Subject: Re: [lojban] Newbie says hi

From: Pierre Abbat <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 08:08:01 -0500

On Thursday 21 November 2002 02:36, Stefan \"1of3\" Koch wrote:
> coi me'u ctefan-kox.
>
> mi nanmu dotco .i xabju la cnino bramalsi poi tcadu be'a la hamburg pe'e
> lu'a le pa karce cacra .i mi jbena fi le detri be li re pi'e pare pi'e
> pasobici

{pe'e lu'a} makes no sense. I think what you mean is {la cnino bramalsi poi 
tcadu be'a la xamburg. va pa karce cacra}.

> So I hope my attempt of introduction is understandable. It leads me to two
> questions though.
>
> How does lojban handle names with more than one part (for example birth and
> family name)? Using hyphens seem unlojbanic to me but making a pause is
> AFAIK not allowed within a name.

The only use of a hyphen in Lojban is that I've proposed it for 
abbreviations, e.g. {ti kg- li 49}. Names with more than one part are written 
with a period, e.g. ctefan.kox., kiseil.ictvan., painvil.bertikarolinas., 
gyngys.rirx., kot.divUAR. (aka la xantyde'i xaskoi). There is nothing in 
Lojban grammar to tell which part is what; you just have to know for each 
name.

> How can I say "I'm 18 years old." I didn't find an appropriate brivla. And
> expressing my birthdate seems unhandy.

{mi nanca li 18}. This is an idiom; taken literally it refers to your whole 
lifespan, which you haven't finished so you don't know ledu'u do nanca li xo.

phma