la Preceded by a Single Word

First, let's look at a regular sentence, then we'll look at the same sentence with a la phrase attached:

ilo li pakala.		The tool is broken.
ken la ilo li pakala.		Maybe the tool is broken.

So already you can see that la phrases come at the beginning of the sentence. The word or phrase that will affect the sentence comes first, then la, and then finally comes the main sentence.

I wish I could logically explain why ken, when it comes before la, means "maybe". However, there's not really a good explanation.

ken la jan Lisa li jo e ona.		Maybe Lisa has it.
ken la ona li lape.		Maybe he's alseep.
ken la mi ken tawa ma Elopa.		Maybe I can go to Europe.