lesson 7 - prepositions

mani speaks to things used in trade, such as fiat money, livestock, spices, or anything else being framed as a tool of bartering. anything can be mani, but by using mani for it you're throwing most of its other qualities to the side. For example, if I use mani to describe coriander, I am framing its culinary usage as irrelevant. I do not care if it will be cooked with. I only care that it will be used in an exchange.

For many people, lon is core to the philosophy of toki pona. It's a key example that ties together the physical and metaphysical. lon is existence, lon is truth, lon is reality. lon is not only existing at a place, but also existing during a time, or in a context. lon's usage outside of a preposition mostly derives from this meaning of existing.

tawa is motion. tawa frequently has a destination, and when used as a preposition, it marks the word after it as this destination. a destination isn't critical to tawa though; speakers will use tawa for vibrating or shaking in place, or wandering. When tawa is used as a preposition, it marks that which the motion approaches. This can be physical, but metaphysically tawa can mark a recipient, beneficiary, point of perspective, etc.

tan is some sort of point of origin. It can be a place or object, like a birthing parent or the source of a river, but it can also be a reason like a thrilling feeling or the fear of being yelled at. this corresponds with tan's use as a preposition, where it MARKS this point of origin, i.e. the word directly after prepositional tan is also some sort of point of origin in the same exact way.

sama can be all qualities of similarities and samenesses. Two siblings are sama because they have a parent in common. two stringed instruments are sama because they both have strings. Two action figures of the same exact character are sama.

kepeken is using. it is usually used as a preposition and not as a transitive verb, and marks the word after it as the object of usage. For example, "mi kepeken ilo" can be "I use a tool," and "mi pali e tomo kepeken ilo" can mean "I build a house using a tool." when used as a noun, it can refer to a specific instance of using something or usage in general. For example, "kepeken ni ilo sina li ike" "the way you're using the tool is bad." Many speakers consider nasin a better choice for this.