alasa

sitelen pona for 'alasa'

sitelen sitelen for 'alasa'

etymology; tan

Acadian French à la chasse ‘hunting’ ← French chasser ‘to hunt’

usage; nasin kepeken

verb - hunt, forage

this usage is pretty rare, considering that it's pu.

definition

to hunt, forage

examples

phrase	concept
mi alasa.	i hunt.
ona li wile alasa.	they want to go hunting.

noun - hunt, forage

noun form of the verb.

definition

hunt, hunting, foraging

examples

phrase	concept
tan alasa la mi kama jo e moku mute.	i got a lot of food from the hunt.
alasa li pana e moku mute!	foraging gives a lot of food!

alternative usage; kepeken ante

noun - prey

rarely, although accepted, alasa can be used as 'prey', like the object of hunting.

definition

prey

examples

phrase	concept
mi alasa e soweli la, soweli li alasa mi.	when i hunt animals, the animals are my prey.
alasa mi li weka! o awen!	my prey ran away! wait!

pre-verb - try to

it implies to try to do something (generally without success).

some people prefer 'lukin' for trying.

lukin

definition

try to, attempt to

examples

phrase	concept
mi alasa lukin e ni.	i try to look at this.
mi alasa sona e lipu!!	i try to understand the document!

verb - look for

of course, lukin is kind of used for this - alasa implies more of a 'in the state of searching and have not found it yet'. lukin is more like one is seeing it right now.

lukin

definition

look for, find, hunt for

examples

phrase	concept
mi alasa e ilo mi.	i find my tool.

noun - goal

kind of the noun form of 'look for' definition. alasa can also mean goal or aim.

definition

goal, objective, aim, intent

examples

phrase	concept
alasa mi la mi pona.	my goal is that i am good. i try to be good.
mi ante e alasa mi.	i change my objective.

theories/analysis; sona nasa

jo, lanpan, alasa

while lanpan is a non-pu word, it is common in ma pona pi toki pona, with wide usage. it has been brought up before that these three words have slightly overlapping meanings.

jo - to have lanpan - to get, to come to have alasa - to try to have

there were small discussions about replacing jo with lanpan and alasa. however, it never happened. this would most likely be supported by the jon'ts.

jon't

alasa and lukin

as mentioned earlier, alasa and lukin have similar meanings when they are preverbs. however, there is a slight change in meaning.

alasa is more of trying actively to do, at the current moment. lukin, much like its meaning - looking - is like looking forward to do - one is planning to do it, but perhaps have not done so, or do not intend to do it anytime soon.

common phrases; toki

phrase	concept
ilo alasa	bow (since the sitelen pona for alasa looks like a bow)

extra references; lipu ante

• ma pona pi toki pona - ilo alasa

• ma pona pi toki pona - jo, lanpan, alasa