la: Difference between revisions
Content added Content deleted
m (Add jan Kekan San) |
m (→External resources: Add more jan Kekan San) |
||
Line 44: | Line 44: | ||
* [https://github.com/kilipan/nasin-toki#the-particle-la nasin toki pona] |
* [https://github.com/kilipan/nasin-toki#the-particle-la nasin toki pona] |
||
* [https://mun.la/sona/la.html jan Kekan San Context and la] |
* [https://mun.la/sona/la.html jan Kekan San Context and la] |
||
* [https://mun.la/sona/la-extras.html jan Kekan San Tricks with la] |
|||
[[Category:Particles]] |
[[Category:Particles]] |
Revision as of 16:39, 27 February 2023
la is a particle of toki pona used to separate a sentence from its context.
Functions of la
la is a context particle. Anything that comes before la in a sentence is taken as context for the rest of the sentence. "X la Y" –> "in the context of X, Y."
- ma mi la kon li lete.
- In the context of my land, the air is cold.
- The air in my country is cold.
It can be used to convey the same information as lon. Anything that you would say after a prepositional lon, you could put before a la and it would mean the same thing.
- mi pilin pona lon tenpo ni.
- tenpo ni la mi pilin pona.
- jan mute li lon ma ni.
- ma ni la jan mute li lon.
It can also move other prepositional phrases to the front, often negating the need for the preposition (but not always).
- ni li pona tawa mi.
- mi la ni li pona.
- tawa mi la ni li pona.
- sina pali e ni tan seme
- tan seme la sina pali e ni.
A la-phrase can even take entire sentences under it, making a conditional phrase
- suno li loje la tenpo li pona.
- When the sun is red, the time is right.
- sina weka la mi pilin ike.
- If you leave, I'll feel sad.
- When you leave, I feel sad.
Idioms
Certain la phrases are used with particular meanings.
- ni la
- so/then
- ante la
- in any case/anyway