Kokanu
Kokanu is a sister language to the minimalist constructed language Toki Pona. Toki Pona utilizes minimalism in the construction of its vocabulary and grammar in order to fulfill certain philosophical and artistic principles. A side effect of its minimalism, however, is that it is by far easier to learn than the vast majority of other languages, both natural and constructed.
For more than a century, people have been trying to construct a language for international use that is easier to learn than the natural languages that are used for inter-cultural communication such as English. The main reason for this has been that natural languages tend to be so full of irregularities and idiosyncrasies that they put those who know them natively at a major advantage over those who have to learn them as a second language, thereby not allowing inter-cultural communication to happen on a truly equal basis.
The creators of languages like Esperanto, Ido, Novial, Lingwa de Planeta, and Globasa, to name a few of the most well known, attempted to create languages that are much easier to learn than natural languages, and in most cases they succeeded, but most didn't quite succeed in getting those language to be used widely. Esperanto, the most successful by far, endures in a community of up to 2 million people around the world, all speaking to each other in a single common language that allows all of them to express themselves to a more or less equal capacity.
However, with the recent explosive success of Toki Pona, some people have wondered if perhaps an even more widespread and even more egalitarian language could be possible, repurposing the minimalist principles of Toki Pona from artistic expression to practical inter-cultural communication. Those people built the language Toki Ma, which over time has evolved into its current most optimal and stable form, Kokanu.
Kokanu has about 360 words, compared to Esperanto's thousands, and a much simpler and more flexible grammar. While it is not as minimalist as Toki Pona, it is designed to maximize Toki Pona's context-dependent system. Most of the individual words in Kokanu are reserved for the most common conceps, so most concepts will have to be expressed using several words. However, concepts that would often be useful as building blocks for many other concepts are also given their own words. Additionally, some concepts which may not be exceedingly common but are impossible to express as a collection of other concepts in a way that is faithful to their common cultural perception are given their own words.
A vocabulary created along these guidelines, combined with a flexible and fluidly recursive grammar, allows speakers to easily express any concept, no matter how complicated, when that concept is first introduced in their speech, and then refer back to that concept in more brief terms, having set up the context for the rest of their speech. This strategy allows the language to simultaneously be as easy to learn as possible and to be vastly expressive and efficient.
The Kokanu language project is an engaged and enthusiastic community of linguists, students of language, and hobbyists who are excited to try something new when it comes to auxiliary language planning. It includes native speakers in most of the world's major language families, including Germanic, Romance, Indo-Aryan, Slavic, Semitic, and Sino-Tibetan, and highly values feedback from diverse language perspectives. If you're a native speaker of a language in one of these families or any others and willing to give feedback, or you want to help create content and advance the project, or even if you're just curious, please come join us on our Discord server!
Grammar
The essential details to get a grasp on Kokanu grammar and start exploring how to express yourself and communicate. The coverage is very fast paced and minimally detailed, more detailed articles are linked if you want to expand your knowledge of a given area.
This guide assumes you have some familiarity with the Kokanu vocabulary. Words that directly affect the grammar are explained here in the guide, but other words used in the example sentences will not. You click on any Kokanu word to see a definition of the word.
Pronunciation
The letters p, t, k, w, l, m, n, s, and h are all pronounced the same as their equivalents in the IPA and in English.
The letter j is pronounced like its equivalent in the IPA, which is the sound of the letter y in “yellow”. The letter c is pronounced like /tʃ/ in the IPA, which is the sound of the digraph ch in “chat”.
The vowels a, e, i, o, and u are pronounced the same as their equivalents in the IPA. Spanish is a common example of a language with all these sounds. The only two that are pronounced on their own in English are i, like the digraph ee in “see”, and o like the o in “cold”. The letter u is pronounced like the end of diphthong in the word `tow`, similar to the English exclamation “oooo”, with the tongue resting completely. The letter a is close to the a in the word “ash” or the a in “malt” but with the tongue much more relaxed, not raised like in "ash" or pushed back like in "malt". The letter e is close to the e in “get” but with the tongue more raised like i in "see", around the halfway point between the two.
For those that cannot pronounce some of these sounds exactly, there shouldn't be a problem as long as each one is pronounced differently from all the others. The sounds of the language are limited and spaced out in the mouth such that each letter can be approximated in a variety of ways without sounding too much like any other letter. Ask in the discord for help if you struggle with any of the pronunciations, and you will likely find a pronunciation that works for you.
Base Forms
Every word has one base form, either base noun, base verb, or base modifier. Any word can act in any form, but its base determines how it acts in other forms. You can always distinguish when a word is being used as a noun, verb or modifier.
Verbs are marked by the particles le and o.
Nouns are marked by the prepositions, like men, in, ke, and wija
men mi le makan in makan “I eat food”
Modifiers are activated when placed after a noun or verb.
men mi le makan wiki in kuwosi makan “I quickly eat an edible fruit”
Check out the Word Derivations guide for more info.
Relations between action and noun phrases
The structure of a Kokanu sentence is formed from an action phrase, marked by le or o, surrounded by noun phrases which relate to the action in some way. men marks a noun phrase which is the agent of the action. in marks a noun phrase which is the object of the action. ke marks a noun phrase which is the recipient of the action. wija marks a noun phrase which is the instrument of the action. The action phrases and noun phrases can be placed in any order as long as they are marked properly.
wija moto in makan le anta men mi “I prepare food using fire”, “I cook food”
When the subject is at the start of a sentence, however, men can be dropped.
Prepositions, le, and o can be negated by placing no after them. no does not serve any other function.
These three sentences mean the same thing but have different emphasis:
mi le no makan in kuwosi “I don’t eat fruit” (but I may do something else to it)
mi le makan in no kuwosi “I don’t eat fruit” (but I may eat something else)
men no mi le makan in kuwosi “I don’t eat fruit” (but someone/thing else may)
Conjunctions in Kokanu can be between nouns in a phrase, or between sentences.
mi le makan in kuwosi un ukama “I eat fruits and vegetables”
mi le makan in kuwosi un mi le lo sun jan ne “I eat fruits and I leave”
An imperative statement is created by replacing a subject + le with just o (no subject).
For more information, check out our Using the Parts of Speech guide.
Relations between words within phrases
Modifiers come after a noun to indicate an adjective, or after a verb to indicate an adverb. Quantity words serve ordinary functions as modifiers, but have an additional quantity function when preceding a word.
niju tope “several goodnesses”
The word je is similar to the word “of” in English. The word following it is always derived as a noun.
tipa je makan “food box”, "lunchbox"
kuwosi ha mi “my second fruit”
kuwosi je ha mi "us two’s fruit”
The word wa marks a modifier without any noun or verb needing to precede it, and applies to the entire phrase before it.
kuwosi je ha mi wa hunsi “us two’s red fruit”
For more information, refer to our Clarifying Descriptions guide.
