Re: [lojban] "How deep is your love?"

["Jorge Llambías" <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On 7/22/06, komfo,amonan <komfoamonan@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a question about the use of "how?" in abstract scales. What is the
> Lojban for "How beautiful is her house?" "How strong is that coffee?" Here's
> the problem as I see it. The answers to these questions are simple & take
> the form:
>
> lo zdani po ko'a cu mutce melbi
> lo zdani po ko'a cu milxe melbi
> lo zdani po ko'a cu je'a melbi
> lo zdani po ko'a cu no'e melbi
> lo zdani po ko'a cu na'e melbi
> lo zdani po ko'a cu to'e melbi
>
> A question like lo zdani po ko'a cu mo melbi could yield the first two
> responses, but also myriad others. Also, I don't think there's a question
> word that invites a response from NAhE.
>
> So how beautiful is her house? How deep is your love?

I think you could ask {je'a pei}, then the answers could be {je'a cai},
{je'a sai}, {je'a ru'e}... {je'a cu'i} would be {no'e} and {je'a nai}, if it
were grammatical (which it should be) would be {na'e}.

Perhaps {klani} is also usable with abstract scales:

 le zdani cu klani ma lo ka melbi .i li pi so'i
 "The house amounts to how much in beauty? A lot!"

mu'o mi'e xorxes