English Translation
My telephone number is 9876-5432.
Sure! Let’s break down the Toki Pona sentence “nanpa pi ilo toki mi li luka tu tu li luka tu wan li luka tu li luka wan li luka li tu tu li tu wan li tu.” into smaller parts and explain the grammar and meaning step by step.
First, here’s a glossary of the key Toki Pona words and their English translations used in this sentence:
nanpa: number
pi: of (used to connect nouns or adjectives to specify)
ilo: tool
toki: language, communication
mi: my, I
li: (separator for subject and predicate, except after mi or sina)
luka: five
tu: two
wan: one
Notice that numbers in Toki Pona are often written in a simple form:
luka: five
tu: two
wan: one
Combining these gives additional numbers:
luka tu tu: five (luka) plus two (tu) plus two (tu) = nine
luka tu wan: five (luka) plus two (tu) plus one (wan) = eight
luka tu: five (luka) plus two (tu) = seven
luka wan: five (luka) plus one (wan) = six
tu tu: two (tu) plus two (tu) = four
tu wan: two (tu) plus one (wan) = three
tu: two (tu) = two
Now let’s look at the sentence piece by piece:
nanpa pi ilo toki mi li luka tu tu:
"nanpa pi ilo toki mi" can be translated as "the number of my language tool."
"li" is the separator starting the predicate.
"luka tu tu" translates to "nine" (five plus two plus two).
So, this part means: "The number of my language tool is nine."
li luka tu wan:
This continues the predicate.
"luka tu wan" translates to "eight" (five plus two plus one).
So, now the sentence says: "... and it is eight."
li luka tu:
Here, "luka tu" translates to "seven" (five plus two).
Adding this: "... and it is seven."
li luka wan:
"luka wan" translates to "six" (five plus one).
Continuing: "... and it is six."
li luka:
"luka" translates to "five."
So: "... and it is five."
li tu tu:
"tu tu" translates to "four" (two plus two).
Adding: "... and it is four."
li tu wan:
"tu wan" translates to "three" (two plus one).
So: "... and it is three."
li tu:
"tu" translates to "two."
Finally: "... and it is two."
Combining all the parts, the full translation is: “The number of my language tool is nine, it is eight, it is seven, it is six, it is five, it is four, it is three, it is two.”
This sentence shows the basic structure and counting in Toki Pona, listing numbers attributed to an object in decreasing order.