Quantifiers: planti, sampela, olgeta, liklik

01

No 'much' Against 'many'

English sorts nouns into countable and uncountable and makes you pick the matching word: many cars but much money, how many people but how much time. Get it wrong and it sounds foreign. Tok Pisin has one word for each pair.

• planti - much, many, a lot of
• hamas - how much, how many

• Planti kar long rot?

  Many cars on the road?

• Mi nogat planti mani.

  I don't have much money.

• I gat planti pis long solwara.

  There are a lot of fish in the sea.

• I gat planti wok mani i stap.

  There is plenty of paid work about.

The same planti serves kar, which you can count, and mani, which you cannot.

• Hamas long dispela?

  How much is this?

• Hamas krismas bilong ol?

  How old are they?

hamas is also how you ask a price and, as the second example shows, how you ask an age - literally "how many years of them".

02

'sampela' - Some

• Kaikai sampela prut.

  Eat some fruit.

• Mi gat sampela tingting.

  I have some ideas.

• Yu laikim sampela samting?

  Would you like something?

• Yu gat sampela taim i stap?

  Do you have some time?

• I gat sampela hevi?

  Are there any problems?

Note the last one. In a question sampela covers English "any" as well as "some" - another distinction English makes and Tok Pisin does not.

03

'olgeta' - All and Every

olgeta spans both English words. With a plural sense it is "all"; with a singular one it is "every".

• Mi save laikim olgeta piksa.

  I like all the pictures.

• Mi save long olgeta singsing bilong ol.

  I know all their songs.

• Olgeta man save long dispela hevi.

  Everyone knows about this problem.

• Olgeta apinun mi save pilai basketbol.

  Every afternoon I play basketball.

04

'liklik' - Small and a Little

liklik is the odd one out: it is an adjective meaning "small" and also an adverb meaning "a little, slightly".

• Meri ya save ronim liklik kar stret.

  That woman drives a small car.

• Mi ken stap liklik moa.

  I can stay a little longer.

• Nogat liklik tasol.

  No, only a few.

In the second and third it is not describing a small thing - it is softening the amount, exactly like English "a little".

05

They Replace 'ol'

Because a quantifier already establishes plurality, the plural marker becomes redundant and drops out. You say planti kar, not the marker and the quantifier together. This is the same economy that leaves ol off in front of a number.