Questions
The 3 canonical ways to form a question
yes-or-no question
use "PREDICATE ala PREDICATE"
sina moku ala moku?
Do you eat?
ona li pona ala pona tawa sina?
Are they good to you?
(soft) yes-or-no question
add "anu seme" at the end
sina moku anu seme?
You eat, don't you?
question about something
replace the thing you're asking about with "seme"
sina moku e seme?
What are you eating?
sina seme e kili?
What do you do with the fruit?
seme li moku e kili?
Who/What eats the fruit?
jan seme li moku e kili?
Who (what person) eats the fruit?
There is no word for "yes" in toki pona!
• To reply to a yes/no question (see ... questions), repeat the verb:
akesi li suwi ala suwi?
- suwi.
• Alternatively, you can form a full sentence:
akesi li suwi anu seme?
- akesi li suwi!
• Outside of answering to yes/no questions, there are different possibilities to express general affirmation or agreement.
akesi li suwi.
- lon. / ni li lon!
- ni a!
- suwi a!
- mi pilin sama.
(and many more)
• More interjections might also work as "yes" or "yeah"
[scoring a goal at sportsball]
- pona!
- wawa a!
- aa!