Phrasebook

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Greetings

Hello, I'm ... coi mi'e ...

I come from ... mi se krasi ...

I live in ... mi xabju ...

America la mergug / le mergu'e

France la fasygug / le fasygu'e / la frans

Germany la dotygug / le dotygu'e'

Goodbye co'o

What's your base? dofoxo kancu or (in La Xagvar) zo'eco'eno'oju'uxo where does zo'eco'eno'oju'uxo come from?('One does the usual {count} to the typical number in what base?')And isn't the obvious answer that it is belong to us? (ro ledo zbepi cu tutra mi'a?)

I count by tens mi foli pano kancu/zo'eco'eno'oju'ulipano

...twelves li'o li gai

...sixteens li'o li paxa (or, if you are a chauvinistic

hexadecimalist, li'o li rau)

(How about li'o li su'ovai?)

...sixties li'o li xano

...twos li'o li vei pasu'ipa

No matter what the time of day, in Lojban the word for "hello" is coi and the word for "goodbye" is co'o.

Simple phrases

Yes.
.i go'i
I agree.
mi tugni
No.
.i na go'i
I do not agree.
mi na tugni
Please.
pe'u
I request.
mi cpedu
Thanks.
ki'e
Thank you.
ki'e do
Thank you very much.
ki'e sai do
That's all right/You're welcome
je'e do
I love you.
mi prami do (or) .iu sai
What you just said about yourself is true for me too.
go'ira'o""

In other words, if someone says "I love you" and you want to reply "I love you too", say "go'ira'o".

Languages

Do you speak ...
.i xu do se bangu ...
Lojban
la lojban.

(In some places you may also hear "le jbobau")

English
le glibau
French
le fasybau
German
le dotybau
Spanish
le sanbau
Italian
le bangrtalia
Chinese
le jugbau
Japanese
le ponbau
Hindi
le xinbau
Russian
le rukybau
Arabic
le rabybau
I don't speak Lojban
.i mi na se bangu la lojban.
Where is the phrase in this book?
.i ma jufra gi'e se vanbi le vi cukta
Just a minute. I'll see if I can find it in this book.
i .e'o ko denpa .i mi troci co tolcri fi le vi cukta
I understand.
je'e / .i mi jimpe
I don't understand
je'enai / .i mi na jimpe
Could you talk more slowly please?
.i .e'o ko skusno
Do you understand me?
je'epei / xu do jimpe fi mi - xu do jimpe fi tu'a mi (??) ...fi le se cusku be mi
I am hungry
mi xagji
I am thirsty
mi taske
Where is the bathroom?
ma stuzi le djacu kumfa
Where is the toilet?
ma stuzi le vimku'a

Some common words

big
barda small cmalu
quick
sutra slow masno
early
clira late lerci
cheap
tolkargu expensive kargu
near
jibni far darno
hot
glare cold lenku
full
culno empty kunti
easy
frili difficult nandu
heavy
tilji light linto
open
kalri shut ganlo
right (of a person)
tolsre wrong srera
right (of a fact, etc.)
drani wrong jitfa
old
slabu new cnino
old
tolci'o young citno
beautiful
melbi ugly tolmle
good
xamgu bad xlali
better
xagmau worse xlamau
a lot
mutce a little milxe
sufficient
banzu insufficient tolbanzu

Presenting yourself and some others...

Before reading what follows, please take note that talking about the age of someone in lojban is essentially discussing birth dates.

Yourself

I am ...-years-old (bad translation)
.i tu'a mi nanca li ...
(duration of life)
.i mi renvi fi li ...
I was born in ... (date)
mi jbena fi li ...
I was born in ... (place)
mi jbena fo ...
I am ... tall (speaking about your height, unit unspecified)
li ... cu ni mi clani
I am ... meters tall
mi mitre li ... le ni clani
I speak english.
mi se bangu le glibau
I can speak french.
mi ka'e se bangu le fasybau
I would like to visit ...
mi djica le nu mi vitke fi ...
I work as ...
mi se jibri ...
My mother is called ...
zo ... cu cmene le mamta be mi
Alice is my mother.
la alis mi mamta
My favorite color is ...
mi zmanei le ka ... (insert color verb)
I prefer the blue one over the red one.
mi zmanei le blanu le xunre
What's happening?
.i mo
I'm lost
mi djuno noda le se zvati be mi
I practice sport
mi xadgu'a

Nationality

I'm ...
mi ...
Spanish
spano
Hispanic
xispo
French
fraso
Chilean
tci'ile
Czech
tce'exo
Breton
bre'one
Hungarian
magjaro
Basque
skalduna
Russian
rusko

If you want to say "I'm French by birth but German by nationality", you can say "mi fraso le ka jbena gi'e dotco le ka se natmi".

