Time and la

Before we can actually learn how to use tenpo with la, we need to learn about tenpo first. It acts just like any other noun.

tenpo suno		day (sun time)
tenpo pimeja		night (dark time)
tenpo ni		the present (this time)
tenpo suno ni		today (this sun time)
tenpo pimeja ni		tonight (this dark time)
tenpo kama		the future (coming time)
tenpo kama lili		soon (little coming time)
tenpo pini		the past (past time)
tenpo suno pini		yesterday (past sun time)
tenpo pimeja pini		last night (past dark time)
tenpo suno kama		tomorrow (coming sun time)
tenpo mute		often (many times)

Now, you can stick these phrases before la to tell when something happened:

tenpo pini la mi weka.		In the past, I was away.
tenpo ni la mi lon.		At this time, I am here.
tenpo kama la mi lape.		In the future, I'll sleep.
tenpo pimeja pini la mi kama nasa.		Last night, I became drunk.

We also use a tenpo la phrase to talk about age. Just to warn you, we talk about age using a funny, idiomatic-like expression. "Times of what amount (la) you circled the sun?"

tenpo pi mute seme la sina sike e suno?

How old are you?

Birthdays come once a year, and each time you have a birthday, you have gone around the sun one complete time. To answer and tell someone how old you are, just replace the pi mute seme with your age:

tenpo tu tu la mi sike e suno.		Four times (la) I circled the sun.