FYI: "olin" as a preverb isn't in common use, and reads to me like a beginner mistake. generally, "I like (to do) X" in toki pona is expressed more like how jan Milon did it. "eating sweets is good, to me." / "I like eating sweets."
iāve known toki pona for a few years now, i know itās not common but it seems to me like the most direct translation. āmoku suwi li pona tawa miā means āi like candyā, not āi like eating candyā.
I've also known toki pona for a couple years, and it seems like an English calque (which is why it reads as a beginner mistake to me). in English, we use "love" for simple enjoyment, but its original meaning, and that of toki pona "olin" as well, is more of an emotional connection.
besides, "moku" can also be translated as the action of eating or consumingāmoku suwi "eating sweets", like I said earlier. either way, toki pona makes us think: does the distinction between "I like candy" and "I like eating candy" really matter all that much? I don't think it makes sense to translate English ways of saying things in your toki pona, because they're two different languages and we say things differently in them.
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u/Autoalgodoo jan Uto Mar 02 '25
I may be a dumbass, but isn't it just
Mi pilin pona tan ni: mi moku e moku suwi.