[lojban] Re: tense question

[Daniel Brockman <daniel@brockman.se>]

On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 10:23 PM, Luke Bergen <lukeabergen@gmail.com> wrote:
> So I've been trying to learn the tense words and it occurred to me that I
> don't really understand the difference between {ca} and {ca'o}. ÂI kind of
> understand the difference between {ba} and {ba'o} I guess, but when {ca} is
> used like: {mi nelci do ba lo nu do nelci mi} how is it different from
> {ca'o}?

I guess you mean {mi nelci do ca lo nu do nelci mi}.

Short answer: {ca} = "when", {ca'o} = "while".  The difference is that
{ca} is about points in time, whereas {ca'o} is about periods in time.

While {broda ca ko'a} means that broda and ko'a overlap at some point
in time, {broda ca'o ko'a} means that broda occurs during ko'a.  This
means that {ca} is symmetrical while {ca'o} is not: {broda ca lo nu
brode} = {brode ca lo nu broda}, pretty much, but {broda ca'o lo nu
brode} is not the same as {brode ca'o lo nu broda}.

.i mi nelci do ca lo nu do nelci mi
I like you when you like me.
I like you at some instant when you like me.

.i mi nelci do ca'o lo nu do nelci mi
I like you while you like me.
I like you the whole time you like me.

Since {ca} is more general than {ca'o}, you can safely use {ca} when
in doubt and you can pretty much never go wrong.  When you use {ca'o},
you're kind of emphasizing that something occurs during a whole
period.  When you use {ca}, you're not emphasising anything in
particular, just anchoring the event to a point in time.

-- 
Daniel Brockman
daniel@brockman.se


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