Re: [lojban-beginners] Re: "mi prami do" or "mi cu prami do" ?

[Pierre Abbat <phma@phma.optus.nu>]

On Tuesday 02 August 2011 19:44:28 three65daysaweek@yahoo.com wrote:
> "cu" is optional in the majority of cases where it is appropriate. It
> means nothing more than "is"/"are"/"am." You only need to use it when
> not doing so could be confusing.

"cu" does not mean "is"; that's inherent in such words as "blanu", which 
means "is blue" rather than just "blue". (There is no such thing as an 
adjective in Lojban.) The closest natlang equivalent I know of is Tok 
Pisin "i". It's called the predicate marker.

> On Jul 10, 1:41 am, najrut <ruler11p...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Should "mi prami do" be translated as 'I love you' ?
> >
> > I think "mi prami" means "x1 loves x2 in my way" as mi is attached to
> > prami. Then i should say "mi cu prami do" ?
> >
> > Where is my mistake ? If I'm wrong then how should I say "he loves her in
> > my way" ?

There's no difference, other than the word "cu", between "mi prami do" and "mi 
cu prami do". There is just as much difference between "mi laikim yu" and "mi 
i laikim yu"; one normally says the former, but the latter is not, AFAIK, 
ungrammatical. It is not the difference between "I love you" and "I am loving 
you"; the latter is "mi ca ca'o prami do" in Lojban and "mi laikim yu i stap" 
in Tok Pisin.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "he loves her in my way", but it may be 
something like "ko'a ko'e prami se tai mi"

Pierre

-- 
When a barnacle settles down, its brain disintegrates.
Já não percebe nada, já não percebe nada.

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