Re: [lojban-beginners] cu vs ku

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

On Monday 20 December 2010 14:39:57 la kev,n. wrote:
> coi mi'e la kev,n.
>
> I don't really understand the difference between "lo... ku" and "le...
> cu". Can they be used interchangeably? Also, can the "ku" and "cu" be
> dropped if there isn't  a gismu after it? For example could I say:
>
> .i lo xunre gerku ku
>
> and have it be the same as saying
>
> .i lo xunre gerku ?

"ku" is the terminator for article phrases; "cu" is the predicate marker. So 
you can say "le xunre gerku ku bajra", "le xunre gerku cu bajra", or "le 
xunre gerku ku cu bajra" and mean the same thing: "the red dog runs". But "le 
xunre gerku bajra" is a sentence fragment ("the red dog runner"), and "le 
xunre gerku cu ku bajra" and "le xunre ku gerku cu bajra" are ungrammatical. 
(Sentence fragments are grammatical so that they can be used to answer 
questions.)

"lo" and "le" are different, but syntactically interchangeable, articles. 
Generally "lo" is "an" and "le" is "the", but often you don't use the 
corresponding one in Lojban to the one you'd use in English. You can't omit 
the article in Lojban as you often can in English, because the brivla is used 
for both common nouns and verbs. You'll learn the usage of "lo" vs. "le" as 
you go along.

> And finally, do you have to put ".i" before you say "coi" or "co'o" to
> someone?

No. "coi do" can appear in the middle of a sentence. If, however, "coi" 
or "co'o" is followed by a sumti that isn't intended to be the object 
of "coi" or "co'o", you have to put "do'u" to terminate it.

Pierre
-- 
Jews use a lunisolar calendar; Muslims use a solely lunar calendar.

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Lojban Beginners" group.
To post to this group, send email to lojban-beginners@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to lojban-beginners+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/lojban-beginners?hl=en.