Re: [lojban-beginners] "Should" and "would"

[selpa'i <m3o@plasmatix.com>]

Am 10.11.2012 11:25, schrieb mudri:
> What does {da'i} actually do? Is it a bit like {pau}, in that it's
> helpful but only the {nai} form changes the meaning?

No. Every sentence has an assertive force, or a mood. In simple terms, a 
sentence is either asserted, or not asserted.

da'i removes the assertive force, that is, it produces a sentence that 
is not claimed to be true by the speaker. There are many attitudinals 
that change the mood of a sentence in Lojban; those classified as 
"irrealis attitudinals". An example would be .a'o:

.a'o do mi vitke
I hope you visit me.

The speaker does not assert that "you visit me" actually 
happens/happened, they are only expressing a hope about it happening.

You could call da'i the base irrealis, the neutral non-assertive 
attitudinal, while all the other irrealis markers have some added 
semantics involving hope, expectation, desire etc.

On the other hand, a sentence without da'i or an irrealis marker is 
understood to be asserted. You can be exlicit about the assertive force 
on this end of the spectrum and use ju'a, which is by default 
(implicitly) present in any sentence that does not contain an irrealis 
marker.

mu'o mi'e la selpa'i


--
doị mèlbi mlenì'u
   .i do càtlu ki'u
ma fe la xàmpre ŭu
   .i do tìnsa càrmi
gi'e sìrji se tàrmi
   .i taị bo pu cìtka lo gràna ku


.

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