Relations between clauses within phrases
ta starts a new clause (sentence within a sentence), while te starts a new clause and marks the first word as a verb. The te clause can modify a noun, and in these cases the noun being modified is the subject of the clause.
nin te makan "person who eats"
te can also be used without modifying a noun to create a clause that starts with a verb anywhere in a sentence, but the clause must end with a comma if more comes after it.
te makan in kuwosi, le tope "eating fruit is good"
ta functions like te, except that it doesn't mark the first word that follows it as a verb, so the clause may start with a subject or any other preposition. It is simple to use when not modifying a noun.
ta mi le makan in kuwosi, le tope "it's good that I eat fruit"
mi le pon in ta tu le pasan "I cause that you are happy", "I make you happy"
When ta does modify a noun, it is more complicated. te tells you that the noun being modified is the subject of the following clause, ta doesn't say anything about the role of the noun being modified in the clause.
nin ta mi le suki might seem like a direct translation from English "person that I like", but in Kokanu it's meaningless. The clause mi le suki sits next to the word nin with no relation between them. It would be like saying in English "place that I go". You have to establish the role of "place" in the clause "I go", i.e. "place that I go to" where "to" tells you that "place" is the direction/goal of the clause "I go". Kokanu does this in a very similar way.
nin ta mi le suki in "person that I like", where in indicates the role of nin in the relative clause.
Sentence: mi le suki in nin "I like the person"
Noun: nin ta mi le suki in "person that I like"
Any preposition can be used to make this relation.
jan ta mi le lo ke "place that I go to"
jon ta mi le tun in ne wija "tool that I do this with/using"
The preposition at the end of the clause is called a "dangling preposition", and it's the preposition that would have been used on the modified noun in a normal sentence, e.g. "the place that I go to," "I go to the place"
Alternatively, unlike in English, the clause can be written out as a full sentence, where ja refers back to the noun being modified.
In the last example, ja can be dropped from the end, leaving the dangling preposition, which is how it's always done in English.
In any case, the clause must end with a comma if more follows.
kuwosi ta nin le makan in, le tope
For more information check out our TODO guide.
Coupling Word Particles
we and mu are particles that apply to the next word only, creating a "coupling". we negates modifiers
sikin we konen “improbable event”
kuwosi we makan “inedible fruit”
For more information, check out our Coupling Modifier Negator guide.
mu constructs a noun that is a "doer" of an action, or the agent of the action.
To make the agent cause the action rather than do the action, you can make pon the action of mu, with the actual action joined by je.
For more information, check out or TODO guide.
You've completed the grammar introduction. Congratulations! Now finish learning the vocabulary and get involved on the Kokanu Discord server. Thank you for joining our growing community.
Word Derivations
Kokanu's grammar allows for extreme flexibility when it comes to the vocabulary. Aside from a small set of grammar particles, any noun, verb, or modifier can be converted to one of the other two word forms using consistent rules. This system helps reduce the overall volume of words that you need to learn to become fluent.
Base Nouns
Base nouns are very simple to convert into verbs and modifiers. When a noun is used as a verb, it just means the phrase "to be [the](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/the?lang=en) noun\ means "person"
- As a verb, it means "is a person" or "to be a person"
- As a modifier, it means "of a person"
Base Modifiers
Base modifiers are also quite easy to convert. When a modifier is used as a noun, it becomes the abstract object of the modifier. Think of it like adding "-ness" to the word. When used as a verb, it also just means "to be [the](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/the?lang=en) modifier\ means "cold"
- As a noun, it means "coldness"
- As a verb, it means "is cold" or "to be cold"
Base Verbs
Base verbs are the trickiest of the three, but still not very tough. When a verb is used as a noun, it becomes the generic object of the verb: the most basic object you would normally interact with using the verb. For example, the generic object of "to sit-on" would be "chair" or "seat". The generic object of "to use" would be "tool". When used as a modifier, it means "[generic](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/generic?lang=en) object\ means "to eat" or "to consume"
- As a noun, it means "food"
- As a modifier, it means "food-like", or "edible"
When used as a modifier, the idea of "resembling [the generic object]" doesn't necessarily mean resembling in looks. Rather, it requires considering what quality or qualities make that object unique in the context of its base verb. For example, the thing that makes food be food-like is that it is able to be eaten, regardless of how it looks. Something that is seat-like simply means that it can be sat upon (or maybe that it is intended to be sat upon), not that it has four legs and a back and looks like the stereotypical idea of a chair.
These rules apply to all content words in Kokanu. As stated earlier, there are some grammar particles, conjunctions, and prepositions that do not follow these rules but that is intentional as adding content word meanings to these words would reduce the comprehensibility of the language.
Using the Parts of Speech
We've learned how to derive words in the different parts of speech, but we haven't learned how to recognize words in different parts of speech. What makes makan sometimes mean "to eat", sometimes mean "food" and sometimes mean "edible"? It all has to do with the position of the word in the sentence and what particles, prepositions or preceding content words are present.
Using Verbs
The most basic particle le marks the verb of a sentence, this can also be known as the "action" of the sentence. Without it, you could only describe things as they are without any change, movement, or activity.
- mi le makan - "I eat "
- tu le nin - "You are a person" (verb: to be a person)
- ja le canu - "They are cold" (verb: to be cold)
This can be a bit confusing due to how English uses a helper verb (to be), but it's very important not to get confused thinking le means "to be". It only serves to mark the content word following it as being in the verb form. That being said, when nouns and modifiers are used in their verb form, they do include "to be" (called the copula) in their definition.
Another thing to note about the above translations, the le particle alone does not say anything about the tense, such as past ("I was eating"), present ("I am eating"), or future tense ("I will be eating"); or about the aspect, meaning perfective (completed action, "I ate"), continuous (ongoing action, "I am eating"), or repeated (habitual action, "I eat"). These are all valid translations of the sentence mi le makan. Which one is meant must be inferred through context.
If tense and aspect are not clear from the context, there are ways to specify tense and aspect to remove this ambiguity (through verb modifiers).
Subject-less sentences
When using le without a subject, the sentence can be inferred to be a statement simply stating that an action is performed.
- le makan in kuwosi - "Fruit is eaten"
- le antomi - "Sleep is had", "Being asleep is done", "(it) is asleep"
In English this sounds a bit awkward, but it is a clearly communicated concept and is completely acceptable in Kokanu. How often you might say such a thing is a different question.
Additionally, some uses of subject-less sentences are just continuations of an existing implicit subject.Through context, you can determine which style of sentence is in use.
Suggested action
The particle o works the same way as le, marking the verb, except that it turns the statement into a recommendation, suggestion, or what the speaker believes should happen.
- ja o makan in kuwosi - "They should eat fruit"
- nin o tene in kuwosi ke ja - "Someone should give them fruit"
- mi o makan in ukama... - "I should eat a vegetable..."
Subject-less suggestions
Just as with the le particle, you can omit the subject. Although, with o, a subject-less sentence becomes a directive or command.
Using Nouns
Typically, a standalone content word functions as a noun, such as when it's placed at the start of a sentence (as the subject) or when it follows a thematic relation marker (as an object). Additionally, some verbs take what's called a direct object (these are called transitive verbs) and you specify the direct object using the preposition in.
Passive Voice
There is a subject marking particle men which is only needed if you place the subject in a non-leading position in the sentence. When the subject is the first word, you can omit this particle. Using this sentence form has the effect of emphasizing the action on the direct object and de-empasizing the subject, which effectively provides a form of passive voicing.
- in kuwosi le makan - "the fruit is/was eaten"
- in kuwosi le makan men pawo - "the fruit is/was eaten by the dog"
- in kiju le jatan - "the ball is/was found"
- in kiju le jatan men mi - "the ball is/was found by me"
Using Modifiers
Modifiers are called an "adjective" when they are used to describe a noun, and they are called an "adverb" when they are used to describe a verb. Unlike in English, the modifiers go after the word they are modifying.
