[lojban] Re: How to reduce the amount of something?

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

On Wednesday 30 September 2009 16:54:50 Mark E. Shoulson wrote:
> Someone remind me: is it not the case that you can't use {ni} (or any
> abstractor) for things like this, because {lo ni...} is equivalent to
> some *number* (and you can't reduce 41,291)?  I seem to recall that {ni}
> and {jei} had lost most of their utility due to this instantiation in
> extension, and that was why we had to bring in {kau}.

I don't see anything wrong with "ni" for this. lo ni broda is a number or 
amount, but it is not a fixed number, any more than lo se ki'ogra be mi, 
which has been at various times 36, 84, 55, and 63.

On Thursday 01 October 2009 01:19:29 chris kerr wrote:
> ki'e
>
> I noticed few things missing.  So along with those suggestions it would now
> be:
>
> .i ga'i djica lo nu ma'a nitcu lo za'i lo mergu'e ga mutce jdika lo ri ni
> ratske xarci gi mutce zenba jitro lo zu'o pilno lo ra ratske xarci
>
> Is  that a pretty good translation?  Anyone else with input?

I suggest "lo mergu'e ke jonsi'u turni" instead of just "lo mergu'e", 
and "ratmidju xarci" instead of "ratske xarci". Do we have a word 
for "arsenal"? Who does "ma'a" refer to? I think "ni ri" is better than "ri 
ni": "lo ni ri te ke ratmidju xarci".

Pierre


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