Subject: Re: [lojban] Lessons

From: "Jorge Llambias" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 03:06:08

la robyspir cusku di'e

>One more reply - toward the end of the "Subjunctive" thread, Jorge comes to
>this conclusion, which is indeed clear but it _supports_ the idea that
>ganai...gi means if...then.

I don't think anyone disagrees that ganai...gi... means if...then.
The question is whether if...then always means ganai...gi. One
answer is that it probably does, but often not in a straightforward
way. For example, in the case of subjunctives, a direct translation
as ganai...gi is not very good. To say "If X were so then Y would
be so" one would need a prenex along the lines of "In all possible
worlds: ganai X gi Y". In English this prenex is hidden in the form
of the subjunctive/conditional mood. In Lojban we don't have anything
like that, and just ignoring it is not a good solution.

> ganai ti solji gi mi ba citka le mi mapku
> "If this is made of gold, then I will eat my hat."

Compare with:

"If this were made of gold, then I would eat my hat."

Assuming "this" is not made of gold, I have no problem asserting
the first sentence, but I certainly don't want to assert the
second one. They can't both be translated by the same Lojban
sentence.

co'o mi'e xorxes

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