- pawo mi le tope "My dog is good"
- mi le makan in kuwosi mi "I am eating my fruit"
- meja ne le cina "This cat is small"
- meja mi le makan niju "My cat eats a lot"
Genitive Particles
There are two particles that are used specifically for managing a chain of modifiers. They both allow you to group modifiers and they both cause the successive modifier immediately after the particle to be used in noun form. However, je only connects to the nearest noun (if that noun has a modifier chain in between, that's quite alright). Whereas, wo relates the connected noun phrase to the greatest open clause that it exists within.
N M M M M
"huwa inpali hunsi joli cina" _"_little beneficial red flower seed"
Using je
[Noun](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/Noun?lang=en)_
huwa je inpali hunsi je joli cina "seed of the little-benefit red flower"
a je is isolating to just the most recent noun in the chain
Using wa
[Noun](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/Noun?lang=en)\ [Modifier](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/Modifier?lang=en)\ je** inpali hunsi wa joli cina "seed of red flower of little benefit"
a wa is encompassing across the entire chain
Unlike the je particle, this one causes the collapse of any amount of open je phrases up to just returning to the root scope to describe the head noun again. Check out more info about this and other genitive relationships here: Clarifying Descriptions.
Force Modifier Derivation
You can force the modifier derivation of verbs and nouns by using the verb derivation of the base modifier si. Click on the word to learn more.
Changing State
We have the power to describe current state using si, to describe a changing state, you can use the verb pijen. Click on the word to learn more.
Using Thematic Relations
!$
Thematic Relation Markers are words that allow you to connect a noun phrase to the verb or "action" of the sentence by means of a (thematic) relationship. Each relationship is unique, thematic, and describes what, why, when, where or how the noun phrase is interpreted inside of the sentence (in relation to the verb). See the diagram for the thematic relation that each marker provides.
These words do not act like content words and (they cannot be derived into noun, verb, modifier forms) and content words can never work like thematic relation markers. You can place a thematic relation clause in any position in the sentence, although some thematic relations are more clear either prefixing or postfixing the main clause.
Marker
Example Sentence
ō
ōı
x̄
mi le lo kan nin suki mi ke jan te si po konpa
xȷ
ɞ̄ȷ
ƨ̄ȷx
ʜʃ
ɤʃ
mi le ju mese te makan so te antomi
ɤ̄ſ
ɕıɂ
tu le kela in kela kiju wija jon kela mi
ɕ̄ı
ja o jatan in makan hon niju lana te no junja in nula
Using Particles
The glue holding sentences together are the grammatical particles. Particles are words that don't have meaning on their own, but are used to affect other parts of the sentence. For example, le is a particle because it doesn't mean anything on its own, but it affects the next word. Kokanu uses particles like le and ta to modify the structure of sentences in various ways.
Particle
Example
ʋ
ɂȷ
ʋȷ
ɞſ
ƨʃ
oʃ
ʜȷxʃ
ʌ
ʌȷ
ɕȷ
ʋ̄ſ
Click on each particle to go to an in-depth description of how to use it.
Using Connectors
Lastly, there are the connectors. Connectors are words that organize multiple sentences, clauses or individual words together into a compound form with different connective meanings depending on which connector was used. For example, un is a connector expressing that the multiple elements provided should be taken together or in addition to each other.
Connector
Example
Click on each connector to go to an in-depth description of how it can be used.
Clarifying Descriptions
To describe nouns and verbs, we use words tacked on to the right of a head word (the root or main content word, either noun or verb), these words are called modifiers. Read this guide to learn more about how modifiers can be understood and also how to make use of two helpful prepositional markers je and wa.
You can use any word as a modifier and when it's tacked onto a head word, it means that the modifier word is an attribute of the head word. In other words, the head word now has some kind of relation to the modifier.
All content words can be used as modifiers. Check out our Word Derivations guide for more info.
Modifiers can affect other modified phrases, connecting together to form modifier chains. When modifiers are chained, each modifier affects the head noun/verb and all of the modifiers that have already been associated with that head noun/verb. The combination of the head noun/verb plus all chained modifiers is known as a phrase (noun phrase or a verb phrase).
pawo cenpo mi le tope - "My big dog is good"
in makan satu canu niju le makan - "A l****arge ice cream is eaten"
in ❬❬❬makan satu❭ canu❭ niju❭**** le makan
Noun phrase: makan satu canu niju
Modifiers chain together and are attributes for the entire preceding phrase, not just the previous modifier. satu applies to makan, canu applies to makan satu, so now niju applies to the entire phrase makan satu canu, not just to canu.
So how would you instead say "a very cold candy"? For that, we need to regroup the modifiers using the genitive preposition marker je.
Genitive Preposition
The preposition marker je is used for genitive relationships. Think of the genitive as relating one thing as an attribute to another. The best equivalence in English is the word "of". The words that are directly after the marker are a new noun phrase that is some kind of attribute of the noun phrase directly preceding the marker. For this reason, the genitive preposition marker is also considered a regrouping marker.
nin tope niju - "many good people"
nin je tope niju - literally "person (or people) of much goodness", or "a very good person"
By using je, the word tope becomes a head noun meaning goodness which now begins a new noun phrase which is further modified by niju. This new noun phrase (much goodness) is now an attribute of the preceding noun phrase (person).
Kinds of Genitive Attribution
Using the genitive preposition marker is also good for creating many different relationships between two noun phrases. What these relationships are differs depending on the context and the words chosen. All of the below genitive relationships were gathered from various forms of genitive attribution from around the world. Not every example is directly translated into English and often English makes use of alternative prepositions like "with", "by", and "for". Kokanu only has those kinds of prepositions attached to a main or subordinate clause of a sentence (essentially, they must be tied to a verb). But equipped with the simple je preposition, context and supporting word choices, you can effectively communicate all of these genitive relations. If after all of that, your listener/reader still does not understand, you can make use of clarifying words to clarify the specific meaning you were trying to achieve.
Descriptive Genitive
Specifies some detail of the preceding phrase. "described by" or "characterized by" are equivalent English expressions. This is a catch-all genitive for when the attribution is ambiguous.
pata je pa enteken hunsi "book characterized by a red cover" (lit. document of red cover)
You can clarify that a genitive relationship is descriptive by using kun:
pata je kun je pa enteken hunsi (lit. document of quality of red cover)
Possessive Genitive
Specifies the preceding phrase as being owned or possessed by the attached genitive phrase. "belonging to" or "possessed by" are English equivalents.
mu tenkin je canwa "ear belonging to an animal" (lit. ear of animal)
You can clarify that a genitive relationship is descriptive by using junja:
mu tenkin je junja je canwa (lit. ear of possession of animal)
Familial Genitive
Specifies the preceding phrase as having a familial relationship with the attached genitive phrase. "related to" is an equivalent English expression. This is considered a subset of Possessive Genitive.
matuwa je matuwa mi "mother related to my mother" (lit. mother of my mother)
You can clarify a genitive relationship is familial by using sanpanti:
matuwa je sanpanti je matuwa mi (lit. mother of relation of my mother)
Partitive Genitive
Specifies the preceding phrase as being part of some larger whole or set. "Which is part of" is an equivalent expression in English. Sometimes the preceding phrase only contains a quantity word or osa.
