Return-Path: Message-Id: Date: Sat, 5 Jan 91 00:24 EST From: lojbab (Bob LeChevalier) To: cbmvax!uunet!chopin.udel.edu!sandman, lojbab@snark.thyrsus.com, lojban-list@snark.thyrsus.com, sandman%chopin.udel.edu@udel Subject: Re: Is this right? Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Sat Jan 5 00:25:13 1991 X-From-Space-Address: lojbab your translation is not right, and I strongly doubt that you will easily accomplish that sentence at this stage in your learning. (I can translate it, with some difficulty - 'until' is a tricky English word to correctly express in Lojban.) 1. The leading na is not grammatical, standing alone. It should be 'naku' (this is covered in the negation paper). Assuming this is corrected, your translation (assuming you meant zdani temci dunra) re translates to "it is not the case that Brad is a nest-interval type-of winter of 91 springs", with the last 91 hanging out ungrammatically. 2. Avoiding the "until" problem, you could say: "la brad. na xabju ti ca'o le ca dunra Brad doesn't inhabit this-here during-the-event the present winter. 3 3. "until" in this case can be expressed using the interval connector bi'i or using a variety of tense constructs such as pu'o (which means roughly "up until"), or even the logical connectives (during winter not-and spring). 4. the qualifying restriction of 1991 would have to be attached using a restrictive relative phrase, and the number marker li: le dunra pe li pasosopa It is good for you to try to express yourself in Lojban, but as politely as I can I need to urge youe to study the lessons, or the examples in Ju'i Lobypli, and start with simple sentences. Lojban has an extremely simple g grammar, but the price is that it is fairly intolerant of guesswork. A new Lojbanist should therefore break up complex ideas into several simple sentences if necessary in order to make each sentence within his/her grammatical understanding. keep trying! --lojbab