Gender and Identity

kulupu
kulupu
mama
mama
mama (alt)
mama (alt)
meli
meli
mije
mije
pilin
pilin
tonsi
tonsi

grammar review

The grammar in this lesson is covered in chapters 2, 4 and 6 in pu, lessons 9 in Pije, and page 2 Lentan.

Besides jan and ona, there are several words that can work as head nouns and be readily understood as referring to an individual, or a general or specific or group of people. The most common of these is: meli, mije, and the unofficial word tonsi. kulupu works in this capacity as well, but always implies plurality.

identity and plurality

One of the beautiful things about toki pona, in my opinion, is that gender and plurality tends to remain unspoken by default. Let’s draw he is good!, she is good!, and finally they are good!

he is good!
he is good!
she is good!
she is good!
they are good!
they are good!

We can however express gender and plurality more explicitly if necessary.

gender

Besides meli and mije for man and woman, many in the toki pona community also employ tonsi to express identity outside of the binary concept of gender. Like many words, they all can take on many roles in the sentence.

mije li pilin pona.
mije li pilin pona.
lawa meli li wawa.
lawa meli li wawa.
kulupu tonsi li suli.
kulupu tonsi li suli.

plurality

To express more than one of anything we have already seen we can use mute as a modifier. This works with mi, sina and ona as well, to make us, you-plural, and they explicit:

mi mute li mama.
mi mute li mama.
sina mute li lawa e jan lili.
sina mute li lawa e jan lili.
ona mute li pilin lete.
ona mute li pilin lete.

Additionally kulupu is used regularly to talk about a community or group of people:

kulupu mi li wawa suli.
kulupu mi li wawa suli.

mama

jan sonja li mama pi toki pona
jan sonja li mama pi toki pona
soweli suli li mama e soweli lili mute.
soweli suli li mama e soweli lili mute.

mama is unusual in sitelen sitelen in that there are two glyphs for one word. I’ve added a second glyph for reasons explained more in depth here. Although there has never been an inherent gender to mama, its use has expanded far beyond the examples present in texts when I was first learning toki pona.

The older glyph will always be here, it has historical precedent, and in some sentences it can actually add context. The example sentence in pu is a case in point. But by being figurative and meli, it comes loaded with additional pretext, and so I’ve added the second glyph for uses when one wants to free the image from these constraints.

translate into toki pona (hover or tab through to reveal the answer):

mije li telo lete e len jaki.
mije li telo lete e len jaki.
meli li seli e moku suwi.
meli li seli e moku suwi.
mama li len e jan lili.
mama li len e jan lili.
mi mute li toki.
mi mute li toki.
sina mute li mama pona.
sina mute li mama pona.
ona mute li nasa ala.
ona mute li nasa ala.

now compare your English translations to mine:

The man cold-washed the dirty clothes.
The man cold-washed the dirty clothes.
The adult animal raises many cubs.
The adult animal raises many cubs.
Y'all are in charge of the children.
Y'all are in charge of the children.