jati je makan "some which is part of the food" (lit. some of food)
osa wan je ha "first part which is part of two" (lit. first part of two)
You can clarify a genitive relationship is partitive by using osa:
jati (je) osa je makan (lit. some of parts of food)
Attributive Genitive
Specifies the attached genitive phrase as being an attribute or innate quality of the preceding phrase. Semantically similar to regular modifier usage but more emphatic in its attribution.
insu je hela "sacred building" (lit. building of sacredness)
You can clarify a genitive relationship is attributive by using kun alone or junja and kun:
insu je junja je kun je hela (lit. building of possession of quality of sacredness)
Attributed Genitive
Specifies the preceding phrase as being an attribute or innate quality of the attached genitive phrase. "attributed to" or "is an attribute of" are equivalent English expressions. The opposite of Attributive Genitive. The preceding phrase must be a concept that can be considered an attribute and the attached genitive phrase must be a thing that can be attributed (and specifically can be attributed the thing that is the preceding phrase).
je niku "weakness attributed to muscles" (lit. weakness of muscles)
You could clarify this genitive relationship using sanpanti again although some directional ambiguity would remain:
je sanpanti je niku (lit. weakness of relation of muscles)
You could clarify this genitive relationship using kun again although some directional ambiguity would remain:
je kun je niku (lit. weakness of quality of muscles)
You could clarify this genitive relationship using si limijen:
je si limijen je niku (lit. weakness of inner existence of muscles)
Genitive of Material
Specifies the preceding phrase as being made of a material. "made out of" or "consisting of" are equivalent English expressions.
lantan je namu kijata "vehicle made out of hard wood" (lit. vehicle of hard wood)
You can clarify a genitive relationship is material by using mata:
lantan je mata je namu kijata (lit. vehicle of material of hard wood)
Genitive of Content
Specifies the preceding phrase as containing within itself the attached genitive phrase. "full of" or "containing" or equivalent English expressions. Similar to the Material Genitive but the contents are a separate entity from the material of the container.
non pani je micin "lake containing fish" (lit. water body of fish)
You can clarify a genitive relationship is material by using junja limijen:
non pani je junja limijen je micin (lit. water body of inner possession of fish)
Epexegetical Genitive
Specifies the attached genitive phrase as being another separate way to to explain the preceding phrase. "which is", "that is", "namely", "who is" are equivalent English expressions.
tene je makan "gift which is food" (lit. gift of food)
You can clarify this genitive relationship by using a subordinate clause in the attached genitive phrase:
nin Alese je te nin suki je mi "Alice, which is a friend of mine" (lit. person Alice of which they are a likable person of me)
Genitive of Destination/Purpose
Specifies the destination or purpose that the preceding phrase is leading to. "for the purpose of", "destined for", "towards", "into" are equivalent English expressions.
pata je nin neso "children's books" (lit. documents of young people)
You can clarify this genitive relationship by using a subordinate clause with an inner po clause:
pata je te po nin neso (lit. document that is existing for young people)
Genitive of Production
Specifies that the preceding phrase is made by the attached genitive phrase. "produced by" is an equivalent English expression.
umo je makan tuko "steam produced by the hot food" (lit. smoke/cloud of hot food)
You can clarify that a genitive relationship is production by using pon:
umo je pon je makan tuko (lit. smoke/cloud of result of hot food)
Genitive of Product
Specifies that the preceding phrase is a producer of the attached genitive phrase. "which produces" is an equivalent English expression.
tasuwi lo je osole "movie which produces fear" (lit. moving picture of fear)
You can clarify that a genitive relationship is Product by using mu pon:
tasuwi lo je mu pon je osole (lit. moving picture of causer of fear)
Genitive of Separation
Specifies that the preceding phrase is separate from the attached genitive phrase. "out of", "away from" ,or simply "from" are equivalent English expressions.
tula tula je ja "far from them" (lit. far distance of them)
lipan je ukama honja "clear from wild plants" (lit. absence of wild plants)
You can clarify that a genitive relationship is Separation by using a subordinate clause with pijen and sun:
lipan je te pijen sun ukama honja (lit. absence of which is becoming from wild plants)
Genitive of Source
Specifies the origin of the preceding phrase. "out of", "derived from", "dependent on" are equivalent English expressions. This genitive can often be bettered expressed using the sun thematic role marker.
pani nase hunsi je pumi Chanpen "wine out of Champagne" (lit. red intoxicated liquid of land Champagne)
namu je insu cune "wood derived from the old building" (lit. wood of old building)
You can clarify that a genitive relationship is Source by using a subordinate clause with si and sun:
namu je te sun insu cune (lit. wood of which is from old building)
Genitive of Price/Value
Specifies the price or value of the preceding phrase. "for", "worth" are an equivalent English expressions. The attached genitive phrase must contain concepts of money, value or amount.
makan satu je ha mani "candy for two dollars" (lit. sweet food of two monies)
san neje je tiju jone "three horses worth ten goats" (lit. three horses of ten goats)
You can clarify that a genitive relationship is Price/Value by using mita:
san neje je mita je tiju jone (lit. three horses of value of ten goats)
Genitive of Time
Specifies the time or duration of the preceding phrase. "during", "at", "within", "for" are equivalent English expressions. The attached genitive phrase must contain concepts of time or duration.
tun je etu osa lana "work for eight hours" (lit. action of eight day parts)
ten te makan, je osa setan "breakfast at seven o'clock" (lit. time of eating of the seventh hour)
lo je nelo osa je lana "movement during the night" (lit. movement of the dark part of the day)
You can clarify that a genitive relationship is Time by using ten:
tun je ten je etu osa lana (lit. action of time of eight day parts)
You can also clarify this relationship using a subordinate clause and an:
lo je te an nelo osa je lana (lit. movement of which is at the dark part of day)
Genitive of Place
Specifies a vague local relation to the preceding phrase. "in", "at", "through", "over" are equivalent English expressions. The attached genitive phrase must contain concepts of location. Often uses the words opotu or sekano.
niwa je honja "cabin in the woods" (lit. residence of the wilderness)
mi le lo je pumi pani ke sinsi "I travel through the marsh to the city" (lit. I am moving of wet land to the city)
You can clarify that a genitive relationship is Place by using jan:
niwa je jan je honja (lit. residence of place of wilderness)
You can also clarify this relationship using a subordinate clause and an:
niwa je te an honja (lit. residence of which is at the wilderness)
Genitive of Means
Specifies the manner of the preceding phrase. "by", "by means of" are equivalent English expressions. This genitive can often be better expressed using the wija thematic role marker.
pilu je tun katin "achievement by hard work" (lit. victory of hard work)
You can clarify this relationship using a subordinate clause and wija:
pilu je te wija tun katin (lit. victory of which is by means of hard work)
Genitive of Agency
Specifies the agent that is engaged with the preceding phrase. "by", "by means of" are equivalent English expressions. The attached genitive phrase must contain a person or other active entity to be seen as this type of genitive and often can be easily misconstrued as a Possessive Genitive.
tun takaha je hoton cenpo nelo "attack by means of a black bear" (lit. violent action of a black large mammal)
You can clarify this relationship using a subordinate clause and wija:
tun takaha je te wija hoton cenpo nelo (lit. violent action of which is by means of black large mammal)
Genitive of Reference
Specifies a reference entity that helps better explain the preceding phrase. "with reference to" or "with respect to" are equivalent English expressions. This genitive can often be bettered expressed using the so thematic role marker.
