meli sama mute li olin ala e sama.

Sentence Discussions Toki Pona
#1
English Translation

The sisters hate each other.

Let’s break down the sentence “meli sama mute li olin ala e sama.”

“Toki Pona” has a subject-verb-object (SVO) sentence structure.

  1. “meli sama mute” - Toki Pona uses modifier after the noun. “meli” is woman, “sama” is same or sibling, and “mute” conveys plurality. Combined, it means “many sisters.”

  2. “li” - separates the subject from the verb in the presence of a specific subject.

  3. “olin ala” - “olin” is to love, and “ala” is the negation or ‘not.’ Combined, it means “do not love.”

  4. “e” is a direct object marker, this is used before the specific things that the subject is acting on.

  5. “sama” - as an object can be taken to mean “each other”, thus it goes after the e.

So, when you put it all together “meli sama mute li olin ala e sama.” translates to “Many sisters do not love each other.”.