disclaimer: i did not talk to anyone to see if this was correct, i just looked at a lot of conversations in ma pona pi toki pona and thought really hard
li
marks the predicate of a sentence, turning the content
phrase following it into a predicate.
For given sentence x li y
, the x
y
s.
For example, if a jan li pona
, the jan
pona
s.
This can mean either
y
is passively applied to x
,
or
x
is actively applying y
to an unmentioned object z
.
Given that y
is applied to x
, this can be from:
- state of being;
x
isy
;x li y x
- state of relation;
x
isy
-related;x li x y
Alternatively, x
applies y
to object z
; x li y e z
.
This can mean:
z li y tan x
, in which case thez
y
s.x li jo e y la, x li ijo e z kepeken y