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.

SceneI

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.

SceneII

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.

SceneIII

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.

SceneIV

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

lopiamia lopia nai. thia phao nai.phaomia phao nai. thia lopia nai.lopiathia lohau nai. thia melu nai.

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

lopiakia melu.