'save': The Habitual Marker — Tok Pisin Grammar

is two things at once. On its own it is the verb "to know". In front of another verb it says that the action is habitual - something the subject does regularly, or characteristically, or as a matter of course.

The Verb: To Know

Used by itself, means to know or to understand. It reaches its object through rather than taking one directly.

Mi save long meri ya.
I know that woman.
Yu save long dispela dok?
Do you know this dog?

The Marker: Habitually

Placed before a verb, it turns a one-off statement into a standing one. English usually has to signal this with an adverb such as "usually" or "always", or with the plain present tense.

Mi save laikim spring.
I like spring.
Em save katim gras bilong mi olgeta taim.
He always cuts my hair.
Olgeta apinun mi save pilai basketbol.
Every afternoon I play basketball.
Pikinini meri bilong mipela i save go skul long kolej.
Our daughter goes to college.

Negated

before a verb says that the subject does not do the thing as a rule - not that they failed to do it once.

Mi no save dring planti bia tumas.
I don't drink much beer.

How One Became the Other

The path from "know" to "habitually" is not a strange one. Knowing how to do something and doing it regularly sit close together, and English took a similar road with "used to". A trace of the older meaning survives: before a verb can also shade into being able to do it.

Em save pilai gut stret.
He plays really well.
Em i save flai i go antap.
It can fly upwards.

Knowing a Skill

followed by a verb is how you say you know how to do something - the standard way of talking about languages you speak.

Wanem ol tokples yu save long toktok?
What languages do you speak?

Also a Noun

is a noun as well, meaning knowledge or intelligence.

Em i gat helti bodi na het bilong em i gat planti save.
He has a healthy body and a good mind.

Telling Them Apart

Position settles it. Followed by another verb, is the habitual marker; followed by or standing at the end, it is the verb "to know". Sentences containing both are perfectly ordinary.

Mi save yu save long toktok gut stret.
I know you can speak really well.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Tok Pisin course

61 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 52. A few of them, with the words “'save': The Habitual Marker” is about in bold:

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
Oh, mi save long ples Frens. Mi bin go pinis long Frens bipo yet.
Oh, I know France. I have been to France before.
Lesson 208
Nambawan taim mi lukim em stret, mi ting olsem em meri i gat planti save.
My first impression is that she is very smart.
Lesson 333

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