English Translation
The old lady climbed the stairs with difficulty.
n English, the Toki Pona sentence “meli pi tenpo sike suli li tawa sewi lon supa mute. ni li kiwen tawa ona.” translates to: “A woman of great age ascends on many steps. This is a stone moving with her.”
Let’s break down the sentence word by word:
meli pi tenpo sike suli:
meli = woman, female
pi = of (used to link a modifier phrase to a noun)
tenpo = time
sike = circle, year
suli = big, long, important, old
Putting it together: "woman of great age" or "older woman". Here, "meli" is the main noun, and "pi tenpo sike suli" modifies it, indicating that she is a woman of long time, i.e., an older or elderly woman.
li tawa sewi lon supa mute:
li = separates the subject from the predicate (verb and rest of the sentence)
tawa = to move, to go, moving
sewi = upwards, above, to the sky
lon = at, in, on
supa = surface, furniture, step
mute = many
Putting it together: "moves up/on many steps" or "ascends on many steps". Here, "li tawa sewi" means "she moves upwards," and "lon supa mute" means "on many steps".
Combining the phrases: “meli pi tenpo sike suli li tawa sewi lon supa mute” means “An older woman ascends on many steps.”
ni li kiwen tawa ona:
ni = this, that
kiwen = stone, hard object
tawa = to move, movement, traveling
ona = her, him, it
Putting it together: "This is a stone moving with her". "ni li" introduces a subject (this), "kiwen" means stone, "tawa" means moving, and "ona" means her. This suggests that as the woman ascends, there is a stone that moves with her.
So, the full explanation of the original sentence is: An older woman is climbing many steps. There is a stone that is moving with her.