From robin@xxxxxxx.xxx.xxx Thu Jan 7 00:39:12 1999 X-Digest-Num: 39 Message-ID: <44114.39.132.959273824@eGroups.com> Date: Thu, 07 Jan 1999 10:39:12 +0200 From: Robin Turner > btw. how did you parse my last sentence. i'm not sure that i wrote everything > correctly. (this was from a personal mail, but I'm sure Ivan won't mind me posting it to the list, as the questions it raises are of general interest) la lojban se prami mi "Lojban is loved by me" Perfectly grammatical and understandable, but I don't see why you need the passive here. I would only put "la lojban" in the first place if Lojban had already been established as the topic, or if I were comparing it with some other language (e.g. I love _Lojban_, not Esperanto). However, I may be transferring my attitudes towards the English passive to Lojban, which of course we're not supposed to do! I also find "prami" a bit strong - I would use "nelci" here, or "mutce nelci". I see "nelci" as covering English "like" and the "cooler" end of "love", with "prami" being an intense romantic or spiritual love/adoration. Many languages have this distinction e.g. Turkish "sevgi" vs. "as~k" (from Arabic). co'o mi'e robin.