Lojban grammar examples

Lojban grammar examples

"VERB" FORMS
da dunda da dunda de da dunda de di	HE GIVES. HE GIVES IT. HE, GIVES IT TO HIM.
da se dunda	IT IS A GIFT.
da te dunda	HE IS A RECIPIENT.
da ca dunda da pu dunda da ba dunda	HE NOW GIVES. HE GAVE. HE WILL GIVE.
da pu pu dunda da ba pu dunda	HE HAD GIVEN. HE WILL HAVE GIVEN.
da ca ca'o dunda	HE IS NOW GIVING.
da pu ca'o dunda	HE HAS BEEN GIVING.

Lojban grammar derives great flexibility and variety from manipulation of tense particles that do much of its work. As demonstrated here, it is the particles that determine whether a predicate—a term of extralinguistic reference, such as dunda and bajra—is to serve in a given statement as a noun, verb, adjective or adverb, as in more familiar grammars. Thus pu(before), ca (now) and ba (after) give the predicate dunda (to give) the function of a verb (upper left) and "conjugate" it through the future, present and past tense. Compound forms of these operators yield the compound tenses. For example, pu pu (before-before) indicates the pluperfect tense. In such combinations they not only duplicate all of the familiar grammatical forms but go far beyond to express relationships that can be only clumsily approximated in the natural languages, as is indicated by the translation of the compound operator ba zi ze'u at center left. The flexibility of the system is suggested further by the transformations of dunda (in this table give, giver, gift, generous, generously, generosity, and so on) in accord with its association with operators and connectives or its place in a multiple predicate.

"ADVERB" FORMS
da ro roi dunda da so'e roi dunda da so'o roi dunda	HE ALWAYS GIVES. HE USUALLY GIVES. HE SOMETIMES GIVES.
da pu zi dunda da pu zu dunda da ba zi dunda	HE RECENTLY GAVE. HE GAVE LONG AGO. HE WILL SOON GIVE.
da vi dunda da va dunda da vu dunda	HE GIVES HERE. HE GIVES THERE. HE GIVES OVER THERE.
da bu'u ro de dunda	HE GIVES EVERYWHERE (IN ALL PLACES).
da ba zi ze'u vi dunda	SOON HE WILL BE GIVING HERE FOR A LONG TIME.

NEGATIVES
da na ku dunda na ku da dunda no da dunda	HE DOESN'T GIVE. THERE ISN'T SO THAT ANYONE GIVES. NONE OF THEM GIVES.

"NOUN" FORMS
lo remna lo vi remna lo va remna	A HUMAN THIS MAN THAT MAN
lo ro remna lo so'e remna lo so'i remna	ALL MEN MOST MEN MANY MEN
no lo remna lo pa remna lo re remna	NONE OF THE MEN A MAN, ONE MAN TWO MEN
ro lo ci remna	ALL OF THE THREE MEN

ABSTRACT "NOUNS"
lo nu dunda lo nu bajra	THE GIVING THE RUN

"ADJECTIVE" FORMS
lo laldo remna lo dunda remna	AN OLD MAN A GIVING MAN
lo melbi verba zdani lo verba melbi zdani	A PRETTY-CHILD HOME A CHILDISHLY PRETTY HOME
lo remna poi laldo lo remna poi na'o dunda lo remna poi na'o dunda gi'e laldo	A MAN WHO IS OLD A MAN WHO IS GENEROUS A MAN WHO IS GENEROUS AND OLD
lo remna poi dunda de lo remna poi dunda de di	A MAN WHO GIVES IT A MAN WHO GIVES IT TO HIM
lo laldo remna poi pu dunda ci de lo ze vi bajra	THE OLD MAN WHO GAVE THREE OF THEM TO THESE SEVEN RUNNERS

IDENTITIES
da du la djon da du lo remna da du lo laldo remna poi pu dunda ci de lo ze vi remna	HE IS JOHN. HE IS THE MAN. HE IS THE OLD MAN WHO GAVE THREE OF THEM TO THESE SEVEN RUNNERS.

COMPOUND FORMS
da bajra gi'a cadzu da bajra gi'e cadzu	HE RUNS OR WALKS. HE RUNS AND WALKS.
da a de bajra da e de bajra	HE1 OR HE2 RUNS. HE1 AND HE2 RUNS
da bajra i ja de cadzu da bajra i je de cadzu da bajra i babo de cadzu da bajra i jo de cadzu	HE1 RUNS OR HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS AND HE2 WALKS. IF HE1 RUNS THEN HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS IF AND ONLY IF HE2 WALKS
da bajra ki'u lo nu de cadzu da bajra tai lo nu de cadzu	HE1 RUNS BECAUSE HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS LIKE HE2 WALKS.
ki'u lo nu da cadzu vau da bajra	BECAUSE HE2 WALKS, HE1 RUNS.
da bajra ca lo nu de cadzu da bajra ba lo nu de cadzu da bajra bu'u lo nu de cadzu ETC.	HE1 RUNS WHEN HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS AFTER HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS WHERE HE2 WALKS.
ca lo nu de cadzu vau de bajra	WHEN HE2 WALKS HE1 RUNS.

UNIVERSALS
ro bajra cu cadzu da bajra ca ro nu de cadzu da bajra bu'u ro nu de cadzu ro dunda cu dunda de	ANYONE WHO RUNS WALKS. HE1 RUNS WHENEVER HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS WHEREVER HE2 WALKS. EVERYONE WHO GIVES GIVES SOMETHING

ATTITUDINAL FORMS
le'o da bajra ue da bajra oinai da bajra	WHAT! HE RUNS? [ANGER] WELL! SO HE RUNS. [SURPRISE] HOW NICE THAT HE RUNS! [PLEASURE]
xu da bajra ma bajra bu'u ma da bajra	DOES HE RUN? WHO RUNS? WHERE DOES HE RUN?
je'u da bajra la'a da bajra ju'o cu'i da bajra je'u nai da bajra	YES; HE RUNS. HE PROBABLY RUNS. PERHAPS HE RUNS. NO, HE DOESNT RUN.
ai mi bajra au mi bajra a'o da bajra ainai mi bajra	I'M GOING TO RUN. I WANT TO RUN. I HOPE TO RUN. I'M NOT GOING TO RUN
e'i mi bajra	I MUST RUN.