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You may notice that some of the English translations appear to be ungrammatical, strange, or uncanny. This is because I've tried hard to reflect Toki Pona syntax and semantics in the English itself.

For example, I might translate something like, "I arrive in the large building's basement," mi kama lon anpa pi tomo suli, as "I come to be located at the large building's underside."

• kama, used in this phrase as a preverb, is literally "come to be"
• lon, used in this phrase as a preposition, is literally "located at"
• anpa pi tomo suli is literally "the large building's underside"

I hope this style of translation, while being slightly ungraceful, helps emphasize the language's unique structure and tendencies to learners.

My English translations offer one correct interpretation of the material, but other correct interpretations are possible.

For example, a tomo suli can be a large structure, an important home, and old mansion, a large bus.

When I translate a Toki Pona word, I am often forced to pick just one, specific, English word, even though the Toki Pona word is more broad. If you happen to think of a different word than the one I pick, it doesn't necessarily mean that you were wrong.

For example, if your translation is 'big house' and my translation is 'old structure,' and the picture is of a large, old mansion, we are both right.

Consulting a good dictionary is one way to confirm your own interpretation, especially if you are just getting used to the words.

In the stories, I use the same words that I seriously use in real life.

In lipu Linku terms, relying on 2025 polling data, this means all Core words as well as the Common words: kipisi, kin, leko, meli, mije, misikeke, monsuta, n, namako, soko, tonsi; and the Uncommon word: majuna.

You are free to use and not use whatever words you like. Most teachers recommend taking the time to really understand the Core words before experimenting with other words. See: "Can I add a new word?" at /r/tokipona's FAQ.

All texts have both Sitelen Pona and sitelen Lasina versions. Each Sitelen Pona document is formatted separately; it is not simply a matter of applying a different font. There may be differences between the two versions.

I use a punctuation-less indented style of Sitelen Pona, and the site uses the nasin nanpa font throughout.

In this texts, I've decided to use some of these grammatical styles:

• extended li style with mi and sina.
• kepeken cannot be used as a content word
• prepositional phrases cannot modify the subject
• prepositional phrases cannot be used as transitive predicates