A common sort of question from new speakers in kama sona is: "How do I say I'm feeling scared? Does *mi pilin monsuta* work?" (1) This means something like "I am feeling/experiencing in a way related to fear",which certainly *could* describe feeling scared. It might also describe other ways of feeling or experiencing that are related to fear or monsters, of course. Maybe you feel excellently spooky in your Halloween costume, or you feel like a vampire at this particular moment, or various other things (because [[Noun phrases are vague]]). This isn't a problem, per se - most of the time people will understand you based on context, such as whether or not you are wearing a costume and whether or not you are running away from that haunted house, and if not they can ask clarification questions. But if you want to be clearer or more specific, one option you have in this sort of situation is to use the strategy of **changing the subject**. Consider the original English sentence: > I'm feeling scared It's easy to think "well, in the original sentence, 'I' is the subject, so my toki pona sentence should start with 'mi' too". This works for many sentences: "I'm eating" --> "mi moku". But the toki pona part of my brain finds it more natural to invert the sentence by changing the sentence so that the thing that is scaring me is the subject: > tomo ni li monsuta e mi! If you're scared, often something is frightening you, and since toki pona lacks a passive voice, it often helps to convert sentences to a structure that is more active and specifically names what is doing what (2). What if you're tired and want to sleep? "mi pilin lape" works (though "mi wile lape" would often be clearer or easier to understand). But you might also say things like: - wile lape li kama wawa lon sijelo mi - lawa mi li wile lape - lape li alasa e mi - tenpo lape mi li kama poka None of these are necessarily better than "mi wile lape", but they are options that you have to express tiredness or a need to rest in slightly more specific or nuanced ways (3). I find that I can often be much more expressive in toki pona if I fully utilize all the possible constructions - such as changing the subject - within its minimalist grammar. ## Footnotes 1. The fact that this is the first question that came to my mind when writing this feels like a sign of the times. 2. One of the clearest ways I've seen the advantage of active voice described (I think in one of the classic writing style books?) is that passive voice tends to obscure who or what is acting ("the workers are paid low wages"), whereas the active voice forces you to name who is acting ("management pays the workers low wages"). This can make your writing easier to understand, and it can also more clearly attribute responsibility for an action. In toki pona, changing the subject allows you to express ideas more flexibly and clearly within its minimalist grammar. 3. You can also use this strategy to express a need to rest that isn't sleep-related. If you've been working all morning as a crossing guard for penguins, holding up a sign that says "o pini" on one side and "o tawa" on the other for hours, you might say "luka mi li wile lape a!" Thank you for your service to the penguins.