e
  | |
| Pronunciation | /e/ 🔊 🔊 |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2023: Core (100% → )2022: Core (100%) |
| Book and era | nimi pu |
| Part of speech | Particle |
| Codepoint | U+F1909 |
e is a particle that introduces the target of an action. It is part of the predicate and introduces a direct object.
Function[edit | edit source]
e marks the verb's direct object, the thing to which the subject of the sentence does the action. A verb with a direct object is called a transitive verb.[1] When the action has more than one target, the particle e introduces each new direct object.
jan li wile alasa e mijan li wile alasa e mi[.][2]
Someone wants to hunt me.
ale li ken lukin e ona e pona ona e wawa onaale li ken lukin e ona, e pona ona, e wawa ona![3]
Everyone could see them, their goodness, [and] their might!
Confusion with preposition marker[edit | edit source]
e does not introduce the object of a preposition.
mi lon ma kasimi lon ma kasi.
I am in a land of plants.
If e is used in that position, it invokes a non-prepositional sense of the word.
mi lon e ma kasimi lon e ma kasi.
I created the land of plants.
This distinction extends to transitive prepositional phrases, a nonstandard grammatical construction. Speakers who use this style use e to introduce the direct object of the prepositional phrase.
mi lon ma e kasi.mi lon ma e kasi.
I put-in-the-soil the plants.
Definitions[edit | edit source]
pu[edit | edit source]
In the "Official Toki Pona Dictionary" section, the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good defines e as:
PARTICLE (before the direct object)
sitelen pona[edit | edit source]
The sitelen pona glyph for e () represents the heads of a double arrow symbol, facing rightwards along the standard writing direction. It is a reduplication of the glyph for li (li).
sitelen sitelen[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ See Hopper, Paul J., and Sandra A. Thompson. “Transitivity in Grammar and Discourse.” Language, vol. 56, no. 2, 1980, pp. 251–99. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/413757. Accessed 16 Jan. 2024.
- ↑ jan Lakuse, "luka waso pi nena taso" (2023) utala pona http://utala.pona.la/toki-en-lipu/toki-lili.html#luka-waso-pi-nena-taso
- ↑ mun Kekan San, "jan mun" (2023) utala pona http://utala.pona.la/toki-en-lipu/lipu-suli/jan-mun.html#sitelen-Lasina
Further reading[edit | edit source]
Resources[edit | edit source]
- Toki Pona: The Language of Good: Lesson 5
- jan Kekan San: Objects with e
- jan Lentan: Lesson 3
- jan Misali: objects (toki pona lesson two)
- soweli Tesa: Lesson 4
- nasin toki pona: the particle e
- Jonathan Gabel: Direct Objects
Dictionaries[edit | edit source]
- "e" on lipu Linku
- "e" on lipu Wikipesija
- "e" on English Wiktionary