14 · no ponu tapu
Three particles run a household. no at the front of a sentence makes it a request-to-do: Phi's gentle imperative. po before the verb says may or can; na says must. And they stack with ma exactly as you would fear and then find reasonable: po ma, cannot; na ma, must not. The rules of the house:
I
no ponu tapu.
no ponu phae.
no shua. no nuola.
| new word | say it | it means |
|---|---|---|
| no | no | (at the front: do it, gently) |
| tapu | ta · pu | close |
| phae | pha · e | open |
Close the door; open the door; come, eat. A no sentence has no subject: it is handed to whoever is listening, which around here is usually the dog.
II
thia po ponu phae.
lopia po mua thepalu wile.
lohau po mua thepalu wile.
lopia na nulae.
lohau na mua womu nulae.
| new word | say it | it means |
|---|---|---|
| po | po | (before the verb: may, can) |
| na | na | (before the verb: must) |
You may open the door; the child and the dog may play in the garden; the child must sleep (it is that hour), and the dog must sleep indoors, a rule the dog regards as a personal triumph.
III
misheko mua wonepa po ma thalo.
lohau nekuma po ma pilu.
lopia mua luphore sonu na ma wishe.
| new word | say it | it means |
|---|---|---|
| nekuma | ne · ku · ma | meat |
| pilu | pi · lu | take |
| sonu | so · nu | alone |
The house's three prohibitions, in ascending order of importance: the cat cannot walk on the table (the cat has heard this); the dog cannot take the meat (the dog is working on it); the child must not swim in the river alone: na ma, the strong one, saved for the rule that matters.
IV
lopia: pi wa mia po mua luphore wishe. That first little word is politeness itself; chapter sixteen makes it formal. The child is already using it, because the child wants something.
phao: lia. lo mia kau luphore wepu. thia po wishe.
lopia: mea.
lo mia kau luphore wepu.
lopia wishe. lohau wishe.
misheko mua womu nulae. misheko theula ruela sano. The cat knows every rule. That is different from following them.
| new word | say it | it means |
|---|---|---|
| sano | sa · no | know |
May I swim? Yes, we go to the river together, and you may. Notice kau, the newest word in the language, doing exactly what it was made for: announcing the river before anyone takes a step.
Rules in Phi are not walls; they are announced care: po opens, na holds, ma turns either one around. Read the three prohibitions again and hear how the grammar itself is calm about them.
The machinery, when you want it: possibility and necessity are the manual's Part IV, chapter 15; the imperative lives with the Slot 0 particles in chapter 9.