ala

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meaning

not, nothing, no; (particle) [negates a word or phrase]; (particle) [forms a yes-no question]; (number) zero

semantic space · lipamanka

the semantic space of ala contains nothing. But don't be fooled, it isn't void of information. "ala li lukin e kili" can be "nobody's looking at the fruit." "jan li moku e ala" can mean "the person ate nothing." as a modifier, it actually reverses the semantic space of whatever words come before it, which no other content word does. "soweli li alasa ala e kili" can mean "the monky doesn't forage for fruit." An ijo ala is never a type of ijo. as a verb, ala can mean "erase" or "delete."

ku translations

none100 not100 zero100 no94 nothing81 neither60 nor30 hardly28

pu verbatim

  • ADJECTIVE no, not, zero

usage

core · 100% usage

found in pu

coined pre-pu

origin

Georgian · არა ara ‘no’

coined by jan Sonja

listen

kala Asi

jan Lakuse

sitelen pona

ala

X mark, a crosslinguistic symbol for negation

sitelen sitelen

ala sitelen sitelen

sitelen jelo

sitelen Emosi

ucsur

U+F1902

luka pona

gif · mp4