[lojban-beginners] Re: translation question

[Michael Turniansky <mturniansky@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 5:44 PM, Ryan Leach <rsw.leach@gmail.com> wrote:
> I found this little article that suggested that translating the
> following sentences would give people a solid basis for learning most
> languages. The idea is to translate the sentences normally, as a
> negative, in past and future tenses, and as various questions. So here
> are the sentences and my attempts at translating them. I would love to
> get critiques on my translations and see other people's translations
> as well.
>
> 1. The apple is red
> 2. It is John's apple
> 3. I give John the apple
> 4. We want to give him the apple
> 5. He gives it to John
> 6. She gives it to him
>
[4]
>.i ma'a djica cu dunda le plise le nanmu

  As Pierre said, this is ungrammatical.  What you are looking for is
".i ma'a (or mi'a/mi'o as Pierre said) djica lo nu dunda le plise
ko'a" (where ko'a has been previously been tied to "la djan" by a
"goi"), or, assuming this sentence comes on the heels of the last, we
can use "ra" or "dy").  But the important thing to understand is that
in order to rap up a bridi such as "dunda le plise ko'a" so that it
takes up a single sumti slot in your main bridi, is to use an
abstractor such as"nu".  So "ma'a djica lo nu dunda le plise ko'a"
translates as "you,me,and someone else wants (the event of giving the
apple to him)" (If you want to keep to the original English word
order, use "ma'a djica lo nu dunda fi ko'a fe le plise" or "ma'a djica
lo nu setese dunda ko'a le plise")


         --gejyspa