1 · womu

One sentence shape lives in this chapter: a thing, then something true about it, then nai. That closing word is the quiet "is" of Phi: it arrives last, after you already know what is being said about what. Read each scene aloud twice.

I

womu thiku nai.
silawo whalo nai.
womu welao nai.
silawo welao nai.

A small home, a large village, and both of them good. Notice what your ear already learned: the describing word comes before nai, and nai closes the door.

II

lopia miona nai.
phao miona nai.
wheo miona nai.
lopia thiku nai.
phao whalo nai.
phao melu nai.
wheo melu nai.

Three people, one household. The child is small, the parent is large, and (read those last two lines again) in this house the parent and the elder are also friends.

III

lohau nolika nai.
misheko nolika nai.
lohau whalo nai.
misheko thiku nai.
lohau melu nai.
misheko melu nai.

A large dog and a small cat, and both of them friends. You have now read fourteen Phi sentences. Nothing in the rest of this book will abandon the shape you just absorbed.

IV

Now the child speaks. mia means I, and thia means you.

lopia: mia lopia nai. thia phao nai.
phao: mia phao nai. thia lopia nai.
lopia: thia lohau nai. thia melu nai.
lohau: —

The dog says nothing, because the dog is a dog. The child says it anyway:

lopia: kia melu.

Read the whole chapter once more, aloud, a little slower than feels natural. Then close the book for today: small portions, held well, are how this language is meant to be taken in.

The machinery, when you want it: nai and the sentence of being are explained in the manual, Part IV, chapter 10 (The Mindful Sentence).