English Translation
Why don’t you understand?
In Toki Pona, “sina sona ala e ni tan seme?” can be broken down as follows:
"sina" - This word refers to the second person singular pronoun "you" in English.
"sona" - This word means "to know" or "knowledge."
"ala" - It is a particle that negates the word that follows it. So, "ala" makes the verb "sona" negative, indicating "do not know" or "ignorance."
"e" - This is a particle that marks the direct object of a transitive verb. It doesn't have a direct translation in English, but it's used to show that "ni" is the direct object of the verb "sona" in this sentence.
"ni" - This word means "this" or "that" and is used to point to a specific thing or concept. In this sentence, "ni" is referring to something specific that is being discussed.
"tan" - This word means "because" or "from." It is used to indicate the reason or cause of something.
"seme" - This word is used to indicate a question, similar to the English word "what."
Putting it all together, “sina sona ala e ni tan seme?” translates to “Why don’t you know about this?” in English. The sentence is structured in the SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) format common in Toki Pona. “Sina” is the subject (you), “sona ala” is the verb phrase (don’t know), “e ni” is the direct object (this), and “tan seme” is the question (why).