Re: [lojban] conditional and hypotetical sentences

[Craig Daniel <craigbdaniel@gmail.com>]

2010/12/8 Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>:
> On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 6:40 AM, Remo Dentato <rdentato@gmail.com> wrote:
>> After having read CLL 14 many times, I'm still very confused on Lojban
>> connectives.
>>
>> Specifically I don't get how I can consistenly translate hypotetical
>> and conditional sentences.
>
> The first thing you need to do is forget about associating "if" with
> connectives. In English, "if" is a subordinating conjunction, not a
> coordinating conjunction, so you should not expect it to be translated
> with a connective anyway. (There is a marginal use of "if" that can be
> sort of reproduced with a connective, but that's a marginal use of
> "if", not its main use, and you should not start with that.)

Right, the logical if and the idiomatic if are not the same. ganai...
gi... is very much the former, and is not a useful way to talk about
hypotheticals - or most other conditionals.

>> For example:
>> "If I had wings, I could fly"
>
>    va'o lo nu da'i mi se nalci kei mi kakne lo nu vofli

Some people favor "bai" over "va'o", but always with the understanding
that "bai" implies the having of wings to directly cause the flying
ability. AFAICT, the CLL doesn't have an answer here and both of those
are words originally intended for other uses that got repurposed
because there was a gaping hole that they seem to fit quite nicely.

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