[lojban-beginners] Re: Subjunctive in Lojban

[Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On 2/16/06, Alex Joseph Martini <alexjm@umich.edu> wrote:
> So would {mi xusra lenu la djan. klama le zarci} as compared to {mi
> xusra da'i lenu la djan. klama le zarci} parallel {I assert that John
> goes to the market} as compared to {I assert that John [should] go to
> the market}?

First of all, notice that {da'i}, like all words in selma'o UI, modifies the
preceding word, not what follows. There you have it modifying
{xusra}, not {le nu la djan...}, so it says something like "Suppose
I were to *assert* that John goes to the market".

(Also, the x2 of xusra should really take a du'u rather than a nu, you
don't assert events.)

I might say {mi pu xusra lo du'u .ei la djan klama le zarci} for
"I asserted that John should go to the market", but I don't think
you should really use {xusra} to *make* an emphatic assertion.
{xusra} should be used to report someone (or even yourself) making
assertions, but not to make them. To make assertions you don't
need any marker, but you can use {ju'a} for emphasis:

   ju'a la djan klama le zarci
   John goes to the market.

   .ei la djan klama le zarci
   John should go to the market.

   ke'u ju'a la djan klama le zarci
   I insist that John goes to the market.

   ke'u .ei la djan klama le zarci
   I insist that John go to the market.

   ke'u la djan ju'a klama le zarci
   I insist that *John* goes to the market.

   ke'u la djan .ei klama le zarci
   I insist that *John* go to the market.

mu'o mi'e xorxes