telo – water / wet / to wash                                        mi en sina li musi mute. – You and                                  To say yes, repeat the verb. To 
           Toki Pona                                                           pona = good, simple / to improve,                                   I are playing a lot.                                                say no, say “verb ala” or “ala.” 
                                                                               to make better / well, greatly                                      With predicates you repeat li.                                      moku – yes 
           Toki Pona is a language                                             Nouns have no singular/plural,                                      soweli ni li lili li suwi. – This animal                            moku ala / ala – no 
           developed by linguist Sonja Lang,                                   and no definite/indefinite article:                                 is small and cute.                                                  You can also append “anu seme.” 
           with only 137 words.                                                kili – a fruit / the fruit / some                                   With direct objects you repeat e. 
           This side describes the entire                                      fruits / the fruits                                                                                                                     sina moku anu seme? – Are you 
           grammar, the other side contains                                                                                                        ona li jo e waso e kala. – She has                                  eating or what? 
           the entire vocabulary.                                              Direct objects                                                      a bird and a fish.                                                  A common way to answer yes to 
           This version is by jan Sa, CC0.                                      The particle e separates a verb                                    With prepositions you repeat the                                    these kinds of questions is with 
           Original by blinry.                                                 from its direct object.                                             preposition.                                                        lon (meaning “true” or 
                                                                                                                                                   mi pali e tomo kepeken palisa                                       “affirmative”). 
           To translate, reach out to me on                                    soweli li moku e telo. – The animal                                 kepeken kiwen. – I make the                                         seme can also be used to create 
           Discord: Green Guy#5294                                             drinks the water.                                                   house using sticks and stones.                                      nonpolar questions. Replace the 
           This version uses both Toki Pona:                                   mi telo e soweli. – I wash the cat.                                                                                                     word in question with seme. 
           The Language of Good and Toki                                                                                                           Loaned Adjectives                                                   jan seme li toki? – Who’s talking? 
           Pona Dictionary as its bases.                                       Modifying words                                                     Toki Pona does not use proper 
           Alphabet                                                            Words can be modified by                                            nouns, but rather proper                                            sina pali e seme? – What are you 
                                                                               appending other words.                                              adjectives:                                                         making? 
           Toki Pona uses these letters:                                       jan lili – small human, child                                       jan Sonja – a Sonja person, a                                       Preverbs 
           a e i j k l m n o p s t u w                                                                                                             person named Sonja 
           You can base them on their                                          tomo mi – my house                                                                                                                      Preverbs go before verbs to 
           sounds in the IPA, but                                                                                                                  toki Tosi – a Tosi (Deutsch)                                        modify their meaning. 
           pronunciation doesn’t matter.                                       pilin pona – a good feeling                                         language, German 
                                                                               To negate a word, append ala:                                                                                                           mi kama sona. – I come to know. 
           Basic sentences                                                                                                                         ma Mewika li suli. – The US is big.                                 waso lili li wile suli. – The small 
           The particle li separates the                                       mi lape ala. – I’m not sleeping.                                    Loaned adjectives must follow                                       bird wants to be big. 
           subject from the predicate.                                         jan ala li toki. – No one is talking.                               Toki Pona’s phonology. Toki Pona                                    The words that can act as 
                                                                               With multiple modifiers, they all                                   uses a (C)V(N) syllable structure.                                  preverbs are wile, kama, sona, 
           soweli li moku. – The cat is eating.                                                                                                    The C can only be one consonant.                                    lukin, ken, awen, and sometimes 
           jan li lape. – Someone is sleeping.                                 modify the first word.                                              Vowel clusters, consonant 
                                                                               lipu kasi tu – two plant documents                                  clusters, and the sequences wu,                                     alasa, open, and pini. 
           There is no verb “to be.”                                                                                                               wo, ji, ti, nm, and nn are                                          Context 
           The part after li can be a noun or                                  poki laso pimeja – a blue and                                       disallowed.  
           an adjective.                                                       black box                                                           o                                                                   la can be used to mark the 
                                                                               You can change the way the                                                                                                              context of a sentence. X la Y 
           kili li moku.  – Fruits are food.                                   modifiers interact using pi.                                        You can use o before a verb to                                      means “In the context of X, Y.” 
           telo li pona. – Water is good.                                      lipu pi kasi tu – a document of two                                 turn it into a command.                                             sina lon poka mi la mi pilin pona. – 
           telo li moku. – Water is a drink.                                   plants                                                              o kute! – Listen!                                                   When you are by my side, I feel 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       good. 
