aleall, every, everything, entirety
pinifinish, stop, prevent; close, disable, turn off; ended, past; edge, end, conclusion
lipuflat object; book, card, leaf, paper, document, website
kalafish, marine animal, sea creature, swimming creature
panagive, send, emit, provide, put, release; gift, present
kasiplant, vegetation; herb, leaf
pi particleregroups modifiers
pi is a really useful particle that regroups modifiers.
normally, each modifier modifies the sum of all the previous words in the phrase. the particle pi creates a second phrase which modifies the first phrase.
kala pona mute
many good fish
kala pi pona mute
very good fish
in the first example, mute modifies kala pona, while in the second example, pona mute modifies kala.
phrase refers to a collection of a main word + modifiers, like jan or ilo moku.
it's a common mistake to try to cram as much information as possible into just one phrase. try to avoid this!
if you want to be more easily understood, it's often better to describe concepts in sentences, and then refer back to previously described concepts with a concise phrase which makes sense within the context you've established.
mi toki e ijo pi pona mute
i talk about a very good thing
mi toki e ijo pona mute
i talk about many good things
mi toki e ijo mute pi pona mute
i talk about many things which are very good
kasi telo li ken moku
seaweed is edible
soweli li pana e lipu pi sona mute
the animal is handing out documents with lots of knowledge
jan pi sona kala li sona e ni · kala li ken moku e jan
the marine biologist knows that fish can eat people
ona li waso pi suwi mute
they're a really cute bat
ale li kama kala
everyone is turning into fish
ijo sin pi mute pona li kama
a good amount of new stuff is arriving
i'm reading the book of evil knowledge
mi lukin e lipu pi sona ike
the bugs built a library for books about bugs
pipi li pali e tomo pi lipu pipi
my friend who knows how to build houses is handing out documents about building
jan mi li pana e lipu pali · ona li sona pali e tomo
the absence of my partner makes everything bad
weka pi olin mi li ike e ale
people who are very far away are trying to eat my fish
jan pi weka mute li lukin moku e kala mi
kala li wile lukin e kasi pi lipu sina
the fish wants to see the flowers in your book
mi wile weka e pipi ale
i want to get rid of all bugs
kasi li pana e wawa
plants give strength
soweli lili li ken wawa
small animals can be strong
pini pi lipu sina li ike
the ending of your book could use some work
the end of your book is bad