Lesson 29 — Making a list

Last lesson you joined two things. Now stretch it to a whole list — three, ten, twenty — without the joiner piling up.

1 · Say this

mi ama iya de mi, pita de mi, i tu (mee · AH-ma · EE-ya deh mee · PEE-ta deh mee · ee · too) I love my mother, my father, and you.

Look at where the i (and) is: once, right before the last item. Everything earlier is just separated by commas — little pauses. That's the whole pattern.

2 · A closer look: commas between, one joiner at the end

Take your list of things, separate them with commas, and put a single i (and, from Lesson 28) or o (or, also Lesson 28) before the final one. That last joiner decides the flavor of the whole list:

Amatu	Means
`iya, pita, i omo`	mother, father, and child
`iya, pita, o omo`	mother, father, or child

One little joiner does the work for the entire list, however long it gets. Swap i for o and a list of things you have becomes a list of things to choose from.

🧭 Why it's built this way English fusses over the last item — "bread, butter, and jam," with the and in a special spot. Amatu keeps it dead simple: commas do the listing, and one joiner before the last item tells you whether it's and or or. The best part is how it scales — a list of twenty names needs exactly one i, never twenty.

🎯 Pro tip There is a way to put i between every item — tu i la i omo, "you and her and the child." But that's the emphatic version, the verbal equivalent of counting them off on your fingers. For an ordinary list, one joiner at the end is plenty; save the pile-up for when you really want to hammer each one.

Say it cleanly: iya is EE-ya, pita is PEE-ta, omo is OH-mo — the i in iya and pita is always "ee," never "eye," and let each comma be a real little pause.

3 · Your turn

Out loud:

List three people you love → mi ama …, …, i …
Mother, father, and child → iya, pita, i omo
Turn it into a choice → iya, pita, o omo? (mother, father, or child?)
Make a list of things — water, sun, and a person → yala, sola, i nara

4 · Tonight's phrase

mi ama iya de mi, pita de mi, i tu — I love my mother, my father, and you. Commas, then one joiner.

30-second check

Cover the page. (1) Say mother, father, and child. (2) Make it a choice with or. (3) Say where the joiner goes in a list. Three for three? You can now say everything on your mind in one breath — a list as long as you like, held together by a single small word.

⬅️ Back: Lesson 28 — And, or · ➡️ Next: Lesson 30 — Recap