lipu sona

Pronouns

In toki pona, there are three pronouns: mi, sina, and ona.

mi
I, me, my

sina
you, your

ona
they, she, he, it

mi or sina are exceptions to the li sentence structure. When the subject of a sentence is only mi or sina, don’t use li.

Here’s some examples of sentences with pronouns:

sina pona.
You are good.
Thank you.

mi utala.
I fight.

ona li moku.
She eats.

ni li ona.
This is him.

Transitive verbs and e

Transitive verbs are verbs that have an object. An object is the target of an action. For example, in English, in the sentence “I eat a fruit”, the word eat is a transitive verb, because it has a target: a fruit.

In toki pona, a transitive verb’s object is marked with e:

jan li weka e ijo.
The person throws away something.

sina pana e lipu.
You give books.

mi open e lipu.
I open a book.

ona li pona e ijo.
He fixes an object.