Easy Lojban Lessons | Lesson 1 Part 1

 New Vocab:
Grammar Words
.i - starts a sentence

Pronouns
do - you
mi - I
ma - what

Vocatives
coi - hello!
co'o - goodbye
mi'e - my name is...
Gismu
cmene - name





Attitudes
oinai - pleased to meet yo
Conversation:

jan.: coi
maris.: .i coi do
jan.: .i mi'e jan. .i ma cmene do
maris.: .i mi'e maris.
jan.: .oinai .i co'o
maris.: co'o


Reading comprehension:

True or False:
1. ( ) Zhang has known Mary now for many years
2. ( ) Mary doesn't feel like telling Zhang her name.
3. ( ) Zhang is happy to meet Mary.
4. ( ) Mary didn't find out what Zhang's name was.
5. ( ) Zhang has a real way with the ladies.


New Material:

1. In Lojban, every sentence begins with the word ".i". It has no meaning of its own - it just shows the beginning of a sentence. It can be elided when this is obvious.

2. The term "vocative" in Lojban means that you're trying to get someone's attention. "coi" is your announcing to the listener that you're here. "co'o" is your announcing to the listener that you're leaving. "mi'e" is your announcing to the listener that you're telling them your name, so they better listen!

"mi'e" can only be used when introducing your own name; you can not introduce someone else's name with this word.

3. Gismu are the root words of Lojban. They make up nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs.

In this lesson, "cmene" is a gismu which means "is the name of." Therefore "ma cmene do" means "what is the name of you". There are ways to specify exactly who calls you what and to rearrange the words in the sentence, but this will be covered later.

4. Attitudes are words in Lojban which help the speaker describe his own mood, and not the mood of another person. They are similar to English words like "Ahh..." and "Yay!", which have no meaning besides showing the speakers attitude. Lojban has much more than English and they can get very specific. Oinai here means "*compaint*-opposite", or pleasure.


Exercises:

1. When I say hello I say _________!

2. When I say goodbye I say _________!

3. When I want to know your name I ask ma __________ do.

4. When I'm happy to meet someone I say __________!

5. ma cmene do .i mi cmene __________.


Notes:

Like .i, the word "vau" is meant to appear at the end of Lojban sentences; however, this is only done where necessary or in certain complex sentences. Don't worry about it now.




3 comments:

  1. Technically, ".i" means "sentence seperator" not "start new sentence". ".oinai" means "pleasure", and "vau" comes at the end of a clause so you can have many of them even in simple sentences "mi nelci lo nu do ctuca vau vau". Otherwise, good stuff :)

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  3. This is incredibly helpful. Thank you!

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