[lojban-beginners] Re: How do I say these things in lojban

[Michael Turniansky <mturniansky@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 1:55 PM, Luke Bergen <lukeabergen@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think your best bet would be to learn the grammar before you start trying
> to translate more complicated things. Lojban is so different from English
> that simply looking for all the lojban equivalents of the english words
> doesn't end up giving very good translations.
>
> On to your questions...
>
> 1) {le mi gerku} is a shortcut for {le gerku pe mi} that is "the dog that is
> associated with me". So you could say {le gerku pe la deiv}. Although,
> correct me if I'm wrong jbocre, I think you can get away with {le la deiv ku
> gerku}.
>
   No, you can't say that, but you absolutely can say (surprise!)  "le
la deiv gerku".  How does this work?  Simple, if the la is followed by
one or more  cmevla ( a word ending in a consonant), it simply
terminates at the end of those, so it knows that "le la deiv gerku"
--> "le (la deiv) gerku" --> le gerku pe la deiv.  Why doesn't "le la
deiv ku gerku" work?  because the "ku" terminates the "le"
construction, and you haven't actually supplied the selbri that you
are changing into a sumti.

>"If you cannot understand then you obey only by chance"

  One way might be:

  da'i do na jimpe .i se  ni'ibo lo nu  do tinbe cu cunso


> 3) "repeat the procedure until I return". -> {ko rapgau lo terpra co'u lo
> nu mi xruti}. At least that's my best guess. My grasp of lojban tenses is
> also fairly weak.
>

  One way:

  ko ru'i gasnu lo pruce pu'o lo nu mi se'ixru
             --gejyspa



> On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 12:38 PM, Ryan Leach <rsw.leach@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I have some clarifications I was hoping people could help me with.
>>
>> I know that if I want to say my dog, then I say-- le mi gerku
>> and if I want to say your dog, I think I would say le do gerku
>> how do I say Dave's dog? i don't think that I would use the same
>> format, because Dave is a cmene and it would need a 'la'
>>
>> and would it vary for something more abstract like a writing trick
>> like "Chekhov's gun"
>>
>> - - - -
>>
>> Also how would I say this-
>>
>> "If you cannot understand then you obey only by chance"
>>
>> I know that "you understand" should be-- do jimpe
>> and I think that "you cannot understand" would be -- do na ka'e jimpe
>> "If" is giving me real trouble though.
>> I also am uncertain if I need to use a "then" and if I do, I am
>> uncertain as to what it is.
>> Perhaps I just need to seperate the two parts with an -- .i
>>
>> - - - -
>>
>> Also I would like to be able to say this---
>>
>> "repeat the procedure until I return"
>>
>> repeat is-- rapli
>> return is -- xruti
>> procedure isn't in jbovlaste however
>> and finding words such as until are very difficult
>>
>> - - - -
>>
>> Thanks for the assist Guys
>>
>> --
>> âNothing bothers me more than sloth. The objective is to fix mistakes
>> of ambition and not make mistakes of sloth. I work my ass off.â
>> -Tim Ferriss
>>
>>
>>
>
>