The Uses of 'olsem'

01

'like' - Comparison

• Mi olsem pua meri.

  I'm like a poor woman.

• Laip em olsem wanpela basket soklet.

  Life is like a box of chocolates.

02

'as' - Role

Where English says someone works as something, Tok Pisin uses the same word.

• Em save wok olsem weitres.

  She works as a waitress.

03

'that' - Introducing a Clause

This is the use that matters most. After a verb of thinking, knowing, seeing or worrying, olsem introduces the whole clause that follows. It is doing the job of English "that".

• Mi ting olsem tomato em prut.

  I think that a tomato is a fruit.

• Mi ting olsem kaikai mas spais.

  I think that the food should be spicy.

• Em save pinis olsem mi sik.

  He already knows that I'm sick.

• Mi wok long wari olsem em i lus.

  I'm worrying that it's lost.

• Yu luk olsem yu sik.

  You look like you're sick.

English lets you drop this "that" - "I think a tomato is a fruit" is perfectly good. In Tok Pisin olsem is normally there. It can be left out, as in Mi save yu save long toktok gut stret ("I know you can speak really well"), but keeping it is never wrong.

04

Reported Speech

The same construction carries what someone said. tok olsem is "said that", and it is used whether the words that follow are quoted directly or reported.

• Ol i tok olsem, I tru.

  They said, "It's true."

• Nogat, dokta tok olsem bai mi stap wanpela wik.

  No, the doctor said I'll stay one week.

Tok Pisin does not shift the tense of reported speech the way English does. The doctor's actual words were bai yu stap wanpela wik, and reporting them keeps bai exactly as it was - where English retreats from "will" to "would".

05

'like that' - Pointing Back

On its own at the end of a clause, olsem refers to a manner already established: "like that", "so", "that way".

• Yumi wokim olsem.

  Let's do it that way.

• Mi no ting olsem.

  I don't think so.

• Bilong wanem na yu wokim olsem?

  Why did you do that?

06

'olsem na' - So, Therefore

Followed by na, it becomes a connector between sentences, drawing a consequence. It is very common.

• Olsem na yupela wok wantaim.

  So work together.

07

'olsem wanem' - How

And with wanem it forms the question word "how", literally "like what".

• Ples i olsem wanem long tude?

  What's the weather like today?

• Mi ken helpim yu olsem wanem?

  How can I help you?

08

Holding It Together

Comparison, role, "that", reported speech, "so", "how" - six English words for one Tok Pisin one. They are less scattered than they look. Every one is a way of saying in this manner: like a poor woman, in the capacity of a waitress, in this fashion - namely, that a tomato is a fruit.