[lojban] Re: A comment on one of my jboselkei translations

[Pierre Abbat <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

On Wednesday 22 March 2006 10:13, Betsemes wrote:
> I have a question. I was under the impression that when we add a spatial
> tense followed by a sumti, we are really adding a tense sumti that applies
> to the entire bridi. So I thought that here {pa'o} applied to the event of
> seeing instead of applying to just one of the sumtis (the girl); and I was
> under the impression that in order for it to apply to the girl, it should
> have been written as {mi viska lo lunbe nixli pe pa'o lo canko be lo ragve
> dinju ca le cabycerni} thus associating the tense directly to the sumti.
> How is this incorrect?

{mi viska lo nixli pa'o lo canko} means that the seeing goes through the 
window. {mi viska lo nixli be pa'o lo canko} and {mi viska lo nixli pe pa'o 
lo canko} both mean that the girl is through the window. The last two 
constructions differ in meaning when the selgadri itself denotes an action 
that can go through something:
{mi viska lo renro pa'o lo canko}: A window is between me and a thrower, and I 
see the thrower through it.
{mi viska lo renro be pa'o lo canko}: Someone throws something through a 
window, and I see him.
{mi viska lo renro pe pa'o lo canko}: Someone is caught in a window, and I see 
him throw something.
{mi viska lo renro be pa'o lo canko be'o pe pa'o lo canko pa'o lo canko}: I 
see someone through the window throw something through the window through the 
window.

> I also didn't think that a past tense tag was necessary because of the {ca
> le cabycerni} tense sumti. Am I wrong?

It isn't necessary. It isn't necessary even without it; tense is optional in 
Lojban.

phma


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