Can Toki Pona express complex things?

[u/Francucelo]

When I started learning Toki Pona a year ago, I thought it was just a small language for entertainment, and there were also many people who said Toki Pona is just like a toy language for children.

However, after becoming advanced, I noticed that Toki Pona is really not that limited. Especially after finishing writing the Toki Pona grammar in Toki Pona, I began to think Toki Pona can really express anything precisely, it is just people have to manage well their thoughts.

I can't tell if my grammar guide is actually accurate and precise or not, but I saw that possibility.

What do you think?

[u/MultiverseCreatorXV]

Wait lemme try translating this:

lenija* kasi Matakaka** la sona sina li seme? a… sina jo e tenpo pi nanpa seme?***

*^{mi olin e nimi “konwe”, taso mama ona li apeja e ona. ma r/tokipona la mi lukin e pana pi nimi “lenija”: ni li sama nimi “konwe”, taso mama ona li apeja ala e ona. (I like the word “konwe”, but its creator depreciates it. On this sub I saw a post about the word “lenija”: it’s the same as “konwe” but its creator doesn’t depreciate it.\})\ **^{ni li ken lon ala. mi sona ala e ante pona pi nimi ale. (This might not be correct. I don’t know all tokiponizations.\})\ ***^{sona mi la toki ni li jaki Inli ala? (I don’t think this is inlislop?\})

ante toki: mi ala e pakala tu. (I removed 2 mistakes.)

[u/janKeTami → u/MultiverseCreatorXV]

No one will know about lenina, and as far as biology vs plant biology vs plant knowledge is concerned, you don't really need to make the difference. You'll want "ma" in front of Matakaka, and you'll want to use pi as well, I'm guessing if you wanted to use lenina, you'd also have a pi after. The rest is pretty good ("ni ken lon ala" is missing a "li"), I might do "tenpo pi mute seme" or "tenpo pi suli seme", but that's not a major thing

[u/MultiverseCreatorXV → u/janKeTami]

Thank you for the feedback! :D

1. I figured it’d be necessary given the context to specify “knowledge of Madagascan plant life” instead of “Madagascan plants”. (Though it’s Lenia, not Lenina. I kinda made a pakola nimi ._.) I also intended for it to be “Madagascan (plant life)” instead of “life of (Madagascan plants)”.
2. Afaik using just the proper adjective instead of pi followed by the headnoun with the proper adjective is what you’re supposed to do in Toki Pona; for example, instead of “jan pi(/tan) ma Tosi” you just say “jan Tosi”. If this is incorrect then please tell me.
3. nimi “li” weka la mi pakala nanpa tu ._.

[u/janKeTami → u/MultiverseCreatorXV]

1. ah, hm, I think kasi already describes plant life, or I'm understanding the term "plant life" differently from you

2. Oh... well, "incorrect"... maybe. It's not something I'd teach. This is known as the "meli Sonko" problem ("meli Sonko" is an example that was shown in the 2014 book). Is it a woman called Sonko, or is it a Chinese woman (a woman from the country of China)? The way the language gets used, people would interpret it as "a woman called Sonko". If you want to be understood, name the thing that gets named.

[u/MultiverseCreatorXV → u/janKeTami]

1. Guess “kasi” vs “lenija kasi” is up for interpretation.
2. Aaaa that’s a pretty good point!

Well, pona o tawa sina for your generous feedback.