tan seme la jan Ton li pilin monsuta?

Sentence Discussions Toki Pona
#1
English Translation

What’s Tom afraid of?

In the sentence “tan seme la jan Ton li pilin monsuta?”, let’s break it down word by word:

  1. tan: cause or reason
  2. seme: what / which / who, sometimes used as a question word
  3. la: used between a context phrase and a main phrase
  4. jan: person
  5. Ton: a proper name (in this case, “Tom”)
  6. li: separates subject from its predicate
  7. pilin: feel or think
  8. monsuta: fear, monster, fearful or horror (used to express an uncomfortable or scary feeling)

So, “tan seme la jan Ton li pilin monsuta?” is asking “Why does Tom feel scared?” or “Why is Tom feeling fear?” The “tan seme” is asking for the reason or cause (“why”), “la” sets the context for what follows, “jan Ton li pilin monsuta” is stating that “Tom is feeling scared.”