The first word of a Toki Pona sentence should not be capitalized. If this is happening automatically, you might want to turn off auto-capitalization. (Read more…)
Many learners have the urge to put modifiers, especially possessive pronouns, ni, and numbers, at the start of a phrase. In Toki Pona, all modifiers must go after the head of the phrase. In fact, those ones tend to be placed at the very end of the phrase instead. (Read more…)
The word li does not mean "is". It is a particle that marks the start of the predicate, and has no semantic meaning on its own. The word after li might translate as "to be something", or it might be an action verb instead of a state of being. (Read more…)
The word li is dropped when the subject of a sentence is only mi or only sina. Many learners overcorrect for this rule, but the exact phrasing is important. If the subject has other words besides mi or sina, or if multiple subjects are joined with en, then li should be left in. (Read more…)
To get someone's attention, the word o must go after their name or descriptor. To give a command, o goes before the verb. (Read more…)