mese ten je tun mi te pijen te pen "more time with respect to my studies" (lit. more time of my work of coming to understand)
You can clarify this relationship using a subordinate clause and so:
mese ten te pen so ten je tun sone (lit. more studying time compared to time of other actions)
Subjective Genitive
Specifies or describes the subject of the preceding phrase when the preceding phrase is a verb phrase or a noun phrase that contains an action. This genitive can always be converted into a sentence where the genitive noun phrase is the subject of the action. Some constructions could either be subjective or objective genitive but context can help identify the appropriate type.
kota je nin mu hapijo "speech of the announcer" (lit. speech of the announcer person)
lo je micin cenpo "movement of whales" (lit. movement of big sea creatures)
You can clarify this genitive relationship by replacing the whole relation with a subordinate noun clause while describing the subject:
ta micin cenpo le lo, ... (lit. big sea creatures which are moving)
You can also clarify this genitive relationship with pon:
lo je pon je micin cenpo (lit. movement of result of big sea creatures)
Objective Genitive
Specifies or describes the object of the preceding phrase when the preceding phrase is a transitive verb phrase or a noun phrase that contains a transitive action. "for", "about", "concerning", "towards", "against" are English equivalent expressions. This genitive can always be converted into a sentence where the genitive noun phrase is the object of the action.
mi le kota je meja "we talked about cats" (lit. we talked of cats)
sinsi mi le kela je sinsi sone "my city played against the other city" (lit. my city played of different city)
You can clarify this genitive relationship by replacing the whole relation with a subordinate noun clause while describing the object:
mi le kota in sin je meja (lit. we said things of cats)
sinsi mi le kela in te kela wija sinsi sone (lit. my city played a playing by means of different city)
Plenary Genitive
Specifies or describes the subject and object of the preceding phrase when the preceding phrase is a verb phrase or a noun phrase that contains an action. Both subjective and objective genitive forms fit and the meanings should not contract but instead complement each other.
te amo, je Ocota "love of God" (lit. loving of God)
You can clarify this genitive relationship by replacing the whole relation with a subordinate noun clause and usen:
mi un Ocota le amo in usen (lit. I and God love each other)
Chains of je
Unlike modifiers, a noun phrase containing multiple genitive prepositional markers do not chain onto each other from left to right. It is considered an immediate relationship between the two noun phrases on either side of the marker and so chaining occurs from right to left with each successive completed je-phrase being attached to the noun or je within the outer phrase (to the left).
niwa je matuwa je matuwa mi - "My grandparent's house", grouped as "(house of (the parent of my parent))"
pawo je wala je matuwa je matuwa mi - "My great-aunt's dog", grouped as "(dog of (the sibling of (the parent of my parent)))"
jan je insu je makan - "restaurant location", grouped as "(place of (the house of food))"
When using je after a verb, the je-phrase acts like an adverbial phrase, just like any other modifier would on a verb. Adverbial phrases can be used to describe several different genitive relationships.
mi le kota je tenkin niju - "I talk loudly", literally "I talk of much volume"
Due to context playing a major part in our understanding of Kokanu sentences, this sentence wouldn't be perceived as saying "I talk about much volume". The phrase "of much volume" describes the manner in which the talking occurs. This attached genitive phrase describes something that would typically be construed as being a detail of manner (Genitive of Means) instead of discussion material (Objective Genitive). If you want to clarify that you are talking "about" something, you can use the verb husu:
mi le kota je husu je tenkin niju (lit. I talk of concern of much volume)
Collapsing Noun Phrases
The way je chains isn't an issue for the statement niwa je matuwa je matuwa mi, as it still translates to a phrase that roughly means "my grandparent's house", however there are some cases where it can cause issues.
jan je kawa je insu je makan - "place of restaurant garbage"...?
Grouped as "place of (dirtiness of (building of food))"
There's another preposition marker called the noun phrase collapsing preposition marker ( wa ). It can be used to resolve this problem. wa collapses the part of a noun phrase before it and treats it as if it is one complete noun phrase.
There are a few rules that you must understand to make proper usage of wa:
- A content word directly after wa is to be interpreted as a modifier, not a noun.
- A ta / te clause directly after wa is to be interpreted as a relative clause, not a subordinate clause.
- It causes the modifier (or chain) or relative clause after it to act on all (or any amount) of the previous elements of the chain before it.
- The two markers can be combined as wa je and be used to have a content word in its noun form act on the whole of the chain before it.
- This marker does not regroup like the genitive preposition marker.
- You cannot negate a wa particle just as you cannot insert negations inside of a modifier chain.
jan je kawa wa je insu je makan - "restaurant bathroom" ((place of dirtiness) of (building of food))
Here's a larger example of this interplay between the two particles.
insu je makan wa cenpo hunsi je tope niju wa ta mi le suki in $ ja \ je makan 'restaurant' (lit. place of food)
2. insu je makan wa, for the sake of the words after it, can be thought of as insu-je-makan-wa
3. insu je makan wa cenpo 'big restaurant', as cenpo sees insu-je-makan-wa
Note: insu je makan cenpo is 'place of big food', which is not the same
4. insu je makan wa cenpo hunsi 'red big restaurant', as hunsi sees insu-je-makan-wa cenpo
5. insu je makan wa cenpo hunsi je tope niju 'very-good red big restaurant', as je tope niju sees insu-je-makan-wa cenpo hunsi and acts on all of it because from its perspective, it's only acting on one chain (like how je tope niju would also act on meja cenpo hunsi as that is only one chain)
6. insu je makan wa cenpo hunsi je tope niju wa, for the sake of the words after it, can be thought of as insu-je-makan-wa-cenpo-hunsi-je-tope-niju-wa
7. insu je makan wa cenpo hunsi je tope niju wa ta mi le suki in $ ja \ mi le suki in $ [ja ] sees insu-je-makan-wa-cenpo-hunsi-je-tope-niju-wa
Dictionary
Check out an interactive dictionary at dictionary.kokanu.com
Tense, Aspect and Mood
Sentences in Kokanu in the basic form with just a subject and action can occur at any time (tense), can be completed or incomplete (aspect), and can be real or wished/requested (mood). Within the surrounding context of a sentence, these details are often understood implicitly. If the situation requires you to specify, you can use some clarifying words to reach different types of tense, aspect and mood. This article will dive into all three to give you the tools to express many of the different types in Kokanu.
Tense
A verb's tense tells you the position in time that the action occurred from the perspective of the speaker/writer. The main tenses are considered to be past, present and future. Some languages group present with either past or future. Kokanu sentences are considered tenseless and often times you can determine the tense through context, but you can clarify by using these modifiers in the verb clause.
Past
Use the word minuli in a verb clause to indicate that the action occurred "previously":
mi le tun minuli 'I did (it)' (lit. I do previously)
Present
Use the word iputu in a verb clause to indicate that the action occurred "currently":
mi le tun iputu 'I do (it)' (lit. I do currently)
Future
Use the word putuci in a verb clause to indicate that the action occurs "next":
mi le tun putuci 'I will do (it)' (lit. I do next(ly))
Aspect
A verb's aspect tells you the flow of time during which the action occurred from the perspective of the speaker/writer. The main categories of aspect are perfective and imperfective. A perfective aspect looks at an action or state as being completed or whole (without detail of the internal flow of the event). An imperfective aspect looks at an action or state as being in an unfinished or partial state (focusing on internal detail of the flow of the event instead of the event as a whole). This may seem confusing and in fact some languages group aspect and tense together. Kokanu sentences are fundamentally aspectless which means there is no special changes that you make to a verb to indicate the aspect. Instead, Kokanu encourages you to try to rely on context, often times it is all that is needed for your readers/listeners to understand your intended aspect. If that's not enough, Kokanu does offer some clarifying words that can be used adverbially in a way that informs the aspect of the sentence.