           If the subject is mi or sina alone,                                 poki pi laso pimeja– a dark-blue                                    o pali. – Work, please. 
           the li is always omitted.                                           box                                                                                                                                     Most prepositional terms can be 
                                                                                                                                                   You can use o after a subject to                                    moved behind a la. 
           mi moku. – I eat.                                                   Prepositions                                                        address that subject.                                               mi lape lon tenpo pimeja. tenpo 
           sina pona. – You are good.                                          kepeken, lon, sama, tan, and tawa                                   jan Pape o! – O Pape!                                               pimeja la mi lape. – I sleep at 
           Ambiguity                                                           can act as prepositions. They go                                    You can have o between a subject                                    night. 
                                                                               at the end of a sentence.                                           and predicate to express a wish,                                    sina seli tan seme? tan seme la 
           Toki Pona has ambiguity built into                                  mi moku kepeken ilo. – I eat with                                   desire, request, etc.                                               sina seli? – Why are you hot? 
           the language. You’ll need proper                                    cutlery.                                                            pona o tawa sina. – I wish for                                      Numbers 
           context to understand the                                                                                                               goodness to go to you. 
           intended meaning of a sentence.                                     soweli li lon tomo. – The animal is 
           Verbs have no set tense.                                            in the house.                                                       mi o pali. – I should be working.                                   Combine number words to add 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       them up. 
           mi moku. – I am eating. / I was                                     sina toki sama kala! – You talk like                                Or it can also be a contraction of 
           eating. / I will be eating.                                         a fish!                                                             the first two uses.                                                 wan – 1  tu – 2                  luka – 5 
           Many words have multiple or                                         mi kama tan esun. – I arrive from                                   soweli Ton o moku. – Eat, Ton.                                      tu tu – 4  luka tu wan - 8 
           general meanings.                                                   the store.                                                                                                                              nanpa can be used to mark 
           soweli – cat / dog / (any land                                      ona li toki tawa sina. – They’re                                    Questions                                                           ordinals. 
           mammal)                                                             talking to you.                                                     There are two ways to form yes                                      jan nanpa wan li pona. – The first 
           kili = (any fruit or vegetable)                                     “And”                                                               or no questions. The first way is                                   person is good. 
                                                                                                                                                   “word ala word.”                                                    And… that’s it!                                                                                         
           Most words can act as nouns,                                        There are many ways to say                                          sina moku ala moku? – Are you 
           verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.                                      “and.” With subjects you use en.                                    eating? 
                              a       (emphasis,                                       **kokosila              to speak a                                                musi          entertaining, fun                                           sike        circular object, 
                                      emotion, or                                                              language where                                           mute  many, a lot, very                                                                cycle, of one year 
                                      confirmation)                                                            Toki Pona is more                                                                                                                     sin       new, fresh, 
                       akesi          reptile, amphibian                                                       appropriate                                                    *n       hmm, uhh                                                                another 
                           ala        no, not, zero                                               kon          air, spirit, essence                             *namako  spice, additional                                                        sina         second-person 
                      alasa           to hunt, to forage                                           *ku         interacting with                                      nanpa  -th, number                                                                        pronoun 
                                                                                                               Toki Pona                                                nasa           strange, unusual                                        sinpin          face, front, wall 
                    ale/ali           all, everything                                                          Dictionary 
                       anpa  downward,                                                           kule          color, colorful                                          nasin          way, road,                                             sitelen          image, picture, 
                                      humble, lowly                                                                                                                                    doctrine, method                                                        writing, symbol 
                                                                                            kulupu             community,                                                                                                                       *soko          mushroom 
                        ante          different, other,                                                        group, company                                           nena           bump, hill, nose 
                                      changed                                                   kute           ear, to hear                                                   ni       this, that                                                sona          to know, wisdom 
                          anu         or                                                                                                                                  nimi         word, name                                                              knowledge, info 
                                                                                                     la        (context marker)                                                                                                               soweli           land animal 
                       awen  enduring, kept,                                              *lanpan              get, seize, steal                                        noka           foot, leg 
                                      protected                                                                                                                                        (vocative /                                                  suli       big, heavy, large 
                              e       (direct object                                             lape          sleeping, resting                                               o                                                                 suno          light source, 
                                                                                                                                                                                       imperative 
                                      marker)                                                    laso          blue, green                                                             particle)                                                               bright, sun 
                            en        (multiple subject                                         lawa           head, ruler, to                                           *oko          eye                                                       supa          horizontal surface 
                                      marker)                                                                  lead, to regulate                                           olin        to love                                                    suwi         sweet, cute 
                    **epiku           epic                                                      *leko          square, block                                                           third-person                                                 tan        from, by, because 
