku kepeken ilo moku. = I soweli li moku. = The cat is tomo mi = my house often results in a structure like eat using a fork. eating. “If (part 1), then (part 2)” or “In pilin pona = to feel good = to be the context of (part 1), (part2).” sina pona tawa mi. = You are jan li lape. = The person is happy good for me. = I like you. sleeping. mi lape la ali li pona. = When I’m asleep, everything is okay. sina tawa weka tan seme? = There is no verb “to be”; the Negation Why are you leaving? part after li can also be a noun To negate a word, append ala: Time or an adjective. Commands kili li moku. = Fruits are food. mi lape ala. = I'm not sleeping. You can use a la-clause to add a temporal context to a To state a command, use o and jan ala li toki. = Nobody is telo li pona. = Water is good. sentence: then what you want the person talking. to do: telo li moku. = Water is a drink. tenpo ni la mi lape. = I am sleeping right now. o lukin e ni! = Look at this! If the subject is mi or sina, the li Questions is always omitted: To address someone, start a To ask yes-or-no questions, tenpo kama la mi lape. = I will be sleeping in the future. sentence with “(person) o,”: mi moku. = I eat. replace the verb with “(verb) ala (verb)”: tenpo pini la mi lape. = I slept in jan Malin o, sina pona lukin. = sina pona. = You are good. Malin, you are pretty. sina ken ala ken lape? = Are you the past. Ambiguity able to sleep? You can also use this together Compound sentences with a command, merging the soweli li wile ala wile moku? = Is Toki Pona has a lot of two o’s: the cat hungry? Separate multiple subjects in a ambiguity. You’ll often need to sentence using en: jan San o tawa tomo sina. = know the context to decide Alternatively, append anu seme Sam, go home. what things mean. For example, (”or what”) to the sentence: lape en moku li suli. = Sleep and verbs have no tense: food are important. sina wile uta e mi anu seme? = Numbers mi moku. = I am eating. / I was Do you want to kiss me? To say that the subject does eating. / I will be eating. more than one thing, you can Combine number words to add To answer these questions, use multiple li-clauses: them up: Many words have multiple or reply with either “(verb)” or general meanings: “(verb) ala”. pipi li moku li pakala. = The bug wan = 1 tu = 2 luka = 5 eats and destroys. soweli = cat / dog / (any land To ask questions that can’t be luka luka tu wan = 13 mammal) answered with yes or no, write If there are several direct a normal sentence and replace objects of the same verb, you kili = (any fruit or vegetable) And… that’s it! the word in question with seme: can use multiple e-clauses: a (emphasis, emotion or kulupu community, company, namako spice, something extra sewi area above, highest part, confirmation) group, nation, society, tribe something elevated; awe- nanpa -th (ordinal number); inspiring, divine, sacred, akesi non-cute animal; reptile, kute ear; to hear, listen; pay number supernatural amphibian attention to, obey nasa unusual, strange; foolish, sijelo body (of person or animal), ala no, not, zero la (between the context crazy; drunk, intoxicated physical state, torso phrase and the main alasa to hunt, forage nasin way, custom, doctrine, sentence) sike round or circular thing; ball, method, path, road ali all; abundant, countless, circle, cycle, sphere, wheel; lape sleeping, resting bountiful, every, plentiful; nena bump, button, hill, mountain, of one year abundance, everything, life, laso blue, green nose, protuberance sin new, another, more universe; 100 lawa head, mind; to control, ni that, this sina you anpa bowing down, downward, direct, guide, lead, own, nimi name, word humble, lowly, dependent plan, regulate, rule sinpin face, foremost, front, wall noka foot, leg, organ of ante different, altered, changed, len cloth, clothing, fabric, sitelen image, picture, locomotion; bottom, lower other textile; cover, layer of representation, symbol, part privacy mark, writing anu or o hey! O! (vocative or lete cold, cool; uncooked, raw sona to know, be skilled in, be awen enduring, kept, protected, imperative) wise about, have safe, waiting, staying; to li (between any subject oko eye information on; to know continue to except mi alone or sina how to alone and its verb; also to olin to love, have compassion e (before the direct object) introduce a new verb for the for, respect, show affection soweli animal, beast, land mammal en (between multiple subjects) same subject) to suli big, heavy, large, long, tall; esun market, shop, fair, bazaar, lili little, small, short; few; a bit; ona he, she, it, they important; adult business transaction young open to begin, start; open; turn on suno sun; light, brightness, glow, ijo thing, phenomenon, object, linja long and flexible thing; cord, radiance, shine; light source pakala botched, broken, damaged, matter hair, rope, thread, yarn harmed, messed up supa horizontal surface, thing to ike bad, negative; non-essential, lipu flat object; book, document, put or rest something on pali to do, take action on, work irrelevant card, paper, record, website on; build, make, prepare suwi sweet, fragrant; cute, ilo tool, implement, machine, loje red, reddish innocent, adorable palisa long hard thing; branch, rod, device lon located at, present at, real, stick tan by, from, because of insa center, content, inside, true, existing pan cereal, grain; barley, corn, taso but, however; only between; internal organ, luka arm, hand, tactile organ; five oat, rice, wheat; bread, stomach tawa going to, toward; for; from pasta lukin to look at, see, examine, the perspective of; moving jaki disgusting, obscene, sickly, observe, read, watch; to pana to give, send, emit, provide, toxic, unclean, unsanitary telo water, liquid, fluid, wet seek, look for, try to put, release substance; beverage jan human being, person, lupa door, hole, orifice, window pi of somebody tenpo time, duration, moment, ma earth, land; outdoors, world; pilin heart (physical or occasion, period, situation jelo yellow, yellowish country, territory; soil emotional); feeling (an toki to communicate, say, speak, jo to have, carry, contain, hold emotion, a direct mama parent, ancestor; creator, say, talk, use language, experience) kala fish, marine animal, sea originator; caretaker, think creature sustainer pimeja black, dark, unlit tomo indoor space; building, kalama to produce a sound; recite, mani money, cash, savings, pini ago, completed, ended, home, house, room utter aloud wealth; large domesticated finished, past tu two animal kama arriving, coming, future, pipi bug, insect, ant, spider unpa to have sexual or marital summoned; to become, meli woman, female, feminine poka hip, side; next to, nearby, relations with manage to, succeed in person; wife vicinity uta mouth, lips, oral cavity, jaw kasi plant, vegetation; herb, leaf mi I, me, we, us poki container, bag, bowl, box, utala to battle, challenge, ken to be able to, be allowed to, mije man, male, masculine cup, cupboard, drawer, compete against, struggle can, may; possible person; husband vessel against kepeken to use, with, by means of moku to eat, drink, consume, pona good, positive, useful; walo white, whitish; light-colored, swallow, ingest friendly, peaceful; simple kili fruit, vegetable, mushroom pale moli dead, dying pu interacting with the official kin indeed, still, too wan unique, united; one Toki Pona book monsi back, behind, rear kiwen hard object, metal, rock, waso bird, flying creature, winged sama same, similar; each other; stone mu (animal noise or animal sibling, peer, fellow; as, like communication) ko clay, clinging form, dough, wawa strong, powerful; confident, seli fire; cooking element, semi-solid, paste, powder mun moon, night sky object, star sure; energetic, intense chemical reaction, heat kon air, breath; essence, spirit; musi artistic, entertaining, source weka absent, away, ignored hidden reality, unseen agent frivolous, playful, selo outer form, outer layer; bark, wile must, need, require, should, recreational kule colorful, pigmented, painted peel, shell, skin; boundary want, wish mute many, a lot, more, much, seme what? which? several, very; quantity; 20