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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

External resources

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 == 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." Everything besides this is just an extension/different version of this.
+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.
-ma mi la kon li lete = "In the context of my land, the air is cold"
+: 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
+; 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
+; 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
+; 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
+; 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"
+; 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"
+; sina weka la mi pilin ike.
-It can also form conjunction-like phrases with single words.
+: If you leave, I'll feel sad.
+: When you leave, I feel sad.
+== Idioms ==
-ni la ≈ "so/then"
+Certain [[la]] phrases are used with particular meanings.
+; ni la : so/then
-ante la ≈ "in any case/anyway"
+; ante la : in any case/anyway
 == External resources ==