lipu sona

sitelen pona is a writing system for toki pona created by Sonja Lang. You may have already seen sitelen pona symbols on the red word cards in each lesson.

Every toki pona word has a corresponding sitelen pona symbol. The symbols are often representative of the meaning of the word. For example, the symbol for poki (poki) is a stylized box.

The writing system is used in many contexts and is definitely worth learning.

The examples in this lesson will all have sitelen pona transcriptions. The sitelen pona text you see in this course is written in my font, linja suwi.

moku ale mi li lon poki.
mokualemililonpoki.
All of my food is in boxes.

ilo li pana e kiwen tawa ilo ante.
ilolipanaekiwentawailoante.
The machine transfers stone to the other machine.

telo li lete lon poki mi tan pakala pi ilo seli.
teloliletelonpokimitanpakalapiiloseli.
The water in my bath is cold because the heater is broken.

ilo li ante e kiwen tawa ko.
ilolianteekiwentawako.
The machine makes the rocks into powder.

lupa li lon tomo mi.
lupalilontomoni
On my house, there is a door.

To write a name or a foreign word in sitelen pona, for each letter in the word, write a character for a word that starts with that letter, then draw a rectangle or cartouche around it. You can choose these characters to be representative of you or the thing you’re naming.

jan Itan li tan tomo lon nena.
jan[ijotokiantenasa]litantomolonnena.
Ethan is from a house on a hill.