English Translation
Why is Tom waiting?
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jan Ton: In Toki Pona, "jan" means "person" or "someone," and "Ton" is a proper name. Together, "jan Ton" refers to "Ton the person" or simply "Ton."
li: This is a grammatical particle that separates the subject from the verb in a sentence. It's used when the subject is something other than "mi" (I) or "sina" (you).
awen: This means "to stay," "to remain," or "to wait."
tan seme?: Here, "tan" means "from" or "because of." "seme" is used to form a question and means "what" or "which." Together, "tan seme" means "why" or "because of what."
Putting it all together:
"jan Ton" is the subject (Ton).
"li" is the separator between the subject and the verb.
"awen" is the verb (to stay/wait).
"tan seme?" is the question phrase (why/because of what).
So, “jan Ton li awen, tan seme?” translates to “Why is Ton staying?” or more literally “Ton stays, because of what?”
In summary, the sentence is asking for the reason why Ton is staying or waiting somewhere. The subject-verb-object order and the particles used for structuring questions in Toki Pona are straightforward and follow simple rules.