In Progress (Continuous)
This imperfective aspect expresses actions or states that are incomplete and still in progress. Some languages consider this aspect to mean current state whereas progressive aspect denotes current action. In other languages, these are part of the same aspect. Use the word conca in a verb clause to indicate that an action or state is "ongoing":
mi le makan conca "I am eating"
ja le lo picijo conca minuli je wiki niju "They were running fast"
Currently Happening (Progressive)
This imperfective aspect expresses actions or states that are incomplete and are in progress at the present moment. Use the words conca and iputu in a verb clause to indicate that the action or state is "currently ongoing":
mi le pata conca iputu "I am currently reading"
Starting (Inceptive/Ingressive)
This imperfective aspect expresses actions that are incomplete and just beginning. Use the word tepu in a verb clause to indicate that the action is "starting":
mi le lo wiki tepu "I started to run"
Becoming (Inchoative)
This imperfective aspect expresses states that are just starting to be. Use the verb pijen modified by tepu, and include your new state as the theme (direct object) of the verb to indicate that the state is "starting":
inpali le pijen tepu in kula "The flowers started to bloom"
Stopping (Cessative)
This imperfective aspect refers to the end of an action or a state. It is the inverse of the inchoative aspect. Use the modifier konje to indicate that the state or action is "stopping" or "finishing".
pawo le kota konje in tenkin "The dog stopped barking"
Limited (Delimitative/Durative)
This imperfective aspect is used to describe to a situation that lasts for a limited amount of time. Use the ke thematic relation as "until" and konje with a quantity of time to indicate that the action has a specific duration the goes until the ending. Alternatively, you could use the sun thematic relation as "starting from" and tepu with a quantity of time for the opposite effect.
mi le patun un le kota ke konje je jati ten "I stayed and talked for some time" (lit. I am still and talking until the end of some time)
niju mi le makan sun tepu je ha osa "We've been eating for two hours" (lit. Many of us are eating from the beginning of two hours)
Repetition (Iterative)
This imperfective aspect describes the repetition of an event observed from the perspective of a single occasion within the repetition. There's not a clear-cut way to formulate this aspect in Kokanu but you can use je wan cunpu "of one repetition" or a hon context clause to give sentences a similar meaning.
ja le pa hapijo je wan cunpu an kumon je niwa "He knocked one time on the door"
Distributive
This imperfective aspect describes an event that is being applied to a group of entities one after another. It can be an experiencer of a non-base verb or the object of a base verb (patient/theme/stimulus). In Kokanu, you would use a wija clause to describe the manner of the event which can include a description of a distributive action.
ja le kota ke non nin wija te ke wan nin an wan ten "He talks to the group, one person at a time"
Frequentative
Habitual
Aorist
Momentane
Numbers and Mathematics
These are the words that all numbers in Kokanu are built from:
wan - 1 (one)
ha - 2 (two)
san - 3 (three)
nanku - 4 (four)
lima - 5 (five)
lijo - 6 (six)
setan - 7 (seven)
etu - 8 (eight)
saka - 9 (nine)
tiju - 10 (ten)
sijen - 100 (hundred)
When building phrases to express numbers, number words that follow tiju don't act as modifiers, as would normally be the case in Kokanu, they simply add a unit number on.
Number words preceding tiju give the number of instances of it, as with any noun.
Placing unit numbers before and after tiju allows the expression of any number under 100.
san tiju ha "three tens and two, 32"
For numbers over 100, sijen acts exactly like tiju.
lima sijen lijo "five hundreds and six, 506"
setan sijen ha tiju saka "seven hundreds and two tens and nine, 729"
Forming Numbers 1000 and larger
Powers of a thousand (thousand, million, billion, trillion, etc.) are expressed with con, followed by an exponent. For example,
It’s important to think of con as “thousand to the power of...” rather than just “thousand”. If con is used multiple times, each thousands group must be seperated by tan, "then", in the same places where the comma goes in the numerals.
nanku tiju san con wan "43,000" nanku tiju san con wan tan wan "43,001" san con ha, tan nanku sijen nanku tiju lijo con wan, tan setan tiju etu "3,446,078"
nula is used for "zero", though, like in English, it doesn't appear in compound whole number words.
Cardinals and Ordinal Numbers
Cardinal numbers are placed before a noun. These are used for counting how many or how much of something there is.
mi le junja in san pawo "I have three dogs"
mi le tun tiju etu osa minuli "I have been working for eighteen hours
Ordinal numbers are placed after the noun These are used to specify the position of an item in a series, like "fourth" or "seventeenth".
pawo ha le tope ani "The second dog is the best"
san ten putuci je osa tiju etu le conca "It is 18:03" (literally "three minutes after the eighteenth hour have passed")
Therefore, when telling time, san osa is used to mean "three hours", and "osa san" to mean "three o'clock", literally "third hour".
Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
Numbers with fractional components tend to be more complex to express in Kokanu than whole numbers.
In fractions, the numerator is expressed as a number of osa, "parts", which are described by the denominator with je.
san osa je lima "three parts of five, three five-parts, 3/5"
ha tiju nanku osa je ha sijen san tiju wan "24/231"
For decimals the whole number is simply followed by pintu, "point", and the decimal numbers follow consecutively, with no regard for hundreds or thousands places.
ha pintu san ha nanku nanku - 12.3244
san pintu wan nanku wan lima saka ha... - 3.141592...
For percentages the phrase osa je sijen is added to the end of the number. This can be combined with decimal notation to specify decimal percentages.
ha tiju lima osa je sijen - 25%
nanku tiju pintu etu setan wan osa je sijen - 40.871%
Negative Numbers
Negative numbers are expressed with opotu je, "opposite of..."
opotu je nanku osa je tiju "-4/10"
opotu je lijo pintu saka saka "-6.99"
Mathematical Operations
While no words are specially assigned for mathematical operations such as "addition" or "multiplication", other words can be used to describe the operations and will be understood in a mathematical context.
Addition
2 + 3
te tene in san ke ha "giving 3 to 2"
te pon ta ha le unitu kan san "combining 2 with 3"
2 + 3 = 5
ha un san le lima "2 and 3 is 5"
Subtraction
7 - 4
te lun lipan in nanku sun setan "to make-absent 4 from 7"
te alu in nanku sun setan "to take 4 from 7"
7 - 4 = 3
setan un opotu je nanku le san "7 and -4 is 3"
Multiplication
2 * 5
te tun in ha non je lima - "creating 2 groups of 5"
te lun niju in ha wija lima "to make-many 2 with 5"
2 * 5 = 10
ha non je lima le tiju "2 groups of 5 is 10"
lima mita je ha le tiju "5 amounts of 2 is 10"
Division
9 / 4
te lun panli in saka wija nanku "to cut 9 using 4"
9 / 4 = 2.25
nanku panli je saka le ha pintu ha lima "4 divisions of 9 is 2.25"
saka osa je nanku le ha pintu ha lima - expressing 9/4 in standard fraction form directly
Exponentiation
6³
te lun niju in lijo wija sa an san ten - "to make-many 6 using itself 3 times"
6³ = 216
san mita saman je lijo le ha sijen tiju lijo "3 identical bunches of 6 is 216"
How To Read Likanu
Likanu is an abugida, meaning that each consonant character always expresses a vowel, and that vowel can be modified with diacritics. The base characters all have an inherent /a/ vowel.
