RE: [lojban] Q

["And Rosta" <a.rosta@dtn.ntl.com>]

Pierre:
> On Mon, 16 Apr 2001, biomass@hobbiton.org wrote:
> >How would I say, "I don't know if that is true", as opposed to "I don't 
> >know that it is true", which would be <mi na djuno lenu ti drani>? I 
> >guess this has been asked several times, but, well, one again? Please?
> 
> Actually {mi na djuno lenu ti drani} is "I don't know the event of this thing
> being correct", which doesn't make much sense. I use {mi na djuno ledu'u ti
> drani} for "I don't know that this is correct" and {mi na djuno lejei 
> ti drani} for "I don't know whether this is correct".

This question should be recorded somewhere as a FAQ and Pierre's answer as
a common error.

Although historically {jei} may have been intended for such a purpose (i.e.
expressing "whether"), {mi na djuno lejei ti drani} means either "I don't
know TRUE" or "I don't know FALSE", depending on whether {ti drani} is
TRUE or FALSE.

The correct answer to Biomass's question is: {mi na djuno lo du'u xu kau
ti drani}. [The {xu kau} is the relevant bit. I have also changed the usual
{le du'u} to {lo du'u} to avoid the gratuitous nonveridicality, but it 
must be conceded that in usage {le du'u} is pretty standard.]

--And.