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The basic structure of a tp sentence is Condition la Subject li Verb e Object  Prepositional-Phrase, where P-P is adverbial.

Verbs

kama + verb

A transitive verb is followed by the separator 'e' and then the direct object. An intransitive verb does not use the separator 'e'.

Prepositions

lon - in, at, on (Locative)

kepeken - using, with (Instrumental)

tawa - to, for

sama - same (Similarity)

tan - because of, from, by (Causation)

poka - beside (Proximity)

The following are not prepositions: anpa, insa, monsi and sewi are nouns. They must be used with the verb:  lon.

Modifiers can be almost any word and follow the noun they modify

A pi phrase can be used after li to tell who owns something:

kili ni li pi mi.

ilo ni li pi sina.

Questions

Are you eating not eating?

sina moku ala moku?

You are watching what?

sina lukin e seme?

kalama ni li seme? -- What was that noise?

jan seme - who or whom

sina kama tan seme? -- You came because-of what?

Official Idioms

This is good to me

ni li pona tawa mi

tv = sitelen tawa = moving picture

pretty = pona lukin

here or there = lon ni

how = kepeken nasin seme = using what method

who = jan seme = what person

why = tan seme = what reason

Unofficial idioms

after = tenpo ni la

near = poka

live = lon

part = wan

some = mute lili

touching = poka

truth = lon

to cause = kama

Asking questions

Yes/no

What / When / Who

seme

anu

Colors

laso - blue, blue-green

loje - red

jelo - yellow, light green

walo - white

pimeja - black, dark

Syntactic rules

The language is simple enough that its syntax can be expressed in ten rules:

[brackets] enclose optional elements;

*asterisks mark elements which may be repeated

1. A sentence may be

(a) an interjection

(b) of the form [sub-clause] [vocative] subject predicate

(c) of the form [sub-clause] vocative predicate

(The interjection may be a, ala, ike, jaki, mu, o, pakala, pona, or toki.)

2. A sub-clause may be

(a) [taso] sentence la

(b) [taso] noun phrase la

("If/during sub-clause, then main-clause")

3. A [vocative] is of the form

[noun phrase] o

4. A subject is of the form

(a) mi or sina

(b) other noun phrase li

(mi mute and sina mute require li to form a predicate.)

5. A predicate may be

(a) simple noun phrase [prepositional phrase]*, or

(b) verb phrase [prepositional phrase], or

(c) predicate conjunction predicate (that is, a compound predicate)

(The conjunction may be anu (or) or li (and).)

6. A noun phrase may be

(a) noun [modifier]*, or

(b) simple noun phrase pi (of) noun plus modifier*, or

(c) noun phrase conjunction noun phrase (that is, a compound noun phrase)

(The conjunction may be anu (or) or en (and). A 'simple' noun phrase is one which does not have a conjunction.)

7. A prepositional phrase is of the form

preposition noun phrase

8. A verb phrase may be

(a) verbal

(b) modal verbal

(c) verbal_x ala verbal_x (both verbals are the same)

(d) modal_x ala modal_x plus verbal (both modals are the same)

(The modal may be kama (coming/future tense), ken (can), or wile (wants to).)

9 A verbal may be

(a) verb [modifier]* (this is an intransitive verb)

(b) verb [modifier]* plus a direct object* (this is a transitive verb)

(c) lon or tawa plus a simple noun phrase

(Some roots may only function as transitive or intransitive verbs.)

10. A direct object is of the form

e simple noun phrase

Some roots are used for grammatical functions (such as those that take part in the rules above), while others have lexical meanings. The lexical roots do not fall into well defined parts of speech; rather, they may generally be used as nouns, verbs, or modifiers, depending on context or their position in a phrase. For example, ona li moku may mean "they ate" or "it is food".