From rob@twcny.rr.com Thu May 24 20:33:44 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: rob@twcny.rr.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_1_3); 25 May 2001 03:33:44 -0000 Received: (qmail 36629 invoked from network); 25 May 2001 03:33:43 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by l7.egroups.com with QMQP; 25 May 2001 03:33:43 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mailout2-0.nyroc.rr.com) (24.92.226.121) by mta1 with SMTP; 25 May 2001 03:33:43 -0000 Received: from mail1.twcny.rr.com (mail1-1 [24.92.226.139]) by mailout2-0.nyroc.rr.com (8.11.2/RoadRunner 1.03) with ESMTP id f4P3Vud28305 for ; Thu, 24 May 2001 23:31:56 -0400 (EDT) Received: from riff ([24.95.175.101]) by mail1.twcny.rr.com (Post.Office MTA v3.5.3 release 223 ID# 0-59787U250000L250000S0V35) with ESMTP id com for ; Thu, 24 May 2001 23:31:56 -0400 Received: from rob by riff with local (Exim 3.22 #1 (Debian)) id 1538JM-0000Ph-00 for ; Thu, 24 May 2001 23:30:48 -0400 Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 23:30:48 -0400 To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [lojban] Lessons Message-ID: <20010524233048.B1498@twcny.rr.com> Reply-To: rob@twcny.rr.com References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.17i In-Reply-To: ; from jjllambias@hotmail.com on Fri, May 25, 2001 at 03:06:08AM +0000 X-Is-It-Not-Nifty: www.sluggy.com From: Rob Speer On Fri, May 25, 2001 at 03:06:08AM +0000, Jorge Llambias wrote: > la robyspir cusku di'e Crap. I really do need a 'y' in there, don't I. Or at least a pause. (Although I was spelling it 'rabspir'.) > > 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. Okay, then we're essentially in agreement. ganai...gi and go...gi are legitimate ways of saying if...then as long as you're not basing it on a situation that is likely to be untrue. That part is what requires the 'subjunctive'. So... do we need a new tense for this? Perhaps use a couple of 'x' cmavo to express "in another universe" or "in all possible universes" and one to return to the universe of what we believe to be true? -- la rab.spir