lesson 14: negation
Negation
We’ve just learned how to ask someone to do something. But how do we ask someone not to do something? It’s time to learn about negation, using ala:
ala
not
not
In English, it’s kind of a special word. But in Toki Pona, its a pretty normal adjective! And like any other adjective, it goes after the word. You will often find it on nouns, adjectives, and verbs alike:
jan ala
no person, not a person
no person, not a person
jan ala li wile utala.
No person wants to fight.
jan ala li wile utala.
No person wants to fight.
suli ala
not big, not important
not big, not important
ni li suli ala tawa mi.
This is not important to me.
ni li suli ala tawa mi.
This is not important to me.
moku ala
not to eat
not to eat
pipi li moku ala e soweli.
Bugs do not eat animals.
pipi li moku ala e soweli.
Bugs do not eat animals.
But interestingly, ala also goes on prepositions and preverbs:
wile ala
to not want to ...
to not want to ...
sina wile ala moku e suwi.
You do not want to eat sweets.
sina wile ala moku e suwi.
You do not want to eat sweets.
tawa ala
to not go to ..., not towards ...
to not go to ..., not towards ...
pipi li tawa ala kasi.
The bug does not go to the plant.
pipi li tawa ala kasi.
The bug does not go to the plant.
You may notice something interesting. Although ala can go anywhere that an adjective can, it likes to attach to the first word in the verb:
- li moku ala …
- li wile ala …
- li tawa ala …
This actually makes a lot of sense — negating the first word in the verb also negates the whole sentence, which we often want!