Re: [lojban-beginners] translation assistance

[Jacob Errington <nictytan@gmail.com>]

On 2 August 2013 10:46, stormi <chevalieradam2@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm trying to do "speak softly, but carry a big stick"

and I've come up with:

{ko mliba'u  ku'i bevri lo barda grana}

If you mean "softly" in the sense of "not loud", then {tolcladu} is more appropriate than {milxe} (which is present in {mliba'u}). (On a related note, {mliba'u} really should be {ba'umli}, as if you were to say the full structure without a tanru, you'd say {milxe lo ni bacru}.)

What you're trying to do with {ku'i} is what's called a connective. The problem is that {ku'i} is not a connective; {ku'i} is an indicator. It simply attaches to the previous word to draw our attention to the fact that it is in contrast with something else. Aside from that, it serves to higher grammatical purpose. The connective you would use in this case is {gi'e}, "and", as it connects to bridi-tails. ({mliba'u is on e bridi-tail, and {bevri lo barda grana} is another one. {gi'e} would connect them, applying the common x1 {ko}.)

In total, you'd get {ko tolcladu bacru gi'e ku'i bevri lo barda grana}.

I hope this cleared things up,

.i mi'e la tsani mu'o

 

I'm unsure of my translation, especially on my use of {ku'i}

How did I do?

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