2.5. Some simple Lojban bridi

Let's look at a simple Lojban bridi. The place structure of the gismu tavla is

Example 2.7. 

x1 talks to x2 about x3 in language x4


where the x es with following numbers represent the various arguments that could be inserted at the given positions in the English sentence. For example:

Example 2.8. 

John talks to Sam about engineering in Lojban.


has John in the x1 place, Sam in the x2 place, engineering in the x3 place, and Lojban in the x4 place, and could be paraphrased:

Example 2.9. 

Talking is going on, with speaker John and listener Sam and subject matter engineering and language Lojban.


The Lojban bridi corresponding to Example 2.7 will have the form

Example 2.10. 

x1

[cu]

tavla

x2

x3

x4


The word cu serves as a separator between any preceding sumti and the selbri. It can often be omitted, as in the following examples.

Example 2.11. 

mi

tavla

do

zo'e

zo'e

I talk to you about something in some language.


Example 2.12. 

do

tavla

mi

ta

zo'e

You talk to me about that thing in a language.


Example 2.13. 

mi

tavla

zo'e

tu

ti

I talk to someone about that thing yonder in this language.


(Example 2.13 is a bit unusual, as there is no easy way to point to a language; one might point to a copy of this book, and hope the meaning gets across!)

When there are one or more occurrences of the cmavo zo'e at the end of a bridi, they may be omitted, a process called ellipsis. Example 2.11 and Example 2.12 may be expressed thus:

Example 2.14. 

mi

tavla

do

I talk to you (about something in some language).


Example 2.15. 

do

tavla

mi

ta

You talk to me about that thing (in some language).


Note that Example 2.13 is not subject to ellipsis by this direct method, as the zo'e in it is not at the end of the bridi.