The twentieth text, written for the gap between Lesson 13 and Lesson 18 on the reading ladder. It uses only the 136 roots the lessons have taught by Lesson 16, which is the lesson called School and time — so a learner who has just finished it reads a page about what it just taught.
No verb chains, no existential es, no porke joining two clauses, no comparison of adjectives: all four arrive in Lessons 17 and 18.
Pagi. Anak-anak go skola.
Skola in tarik ini. Skola kabir.
Anak-anak otur in kursi.
Mi buka libro mi. Mi kara.
Rafiki mi katab in libro ta.
Mi no faham. Mi sema: "Kaifa?"
Rafiki mi sema: "Kan ini."
Mi kan. Sasa mi faham.
Sol upar. Kita kula pan in skola.
Anak-anak kimbia in tarik.
Aksam. Mi go dom.
Mi kara libro tena. Mi studi.
Papa mi sema: "Yu studi hao."
Mi mau libro baru. Pesa mi keci.
Besok mi saufa go skola tena.
Line by line
| Amadunia | English |
|---|---|
| Pagi. Anak-anak go skola. | Morning. The children go to school. |
| Skola in tarik ini. Skola kabir. | The school is on this road. The school is big. |
| Anak-anak otur in kursi. | The children sit in chairs. |
| Mi buka libro mi. Mi kara. | I open my book. I read. |
| Rafiki mi katab in libro ta. | My friend writes in his book. |
| Mi no faham. | I do not understand. |
| Mi sema: “Kaifa?” | I say: “How?” |
| Rafiki mi sema: “Kan ini.” | My friend says: “Look at this.” |
| Mi kan. Sasa mi faham. | I look. Now I understand. |
| Sol upar. Kita kula pan in skola. | The sun is up. We eat bread at school. |
| Anak-anak kimbia in tarik. | The children run in the road. |
| Aksam. Mi go dom. | Evening. I go home. |
| Mi kara libro tena. Mi studi. | I read the book again. I study. |
| Papa mi sema: “Yu studi hao.” | My father says: “You study well.” |
| Mi mau libro baru. Pesa mi keci. | I want a new book. My money is small. |
| Besok mi saufa go skola tena. | Tomorrow I will go to school again. |
What sixteen lessons are enough for
Twenty-four sentences, 42 roots. A day at school told with the plain sentence: subject, verb, object, an adjective after its noun, a preposition, a demonstrative, the plural, possession, a command, a question and the two tense markers. Nothing here is a workaround; it is simply a smaller language, and the smaller language is the one the learner has at that point.
One sentence carries the whole of the missing grammar. Mi no faham. Mi sema: “Kaifa?” is two sentences because at Lesson 16 there is no porke to join them — I did not understand, so I asked how has to be said twice. Every other absence in this page is the same shape: the rule arrives one or two lessons later.
Gaps
Noon cannot be named. The draft wrote Hora du for “two o’clock”, which is “hour two” and claims a clock the language does not have — the gap is on the list. The line says Sol upar, the sun is up, which is what a school day at 136 roots can say about the middle of it.
A school with no teacher. (The syllabus records which lesson teaches what.) mualim is not taught until Lesson 19, so the only people in this school are children and a friend. Lesson 16 is called School and time and gives the building, the book and the chair; the person who teaches is filed in Lesson 19 among doors, windows, trees and animals. Whether that word should move is a syllabus question and this page does not answer it — it records that a school text written at Lesson 16 cannot put a teacher in the room.
Nothing else was wanted that the language lacks: the vocabulary of a school day at 136 roots is enough for a school day.
Roots used
42 of 300.