- ɞ /ma/
- ɕ /wa/
- ɂ /ja/
To express other vowels, a diacritic is placed to the side of the character.
- ɞı /mi/
- ɞȷ /me/
- ɞſ /mu/
- ɞʃ /mo/
An accent means that syllable ends in a nasal, often referred to as coda -n. The accent goes directly over the consonant character.
- ɞ̄ /man/
- ʌ̄ȷ /ten/
- ɞ̄ſ /mun/
Although the vowel diacritic is placed adjacent to the consonant character, almost like an alphabetical letter, this is not an alphabet like you may be used to. A vowel diacritic cannot be used on its own, it can only be used to modify the vowel of a consonant character. For words that begin with a vowel sound, the null consonant character ⟨o⟩ must be used and then a vowel diacritic can modify it.
- oʌʃ /ato/
- oıɕȷ /iwe/
It can be helpful for people accustomed to alphabets to consciously try to read each grouping of a consonant character with a vowel diacritic as a single symbol, as one would a letter with a top diacritic.
Tools
Special Words
There are a few special words in Kokanu that work in different ways than what you may expect.
Prepositions
Verbs
Particles/Other
- ka - interrogative particle
- hon - context particle
- la - exclamation
- lun - causative
- peko - please
- we - coupling negator
so
The grammar particle so means "than", "as", or "compared to".
Comparison
When used with mese and menu it creates comparatives. Comparatives are phrases like "bigger than", "less cold than", etc., stating relative comparisons between things.
pawo tu le kima mese so pawo mi. - "Your dog is bigger than my dog"
mi le ju mese te makan so te antomi. - "I would rather eat than sleep", literally "I want more to eat than to sleep"
Equality/Similiarity
Another use of so is with saman “equal/same” and sone “different” to talk about similarity. This can be combined with sopa and cimi, "near" and "specific", to differentiate between things being exactly the same or just similar. Without them, the degree of similarity is implied through context, as is true of so much of Kokanu.
na le saman so ne. - "That is the same as this"
na le sone niju so ne. - "That is very different than this"
pawo na le si teka je saman cimi so pawo mi. - "That dog looks exactly like mine"
tu so ja le si teka je saman sopa la. - "You and him look similar!"
Superlatives
Unlike comparatives, superlatives state absolute comparisons: "best", "most enjoyable", "fastest". For this, you can use the phrase mese so ani, meaning "more than all".
mi le nin te wiki mese so ani. - "I am the fastest person", literally "I am the person that is faster than all"
mi le makan minuli mese so ani. - "I ate the most"
Grammar Rules
[prep](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/prep?lang=en)\ so tu le amo in matuwa mi "I, in comparison to you, love my parents" (similar to emphasis on the subjects)
[prep](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/prep?lang=en)\ le junja in menu makan so mi 'They have less food than me (lit. they have food of a quantity that is less in comparison to the quantity associated with me)
[prep](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/prep?lang=en)\ le kota je wiki mese so ta mi le nan te pen 'You talk faster than I can understand' (lit. you talk of a speed of a degree that is more in comparison to the degree associated with 'I can understand')
[verb](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/verb?lang=en) marker\ do the verb specified, in comparison to some other action being done by Y'_
mi le junja so tu in pawo 'I have, in comparison to you, a dog' (similar to emphasis on the verb)
sun
The preposition sun marks the origin or source, roughly equivalent to "from", or "starting at [a](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/a?lang=en) time\ le tun sun osa 18. - "I have been busy since 18:00"
mi le lo sun insu mi. "I am leaving my house"
mi le alu minuli sun tu in kuwosi. - "I received a fruit from you"
ke
The preposition ke marks the destination or recipient, roughly equivalent to "towards", or "until [a](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/a?lang=en) time\ le tun ke osa 18. - "I am busy until 18:00"
mi le lo ke insu mi. "I am going to my house"
mi le tene minuli ke tu in kuwosi. - "I gave a fruit to you"
si
This word is used in a unique way that helps facilitate the conversion of words between the different forms.
It's easy enough to say something "is [a](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/a?lang=en) base noun\ le len "I am strong"
This only works if the word is already a base noun or base modifier. What if it's a base verb? How do you say something "is food" or "is edible" using the other derivations of makan? You can't say le makan, because that means "is eating". What do you do?
The solution is to use the modifier si meaning "real" or "existing". As a verb it is used to mean "to be" or "to exist". This allows you to use modifiers or wo/je phrases to use modifier or noun forms of any word you please.
In linguistics, this "to be" construction is called the $copula.
ne le si makan "This is edible", literally "This exists edibly"
ne le si je makan "This is food", literally "This exists [in](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/in?lang=en) a manner\ le panli "That is divided", referring to the object that has been split
na le si je panli "That is a division", literally "that is dividedness" referring to the split in the object.
This allows you to use the noun or modifier form of any word when saying the phrase "is [word](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/word?lang=en)\ si [word](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/word?lang=en)\ si je [word](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/word?lang=en)\ si je [base](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/base?lang=en) modifier\ le cenpo, "this is large", than you'd say ne le si je cenpo, "this is largeness". In general this is most useful for using base verbs in their noun or modifier forms.
Implicit si
It does feel a bit clunky to be forced to use le si je to talk about noun forms all the time, so why not cut out a word? The particle je can never be a verb itself, but when it comes immediately after le it can be assumed that the verb is implicitly si. This shortens le si je to simply le je.
ne le si makan - "This is edible"
ne le je makan - "This is food"
ja le tope niju - "They are very good"
ja le je tope niju - "They are the embodiment of much goodness"
na le panli - "That is divided"
na le je panli - "That is a division"
This property of implicit si is also useful when using prepositions. Instead of saying na le si po tu, "that is for you", you could just say na le po tu and the verb si is simply implied.
matuwa mi le an $- $"My parent is at the store"
$
$kujo mi le nenka tu - "My sadness is because of you"
pijen
Many words in Kokanu, especially modifiers, represent states rather than actions. As seen in the section on word derivations, the usual verb derivation of a modifier is "to be [modifier](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/modifier?lang=en)\ antomi: "to be sleeping". This allows us to talk about whether something is or is not in a certain state, but it doesn't let us talk about the act of transitioning into that state. For this we need the verb pijen.
If you want to say that something becomes something else, using a noun, you can use pijen in [noun](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/noun?lang=en)\ le pijen in ipuwe - "This turns to stone", literally "This becomes of stone"
When using it with a verb, you must use a te clause.
mi le pijen in te pen in na - "I learn that", literally "I become that (understand that)"
When using pijen with a modifier, the modifier can simply be used in its verb form.
mi le pijen in te antomi - "I fall asleep", literally "I become that (is asleep)sleeply"
Click on any of the words to find out more.
ka
Mainly used to end main clauses to form direct (yes/no) questions (e.g. tu le suki in ne ka? 'Do you like this?'), or lone subordinate clauses to form indirect (whether/if) questions (e.g. ta ja le lo ka(,) le no sankan 'Whether they go (or not) is not important')
Incompatible with relative clauses
Changes main clauses into questions (essentially a spoken question mark)
hon
This particle is used to attach context phrases to your sentences. With hon, you can place your context in any location within the sentence just like all of the other thematic relation markers. "Context" can be a wide variety of things. We will discuss using this marker for specifying a relative time for the entire sentence, evidentiality, and conditionals.
