UniLang

ego, thank you for that reply.
yes the "i" is a predicate marker and is only used in third person status. in the words like save and hamamas, i listen to tok pisin news at http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/tokpisin/
and i hear the word save pronounced save, that is the stress is on the "a", for hamamas, the stress is on the first "a" hamamas, i will talk about the stress in the later lesson, the word "husat" means who, but in some curcomstances it is used as "what", it seems a little strange to me too. yes, you can say "me save go" vut remember with that "go" if you inclued the obeject than it must be "goim".

Tenkiu tumas man .
Just one clarification:

toksave wrote:but remember with that "go" if you inclued the obeject than it must be "goim".

You obviously mean indirect object. Because the verb "to go" can not take a direct object. So let's say "I am going to school" will be "Mi goim (to?) skul"? Does the suffix -im apply for indirect objects also? Let's say "Mi givim bret (to?) manpela" = I am giving bread to the man?

By the way is the "save" always used to form the continuous present, so that we could say it is an auxiliary verb?

Thanks again

ego, yes it is the indirect object and and yes the "-im" suffix is used when inclueding the indirect object. and yes "save" is used as a continuos present.
ex: mi save goim long skul
i go to school (regularly)

the word for "to" is "long"
and you can't say manpela because "man" is not an adjective. if your trying to pluralize it then you write "ol" before the noun.

(mi givim bret long man)
(mi goim long skul)

thank you, toksave

This is so interesting! I have to admit I never bothered to know what kind of language Tok Pisin was before reading this thread, and I find it fascinating

i see that little by little people are starting to get interested. thats very good to know since tok pisin is isolated from the rest of the world.


what do you guys think about opening a thread on papua new guinea's culture?

toksave wrote:i see that little by little people are starting to get interested. thats very good to know since tok pisin is isolated from the rest of the world.


what do you guys think about opening a thread on papua new guinea's culture?

That would be great indeed! My knowledge about their culture is very limited but it's always good to know more. As for me, personally, I'm interested.

i will decide to edit some of the lessons so be a look out for what is new, i will post the new details in this colour so be alert.

lesson 1.5

adjectives
*in tok pisin, adjectives are made by includeing the suffix "-pela" in the end of some words*

ex:
noun = red , adjective = redpela
*tisa i save i laik yusim redpela buk*
the teacher likes to use the red book

*em i save istap naispela olgeta taim*
she is always beautiful

*em i gat bikpela haus*
he has a big house

some adjectives don't inclued "-pela"

*em i nogut*
he's bad

continuation later

lesson 1.5 continuation

possesive pronouns

*in tok pisin, you show possession by puting the word "bilong" after the object that someone or something possess.
ex:

*mama graun bilong mi*
my home land

*mamapapa bilong mi*
my parents

*haus bilong waswas*
the bathroom/ shower room

note: "waswas" comes from "wash"

vocabulary:
braun = brown
red = red
grin = green
yelo = yellow
pink = pink
pupol = purple
blak = black
wait = white

haus = house
buk = book
kar = car
mamapapa = parents

nais = beautiful
hat = hard, hot, hat (be careful how you use it)
nogut = bad

toksave wrote:what do you guys think about opening a thread on papua new guinea's culture?

Papua New Guinean culture is interesting indeed, as all cultures are. I have read hundreds of pages on it, I can say I am well informed (*arrogance*). I would be happy to discuss something if someone asks something etc. The Pacific and the Middle East are the fields that interest me the most.

Toksave thanks for the new lesson. We are looking forward for the new ones. In the meantime I also find some time to study from the little book I found.

now lets try some excercices

vocabulary:
have = gat (lets only use "gat")
tv = piksa boks
blue = blu
hair = gras

plis tanim dispela toktok
please translate these sentences

1. the boy has a brown book
2. the woman is beautiful
3. i have a red tv
4. she likes green cars
5. the teacher has blue hair


(feel free to make your own translations)

My try:

1.Pikinini man i save i gat braunpela buk
2.Meri i naispela
3.Mi gat redpela piksa boks
4.Em i save i laikim grinpela kar
5.Tisa i gat blu gras

The verb "gat" or "hev" takes no -im?
I really don't know when to put "save" before a verb .
Who would imagine Tok Pisin grammar has so many difficult points?

By the way my book mentions that the suffix -pela usually goes only to one syllable adjectives

"hevim" is used, "gat" doesn't use "-im"
"save" is used only when something is being done regularly.
ex: mi save goim long skul
i go to school (regularly or habitualy)
for "-pela", i only know that its used for adjectives and pronouns.

by the way, number one was wrong, it should have been "pikinini man i gat braunpela buk" and you forgot to add "-pela" to "blu"
the rest are correct

So gat and hev(im) can not be combined with save?
I forgot blupela indeed. Thanks

ego, it depends how you use it.

I have some more questions.

1. In my book I did not find any example of how to form a secondary clause which in English would start with "to" and its subject would be different than the main clause's one:

I want you to go out
I told her to give me the book
He ordered me to eat the fruit

etc.. Could you give me some hints?

2. Is "for" also "long"? How would I say "I want this for John"? Mi laikim dispela samting long John?

Tenkyu tru tisa

ego thank you for posting the decleration of human rights, sorry i've been away for so long, but i had to switch rooms with my father and i've been sleeping in a room without computer....lol

i'll answer your questions later

Man, don't apologize, take your time! Lukim yu!

news from "radio australia" tok pisin service

Anti terroris chief blong Indonesia ibin givim tok lukaut olsem ol bik-hed lain blong Muslim bai imas kamapim yet ol bom pairap long rijon bihainim dai blong man save long wokim bom Azahari Husin dispela wik.

Ansyaad Mbai,hedman blong anti-terroris desk long sekuriti Ministri,ibin tok ol bik-hed lain blong dispela grup bai wok long ol liklik grup,wan wan long ol inap kamapim ol bom-pairap.

Emi tok oli no kam aninit long wanpela bikman,wok bung blong ol em bilif na tingting blong ol tasol.

Polis blong Indonesia ibin kilim dai Azahari,wanpela long ol man loa i bin arrestim em tru,na ol sapotas blong em long Trinde reid long wanpela haus long East Java provins.

Polis nau iwok long painim ol sapotas blong Azahari na wanpela wantok blong em yet blong Malaysia,Noordin Mohamad Top.

Tupela man ia,oli bilif imas ol bikpela memba blong Jemaah Islamiyah netwok na tu save wok klostu wantaim al Qaeda,.

Oli sutim tok long ol tu long dispela ol bom-pairap long Bali las mun,wantaim tu ol bom pairap long Oktoba 2002 we ibin kilim dai 202 pipol.(jp)

enjoy

I will try to translate this soon.