ala
etymology; tan
Georgian არა ara ‘no’
usage; nasin kepeken
noun - nothing, zero
definition
nothing, none, zero, nothingness, nil
examples
phrase
concept
mi jo e ala.
i have nothing.
ni li ala.
this is nothing.
nanpa li lon anpa ala.
the number is below zero.
adjective - not
goes after a noun to negate it.
definition
not, non
examples
phrase
concept
ni li ike ala!
this is not bad!
ona li suli ala.
it is not important.
kala li moku pi ike ala.
fish is a not-bad food.
adverb - not
similar to the adjective, the adverb goes after a verb to negate it.
definition
not, non, un-
examples
phrase
concept
o moku ala e kala!
don't eat fish!
ona li toki ala.
they don't talk.
exclaimation - no
an exclaimation, much like English's 'no' in response to a yes-no question.
definition
no, untrue, false, incorrect
examples
phrase
concept
ona li suwi!
ala!
it's cute!
no!
ni li pona, anu seme?
ala.
this is nice, right?
no.
grammar - yes/no questions
in a sentence, 'ala' is often used to ask a question.
format
when asking a question, double the word/phrase directly after 'li', or in the case of mi/sina, the word/phrase directly after 'mi/sina', and insert 'ala' in between.
although it is stated as 'double the verb' in pu, when there are no 'verbs' in a sentence (and the sentence structure is [subject] li [object]), the object is doubled.
using 'ala' on different parts of the verb can change its meaning.
examples
phrase
concept
ona li pona.
ona li pona ala pona?
it's good.
is it good?
sina moku pona ala moku pona e kala?
did you eat the fish well?
sina moku ala moku pona e kala?
did you eat the fish well?
sina moku pona ala pona e kala?
did you eat the fish well?
alternative usage; kepeken ante
verb - do not
definition
do not
examples
phrase
concept
mi moli e ona.
o ala!
i'm killing it.
don't!
verb - to make nothing
definition
to make nothing, to remove, to delete
examples
phrase
concept
mi ala e ona.
i make it into nothing.
grammar - yes/no questions on other parts of speech
some people use 'ala' freely on any part of the speech.
format
when asking a question, double any part of the sentence and insert 'ala' in between.
using 'ala' on different parts of the sentence can change its meaning.
examples
phrase
concept
sina ala sina li moku e ni?
did you eat this?
was it you who ate this?
sina moku ala moku e ni?
did you eat this?
is the thing you did to this eat?
sina moku e ni ala ni?
did you eat this?
was the thing you ate this?
theories/analysis; sona nasa
noun - untrue, false
very rarely, 'ala' is used much like the noun form of the non-pu word 'powe'.
powepre-verb - do not
usually, 'ala' goes after the verb as an adverb to negate it. however, some jan nasa might use it as a preverb.
definition
not, not to, un-, not going to
examples
phrase
concept
o ala moku e ni!
do not eat this!
mi ala tawa.
i'm not going.
noun - negative 100
'ala' means -100 in the nanpaweka number system. (it means 0 in almost every other one.)
nanpawekaadjective/adverb - n't
a joke word that begin in the ma pona pi toki pona discord. sometimes -n't is added to back of words as a replacement for 'ala'.
jokingly, the -n't format is used to ask questions as well, with x anu xn't question format.
examples
phrase
concept
mi moku ala e ona.
mi mokun't e ona.
i didn't eat it.
sina lape ala tan seme?
sina lapen't tan seme?
why are you not sleeping?
ona li wile ala wile?
ona li wile anu wilen't?
do they want?
common mistake: 'li ala'
many jan sin will use the phrasing 'li ala'. this is not to be confused with ala as a pre-verb.
this mistake is caused by the misconception that 'li' means 'is', causing learners to believe that 'ala' can modify 'li' to mean 'is not', much like in English.
lithis is incorrect. 'li' is not a content word, and therefore cannot be modified with 'ala'.
(of course, there are always those who would argue that 'li ala li' is a valid question. that's just one way to understand the language, albeit not a common one.)
extra references; lipu ante
ma pona pi toki pona - grammar - yes/no questions
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