[lojban-beginners] Re: My first two sentences - are they correct so far?

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

On Sunday 19 March 2006 05:24, Michael Stapelberg wrote:
> What means "loi"? Why not just "le"? And what "be"? And where do
> I find such words (I've looked into the Lojban for Beginners-lesson
> and the jbovlaste)?

{be} is in jbovlaste: http://jbovlaste.lojban.org/dict/be . The gloss isn't 
much help, as {be} has no equivalent in any other language that I know of 
except Loglan, so here's an explanation:

You have a bridi: {ti mitre li ci le ni clani}. This does not need the word 
{be}. There are three constructions in which you need {be}. One is when 
preceded by an article to make a sumti: {le mitre be li ci bei le ni clani}. 
The other is when used on the left side of a tanru: {ti mitre be li ci bei le 
ni clani be'o since}. The third one, I think, has something to do with a 
remark inserted in a quotation, and you don't have to worry about it now. 
{be'o} can be elided in some cases, such as when the seltau ends with a 
number: {ti mitre be li ci since}.

{loi} is the indefinite mass article. {le} is the definite individual article. 
{lei blusfani cu grake li ze .i le blusfani cu milgra li reno} - all the 
mosquitoes together vs. each mosquito.

phma