Lea Faka-Tonga · Lessons

Lesson 23: Obligation and Necessity

This lesson covers obligation and necessity: ʻoku totonu ke (should, ought to) and kuo pau ke (must, it is necessary that).

The word totonu means "straight" or "correct." When it appears as the main predicate with ʻoku, it means "it is right" or "it is proper." Adding ke creates a complete obligation expression: "it is right that..."

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Lesson 22 · All 52 lessons · Lesson 24

The Tongan alphabet and pronunciation · Tongan greetings and what they mean · Tongan tense markers explained · Tongan word order · Saying "not" in Tongan · Tongan possessives · The Tongan ko pattern