Apupiwe

Lesson 13: Can, must, maybe§

lenu is "can": to lenu lonfe. "I can swim." keya is "must", and wupi is "need to" or "should": pen wupi isi. "We need to go." Watch where mu "not" goes, since it covers what comes right after it: mu keya is "don't have to", and keya mu is "must not". efon is "allow": me gun efon nawi "you may eat" (you are allowed to eat). li with a verb means "in order to": li bika "to buy".

How sure you are, in sixths§

kon with a number says the chance in 6 that the statement is true. It goes before the subject.
kon po impossible
kon fi unlikely
kon sa doubtful
kon ka even odds, maybe
kon da likely, probably
kon te very likely
kon ufo certain
kon bo "I'm not sure how sure"

kon da wan obu "4 in 6 she's coming" means she's probably coming. Half steps work too: kon te mimi te (5.5 in 6). A plain statement means you believe it, so kon is optional. For an exact chance, use a number and pasentu "percent".

English "might", "probably" and "must be" (when it means probably) are all kon. "She must be home" is kon te wan gun mon guyi. "Must" meaning have to is keya.

For "if" and "if only", kon after don says how likely the condition is: don kon fi "if (unlikely)". don kon po is "if (but it isn't so)": don kon po to sin isi, to sin nagu wan. "If I had gone, I would have seen her." There's no word for "would". The second clause is the result.

As an optional extra, you can say how you know: wanme "I saw it", inwun "I was told", wemen "I worked it out". These go where kon goes: inwun wan kusa. "She left, I'm told." You can skip them until the rest feels easy.