Lojban grammar examples
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"verb" forms | |
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ko'a dunda ko'a dunda ko'e ko'a dunda ko'e ko'i |
He gives. He gives it. He, gives it to him. |
ko'a se dunda | It is a gift. |
ko'a te dunda | He is a recipient. |
ko'a ca dunda ko'a pu dunda ko'a ba dunda |
He now gives. He gave. He will give. |
ko'a pu pu dunda ko'a ba pu dunda |
He had given. He will have given. |
ko'a ca ca'o dunda | He is now giving. |
ko'a 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 | ||
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ko'a ro roi dunda ko'a so'e roi dunda ko'a so'o roi dunda |
He always gives. He usually gives. He sometimes gives. | |
ko'a pu zi dunda ko'a pu zu dunda ko'a ba zi dunda |
He recently gave. He gave long ago. He will soon give. | |
ko'a vi dunda ko'a va dunda ko'a vu dunda |
He gives here. He gives there. He gives over there. | |
ko'a bu'u ro ko'e dunda | He gives everywhere (in all places). | |
ko'a ba zi ze'u vi dunda | Soon he will be giving here for a long time. |
negatives | ||
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ko'a na ku dunda na ku ko'a dunda no ko'a dunda |
He doesn't give. There isn't so that anyone gives. None of them gives. |
"noun" forms | ||
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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" | ||
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lo nu dunda lo nu bajra |
the giving the run |
"adjective" forms | ||
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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 ko'e lo remna poi dunda ko'e ko'i |
a man who gives it a man who gives it to him | |
lo laldo remna poi pu dunda ci ko'e lo ze vi bajra | the old man who gave three of them to these seven runners |
identities | ||
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ko'a du la djon ko'a du lo remna ko'a du lo laldo remna poi pu dunda ci ko'e lo ze vi remna |
He is John. He is the man. He is the old man who gave 3 of them to these 7 runners. |
compound forms | ||
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ko'a bajra gi'a cadzu ko'a bajra gi'e cadzu |
He runs or walks. He runs and walks. | |
ko'a a ko'e bajra ko'a e ko'e bajra |
He1 or he2 runs. He1 and he2 runs | |
ko'a bajra i ja ko'e cadzu ko'a bajra i je ko'e cadzu ko'a bajra i janai ko'e cadzu ko'a bajra i jo ko'e 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 | |
ko'a bajra ki'u lo nu ko'e cadzu ko'a bajra tai lo nu ko'e cadzu |
He1 runs because he2 walks. He1 runs like he2 walks. | |
ki'u lo nu ko'a cadzu vau ko'a bajra | Because he2 walks, he1 runs. | |
ko'a bajra ca lo nu ko'e cadzu ko'a bajra ba lo nu ko'e cadzu ko'a bajra bu'u lo nu ko'e cadzu |
He1 runs when he2 walks. He1 runs after he2 walks. He1 runs where he2 walks. | |
ca lo nu ko'e cadzu vau ko'e bajra | When he2 walks he1 runs. |
universals | ||
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ro bajra cu cadzu ko'a bajra ca ro nu ko'e cadzu ko'a bajra bu'u ro nu ko'e cadzu ro dunda cu dunda ko'e |
Anyone who runs walks. He1 runs whenever he2 walks. He1 runs wherever he2 walks. Everyone who gives gives something. |
attitudinal forms | ||
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le'o ko'a bajra ue ko'a bajra oinai ko'a bajra |
What! He runs? [anger] Well! So he runs. [surprise] How nice that he runs! [pleasure] | |
xu ko'a bajra ma bajra bu'u ma ko'a bajra |
Does he run? Who runs? Where does he run? | |
je'u ko'a bajra la'a ko'a bajra ju'o cu'i ko'a bajra je'u nai ko'a bajra |
Yes; he runs. He probably runs. Perhaps he runs. No, he doesn't run. | |
ai mi bajra au mi bajra a'o ko'a 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. |