Relative Time
You can use the context marker to provide details about the timing of the event.
mi le makan in kuwosi hon lana minuli - "I ate fruit yesterday"
This could be interpreted as "a few days ago" or "in the past days", interpreting lana as a plural, but that is often better represented with niju lana or jati lana.
hon ten nelo ne men mi le makan in kuwosi "Tonight I will eat fruit", (lit. as for this dark time, I eat fruit)
When time is stated through context, the rest of the verbs are then relative to that time. The thematic relation an can be used for a similar capability.
hon ten nelo ne men mi le makan minuli mulu je tiju ten in kuwosi "By tonight I will have eaten fruit ten times"
In this example, it doesn't say "tonight I have eaten fruit ten times", which wouldn't make sense because tonight hasn't happened yet. Instead the verb makan minuli mulu is interpreted as if it is already in the future context of "tonight".
hon ten nelo minuli men mi le lo ke insu je makan - "Last night I went to the restaurant"
Times are not always relative to simple ideas like "today", "tomorrow", or "in three days". Sometimes, you need to talk about something relative to a specific event. For this, we state the context as literally "time that [event](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/event?lang=en)\ ta [event](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/event?lang=en), ..., with the an preposition dangling. Another option is to use hon ten je ta [event](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/event?lang=en)\ ta mi le makan in kuwosi an, men mi le pasan - "When I eat fruit, I am happy"
hon ten ta mi le makan minuli in kuwosi an, men mi le pasan - "When I ate fruit, I was happy"
See how when the context is put in the past, the main verb is also interpreted as being past tense, just like the earlier example with hon ten nelo ne.
hon ten ta mi le lo putuci ke insu ta le po makan an, men mi le in mani po kuwosi - "When I go to the grocery store later, I will buy fruit"
hon ten je ta mi le lo putuci ke insu ta le po makan an, men mi le in mani po kuwosi - "When I go to the grocery store later, I will buy fruit"
Specifying Topics
If providing time as context makes a when-clause, what happens when you provide something that isn't a time? You end up simply specifying a topic. This can be used to introduce a new topic, to specify a relative concept in which to frame the following sentence, or to change topics similar to the English phrase "speaking of which...".
hon pawo men mi le junja in wan, lekin jan tope mi le junja in nanku! - "Speaking of dogs, I have one but my friend has four!"
tu le tope hon kanisa mi - literally "In the context of my thoughts, you are good", or roughly "you are good imo"
This is a somewhat awkward example, as it is more clearly stated using mi le kanisa ta tu le tope, but it is still correct
hon te kota tuntan je Kokanu men tu o teka in pata ta non Kokanu le lika. - Roughly, "On the topic of Kokanu grammar, read this guide written by the Kokanu community."
More literally, it's "In the context of speaking Kokanu correctly, you should read this document that the Kokanu community wrote."
hon lantan ta le hunsi minuli, men mi le lun nile in ja - "About the car that was red, I am making it blue"
Again, tense is fairly ambiguous here.
Conditionals
When providing an entire event as context, it is usually interpreted as a conditional ("if [event](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/event?lang=en)\ mi le makan in kuwosi ... or hon lantan le hunsi ...
hon lantan le hunsi men mi le lun nile in ja - "If the car is red, I will make it blue"
The tense of this sentence is ambiguous.
hon lantan le hunsi minuli men mi le lun nile kate in ja - "If the car was red, I would have painted it blue"
Because the context is past tense, the main sentence is interpreted as what would have happened in that hypothetical past.
hon tu le ju ta le lo ke insu je makan men mi le ju ta le lo kan tu - "If you want go to the restaurant, then I want to go with you
la
Mainly used to end main clauses to add exclamation/emphasis (e.g. na le tope niju la 'That is so good!'); incompatible with subordinate and relative clauses.
Does not alter literal meaning, but can alter connotations (essentially a spoken exclamation mark)
lun
Allows intransitive verbs (i.e. verb derivations of base mods or base nouns) to take an in argument. The patient (value of the in argument) is the entity that experiences being in the state described by the intransitive verb. This happening is caused by the agent or subject of the action.
This particle occurs after verb markers le/te/o (and a no if there is one), and before the base mod or base noun.
le lun X in Y - "cause Y to be X" or "X-ify Y"
le lun hunsi in Y - "cause Y to be red" or "red-ify Y"
Because the point of lun is to enable an in argument for intransitive verbs (verb derivations of base mods or base nouns), it cannot be used on base verbs as they can already take an in argument (e.g. le lun makan, le lun kota, le lun amo, etc. are all disallowed); le pon ta le X can still be used to achieve causative constructions for base verbs.
This particle brings intransitive verbs up to the level of base verbs so that they can both be treated similarly:
ja le pon ta mi le makan in kuwosi - "They caused me to eat fruit"
ja le pon ta mi le lun panli in kuwosi - "They caused me to split the fruit"
Only links to the one content word after it, so adverbs can still follow:
tu le lun konpa wiki in tipa - "You quickly shake the container"
Mainly used to end main clauses (e.g. mi le ju in na peko 'I want that please'); incompatible with subordinate and relative clauses
Does not alter literal meaning, but humbles the speaker.
When used on its own, it means "hello", "please", "thank you", or "sorry".
we
Kokanu has two forms of negation: using the no particle modifier after other grammar particles and using the we particle before content words. This guide helps explain when to use the latter particle and what it means.
First thing to note is that we forces the immediately following word into modifier form. Secondly, it marks the modifier as being a "reverse", "opposite" or "negated" form. This allows you to interject some negated modifiers within a larger description and helps ensure sentences don't require constantly returning to either the verb or prepositional forms (using no) when you need to express a mix of positive and negative traits. Let's cover how that works in practice for each content word derivation type.
Verb
When used with a verb, the combined expression means:
-
does not resemble [generic](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/generic?lang=en) object of verb\ makan
-
does not resemble food
-
un-food-like
-
uneaten
-
inedible
Modifier
When used with a modifier, the combined expression means "un[modifier](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/modifier?lang=en)\ konpa
- unshaking/unvibrating
Noun
This form's most useful meaning is "un-[noun](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/noun?lang=en)\ kun [noun](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/noun?lang=en)\ [noun](https://dictionary.kokanu.com/noun?lang=en)\ meja
- un-cat-like
le we X
This should always be interpreted as a modifier acting as a verb
le no we
It doesn't interact with no within itself as it is already a negator, though le no we X is technically fine (though redundant) because no acts on le.
le no we makan
- is not inedible
le we X pon
we does not interact with pon within itself, but le we X pon is fine because we X just acts like a modifier.
le we makan pon je sito
cause the bread to be inedible
le no we makan pon je sito
not cause the bread to be inedible
o no mu no we makan pon
- don't be a non-en-inedible-er
- non-en-inedible-er
- an entity that doesn't cause things to be inedible