In the previous lesson, we looked at pi. As you saw, there are many phrases with two very reasonable meanings, depending on if they have pi or not. But there are also a lot of phrases which make very little sense if pi is missing! You’ll see this a lot with names:
soweli pi jan Ema
Emma's dog
soweli pi jan Ema
Emma's dog
soweli jan Ema
A human-like dog named Emma (???)
soweli jan Ema
A human-like dog named Emma (???)
toki pi jan Mili
Millie's speech
toki pi jan Mili
Millie's speech
toki jan Mili
A human language named Millie (???)
toki jan Mili
A human language named Millie (???)
If you don’t use pi, the name instead applies to the first word! And that can turn out to be silly. For this reason, you will often find pi near names!
You will also often find it after words that refer to locations, such as these new ones:
selo
skin, peel, shell, bark
skin, peel, shell, bark
insa
the internal part, centre, middle
the internal part, centre, middle
monsi
back, rear
back, rear
sinpin
face, front, wall
face, front, wall
anpa
bottom; to defeat
bottom; to defeat
Let’s use them in some sentences:
selo kasi li kiwen.
The bark of a tree is hard and wooden.
selo kasi li kiwen.
The bark of a tree is hard and wooden.
selo pi kasi ni li pakala.
The bark of this tree is damaged.
selo pi kasi ni li pakala.
The bark of this tree is damaged.
soweli li lon insa tomo.
The cat is inside the house.
soweli li lon insa tomo.
The cat is inside the house.
o tawa insa pi tomo mi!
Go inside my house!
o tawa insa pi tomo mi!
Go inside my house!
sinpin pi jan Ali li pona.
Ali's face is nice.
sinpin pi jan Ali li pona.
Ali's face is nice.
mani li lon anpa pi telo suli.
The treasure is on the ocean floor.
mani li lon anpa pi telo suli.
The treasure is on the ocean floor.
Protip: since pi only exists for rebracketing, it will never occur before just one word! There are always two words or more after it.