                        esun          market, shop, fair                                           len         cloth, fabric                                              ona 
                                                                                                                                                                                       pronoun                                                    taso         but, only 
                            ijo       thing, object                                               lete         cool, cold, raw                                          open  to begin, to start,                                               tawa  going to, moving 
                           ike        bad, negative                                                    li      (predicate                                                              open, turn on 
                                                                                                               marker)                                              pakala             broken, mistake                                             telo        liquid, beverage 
                            ilo       tool, machine,                                                                                                                                                                                           tenpo           time, duration, 
                                      device                                                         lili      small, little, few                                          pali        to do, to work on                                                       moment, period 
                         insa         centre, inside,                                            linja         long and flexible                                      palisa           long hard object                                            toki        to say, language 
                                      organ, stomach                                                           thing, string                                              pan          grain, pasta, 
                          jaki        disgusting,                                                 lipu         flat object, paper,                                                     bread, rice                                              tomo  indoor space 
                                      unclean, toxic                                                           card, website                                                                                                                   *tonsi          non-binary, trans 
                           jan        person,                                                     loje         red, reddish                                             pana  to give, emit, send 
                                                                                                                                                                              pi       (regroups                                                      tu       two 
                                      somebody                                                     lon         located at,                                                             modifiers)                                               unpa  sex, to have 
                   *jasima            mirror, reflect                                                          present at, true                                           pilin        heart, feeling                                                          sexual relations 
                          jelo        yellow, yellowish                                          luka          arm, hand, five                                                                                                                      uta        mouth, oral 
                             jo       to have, carry,                                           lukin          to see, examine                                       pimeja            black, dark, unlit 
                                                                                                                                                                           pini        finished, past, end                                      utala          to battle, 
                                      contain, hold                                              lupa          door, hole, orifice                                                                                                                             challenge  
                        kala          sea creature                                                 ma  earth, land,                                                        pipi        bug, insect                                               walo          white, light-
                  kalama  sound, to make a                                                                     outdoors, soil                                           poka  hip, side, nearby                                                                colored, pale 
                                      sound                                                  mama  parent, creator                                                        poki         container, bag,                                            wan  one, unique 
                      kama  arriving, coming,                                                   mani           money, cash,                                                            box, bowl, cup                                           waso  flying creature 
                                      future                                                                   currency item                                            pona  good, useful,                                                    wawa  strong, powerful 
                         kasi         plant, vegetation                                                                                                                                simple, positive 
                                                                                                 meli          female                                                        pu        interacting with                                         weka  absent, away 
                          ken         to be able to, can,                                    *meso             average                                                                 Toki Pona: The 
                                      may, possible                                                                                                                                                                                                wile        must, need, want 
                                      to use, with, by                                              mi         first-person                                                            Language of                                   These definitions have been 
                 kepeken                                                                                       pronoun                                                                 Good  
                                      means of                                                                                                                                                                                       slightly shortened to better fit a 
                  **kijete-           Musteloids, such                                           mije          male                                                    sama  similar, same, as                                       single page. Also refer to other 
              santakalu               as racoon                                        *misikeke               medicine, drugs                                             seli        fire, heat source                             dictionaries and speakers! 
                            kili      fruit, vegetable                                        moku  to eat, drink, food                                                   selo         outer form, layer,                            *These unofficial words have been 
                                                                                                                                                                                       skin, peel                                    marked as significant by the Toki 
                          *kin        also, too                                                  moli          dead, dying                                             seme  what? which?                                            Pona Dictionary, but do not 
                      *kipisi         to cut, divide                                          monsi            back, behind, rear                                                                                                    appear in Toki Pona: the 
                                                                                                                                                                         sewi          area above,                                   Language of Good. They are 
                      kiwen           hard object,                                     *monsuta                fear, monster,                                                          highest part,                                 included here for lookup 
                                      metal, stone, rock                                                       scary                                                                   divine, sacred                                purposes, but you don’t have to 
                            ko        clay, semi-solid,                                            mu  (animal noise)                                                   sijelo         body, physical                                use them. 
                                      powder                                                                                                                                           state, torso                                  **This word is a common joke 
                                                                                                 mun  night sky object                                                                                                               word, not intended for serious use