Personal pronouns

From sona pona, the Toki Pona wiki
Revision as of 19:28, 3 October 2023 by SnpoSuwan (talk | contribs)
mi in sitelen pona
mi in sitelen sitelen
Pronunciation /mi/
Usage 2023: Core (100% → )2022: Core (100%)
Book and era nimi pu
Part of speech Content word
Codepoint 󱤴 U+F1934
sina in sitelen pona
sina in sitelen sitelen
Pronunciation /ˈsi.na/
Usage 2023: Core (100% → )2022: Core (100%)
Book and era nimi pu
Part of speech Content word
Codepoint 󱥞 U+F195E
ona in sitelen pona
ona in sitelen sitelen
Pronunciation /ˈo.na/
Usage 2023: Core (100% ↗︎ )2022: Core (99%)
Book and era nimi pu
Part of speech Content word
Codepoint 󱥆 U+F1946

The personal pronouns in Toki Pona are mi (first-person), sina (second-person), and ona (third-person). In terms of number and syntax, pronouns act the same as any other content word.

Number

Pronouns are generally not marked for number. They can be either singular or plural:

mi

mi

I/me
we/us

sina

sina

you
you (plural)

ona

ona

it, she/her, he/him, singular they/them
they/them

If number must be specified, it can be added as a modifier:

mi wan

mi wan

I

mi tu

mi tu

us two

mi mute

mi mute

mi ale

mi ale

we all

Possessives

When used as modifiers, personal pronouns almost always imply possession:

ijo mi

ijo mi

my stuff
our stuff

ijo sina

ijo sina

your stuff

ijo ona

ijo ona

their stuff

Distinction

Pronouns are not marked for gender. One can narrow down the referent of a pronoun by using any quality as a modifier.

ona jelo

ona jelo

the yellow one(s) of them

sina suli o!

sina suli o!

Hey, the tall one(s) of you!

li dropping

If the subject of a sentence is only mi or only sina, the particle li, that would usually follow it, is dropped.

mi pona  ijo mi li pona 

mi pona. ijo mi li pona.

sina pona  sina kin li pona 

sina pona. sina kin li pona.

mi en sina li pona 

mi en sina li pona.

ona li pona 

ona li pona.

Other pronouns

The words ni ("this, that") and seme ("what") are also pronouns, as they stand in for a content word or phrase, but they are not personal pronouns. See also ona vs ni.

Notes

  1. Similarly to other content words, mute is generally reserved for three or more individuals. If "we" refers to two people it is more common to use mi tu or just mi instead of mi mute.