English Translation
A butterfly’s wing contains many details.
The phrase “ilo tawa pi pipi Papilon li jo e linja mute” translates to “the moving tool of the butterfly has many lines”. Let’s break it down:
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“ilo”: this is the noun here, which translates to “tool” or “device” (can also mean knowledge, but in this context, it’s more likely to mean tool or device)
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“tawa”: this is a preposition that means “to” or “for”.
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“pi pipi Papilon”: pi is used to combine two or more words into a single modifier for another word. “pipi” means “bug” or “insect”, and “Papilon” would be a proper noun, in this case, the name of that insect - “butterfly”. So “pi pipi Papilon” together means “of the butterfly”.
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“li”: a separator between the subject and its predicate.
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“jo e linja mute”: “jo e” in Toki Pona means “has”. “linja” means “line” or “string”, and “mute” means “many”. So this whole phrase would be “has many lines”.
So overall, “ilo tawa pi pipi Papilon li jo e linja mute” when translated directly sounds like “The tool for moving of the butterfly has many lines”, but would make more sense translated as “the butterfly’s wings have many lines” or “the wings of a butterfly have a lot of veins”.