'bilong': Possession, Purpose, Origin — Tok Pisin Grammar

is the second of the language's two prepositions, and it covers what belongs to what - ownership, purpose and origin. It is English "belong", and unlike its meaning has stayed close to its source.

Possession

The order is always possessed first, owner second: the thing, then , then whoever it belongs to. This is the reverse of the usual English order.

Nem bilong mi Alex.
My name is Alex.
Mi poro bilong yu.
I'm your friend.
Mi laikim gras bilong yu.
I like your hair.
Em katim gras bilong mi.
He cut my hair.
Papa bilong em yangpela man.
His father is a young man.

No Possessive Pronouns to Learn

Tok Pisin has no possessive pronouns at all. English has a whole extra set of words for possession - my, your, his, her, its, our, their - plus a second set for standing alone: mine, yours, hers, ours, theirs. Tok Pisin has none of them. You take the ordinary pronoun you already know and put in front of it.

- my, mine
- your, yours
- his, her, hers, its
- our, ours
- their, theirs

There is also no apostrophe-s. "The woman's house" and "the house of the woman" come out identically, and the possessor keeps exactly the form it has anywhere else.

Em inapim skin bilong yu.
It suits your skin.
Mi laikim papa bilong mi.
I love my father.

Stacking

Because the owner is just another noun phrase, it can own something in turn, and the phrases chain rightwards. English does the same with "of" but usually prefers to reverse it.

Nem bilong mama bilong mi em Lisa.
My mother's name is Lisa.
Wanem nem bilong mama bilong yu?
What is your mother's name?

Read these from the left: name - of mother - of me.

Purpose

The second big job is saying what something is for. A noun followed by and a verb names the thing's function.

Haus em i ples bilong slip.
A house is a place for sleeping.
Wara bilong dring i mas i stap klin.
Drinking water must stay clean.
Bihain bai mi wasim ples bilong waswas.
Later I'll wash the bathroom.
Inap mi lukim menu bilong kaikai, plis?
Can I see the food menu, please?

Notice how much English variety this one pattern absorbs: "a place for sleeping", "drinking water", "the bathroom", "the food menu" - a preposition, a participle, and two compound nouns. Tok Pisin builds all four the same way.

Origin

Where someone or something is from is also a kind of belonging.

Mi bilong ples Frans.
I'm from France.
Yupela bilong wanem ples?
Where are you all from?
Yu bilong wanem hap tru?
Which part are you really from?

'Bilong wanem?' - Why

is "what", so is literally "for what" - and that is the ordinary way to ask why. English once did the same with "wherefore"; Tok Pisin still does it transparently.

Bilong wanem?
Why?
Bilong wanem yu hait long mi?
Why are you hiding from me?
Bilong wanem na ol i no ritim?
Why didn't they read it?

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Tok Pisin course

154 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 2. A few of them, with the words “'bilong': Possession, Purpose, Origin” is about in bold:

Dispela em pren bilong mi, Anna. Em wanpela sumatin.
This is my friend, Anna. She is a student.
Lesson 2
Mi baim twelpela kiau na wanpela loli bilong yu.
I bought a dozen eggs and a candy bar for you too.
Lesson 47
Meri ya gat wanpela kar i save ron isi stret, dispela kar i no bikpela mani bilong em.
She has a slow, cheap car.
Lesson 110

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