I'm French by ...
mi fraso le ka ...
birth
jbena
nationality
se natmi
citizenship
selgugycmi
ancestry
se dzena
language
se bangu

Colors

Beware, the following words are verbs. For example, "this is orange" is "ti narju" - no "is" required. The word "cu" (which does not mean "is" but is a predicate marker, like "i" in tok Pisin) may be used before the verb.

xekri
black
blanu
blue
bunre
brown
cicna
cyan
manku
dark
kandi
dim
grusi
grey
crino
green
nukni
magenta
narju
orange
zirpu
purple
xunre
red
labyxu'e
rose
xunblabi
pink
blabi
white
pelxu
yellow

Asking others about themselves and you

When are you born ?
.i do jbena fi ma
What is your size ?
.i ma ni do clani
Where do you live ?
.i do xabju ma
What are you doing ?
.i do mo
Where do you work ?
.i do se briju fi ma
Can you speak language ... ?
.i xu do ka'e tavla bau ...
What is your father's name ?
.i ma cmene le patfu be do
Have you already been to place ... ?
.i xu do pu zvati ...
How much do you earn ?
.i do jerna li xo
Where are you going to ?
.i do klama ma
Where do you come from ?
.i do klama fi ma
Did you know that ... ?
.i xu do pu djuno fi le du'u ...
What do you want me to do ?
.i do djica le nu mi mo
Can you help me ?
pei sidju mi
Do you find me pretty ?
xu mi do melbi
Do you live with someone ?
xu do da kansa le ka xabju
Are you married ?
xu do speni
Do you have (a) lover(s) ?
xu do prami selpe'o
Have you caught that Unicorn yet?
pavyseljirna kavbu ba'oxuku

Food

Where is a ... restaurant? lo gusta be le ... cu zvati ma

Chinese jungo

Japanese ponjo

kosher broselcru/cidjrkacera

halal musyselcru/cidjrxalalu

American merko

vegetarian stagi/recycau

I'd like ... mi djica tu'a ... (probably ko fimi dunda is better.) Or, best of all: ".au"

beef lo bakyrectu

pork lo xajrectu

lamb lo lanrectu

rabbit lo ractyrectu

mouse lo smacyrectu

dog lo geryrectu

peas lo boldembi

beans lo dembi

peanuts lo derdembi

eggs lo sovda

cabbage lo kobli

broccoli lo kobli rulstani

cauliflower lo kobli xrula

lettuce lo laktuka

tomato lo tamca

salad lo salta

pepper (black/white) lo tsaprpiperi

pepper (green/red/bell/hot) lo kapsiku

bread lo nanba

eggplant lo mlongena

orange najnimre

lemon pelnimre

grapefruit/pomelo/shaddock branimre

lime ri'ornimre

cantaloupe lo najyzme

kimchee gugrtcosanykobli

Getting Around

Where is...
ma stuzi ...
How do I get to...
mi klama ... fo ma/ma pluta ...
the train station
le renytcana
the bus station
le sorprekarcytcana
the airport
le vijytcana
the post office
le mritcana
the library
le ckudi'u
the used bookstore
le tatpi cukta barja
a restaurant
lo gusta
I'd like a ticket to ...
.i .au pikta co klama ...
One way or round trip?
klama je'i xruti
One way
jenai/klama po'o
Round trip
je/klama je xruti
Do I have to change trains?
.i eipei le trene cu se basti
What platform does the train leave from?
.i le trene cu klama fi ma poi tsina
When is the first bus to ...?
.i ca ma cliva fa le pamoi sormemkarce poi klama ...
the next bus
le bavla'i sormemkarce
the last bus
le romoi sormemkarce
Please let me off at the next stop.
.i .e'o ko livycru mi bu'u le bavla'i ke nunde'a tcana

Dates and Times

The Gregorian calendar is used in Lojbangug. There are two systems of naming months of the year, one based on numbers and one on signs of the zodiac, and two systems of naming days of the week, one based on numbers and one translated from Japanese or Korean. Some of the names have variants.

January pavma'i kanbyma'i

February relma'i jaurbeima'i

March cibma'i fipma'i

April vonma'i lanma'i

May mumyma'i bakma'i

June xavma'i matsi'uma'i

July zelma'i jukma'i, mlajukma'i

August bivma'i cinfyma'i

September sozma'i xlima'i

October pavnonma'i ci'urma'i, laxma'i

November pavypavma'i jukrskorpio masti, rebjukma'i

December pavrelma'i celma'i

The days of the week are most often numbered. There are at least two systems in use for the days of the week. One starts from Sunday and one from Monday. Since this situation causes great confusion, the Lojbanistanis are working hard to rectify it.

Sunday nondei,zeldei soldei pamoi djedi

Monday pavdei lurdei remoi djedi

Tuesday reldei fagdei cimoi djedi

Wednesday cibdei jaurdei vomoi djedi

Thursday vondei mudydei mumoi djedi

Friday mumdei jimdei xamoi djedi

Saturday xavdei tedydei zemoi djedi

The place structure is:

  • x1 is January autc. of year x2
  • x1 is Sunday autc. of week x2

The format of a fully spelled-out date is:

  • le djedi xamoi be le mlajukma'i be le panonomoi nanca be'o be'o noi jimdei

Health

Where is a doctor?
le mikce cu zvati ma (seems kind of formal. Maybe for quick questions, just mikce vi ma? and so on for others here)
Where is a hospital?
le spita cu zvati ma
Where is a nearby pharmacy?
le vi zarci be le velmicyxu'i cu zvati ma
It hurts here
cortu ti
My head is too hot.
le stedu be mi cu kelvo du'eda
I am sick
mi bilma
I have a stomach ache
mi cortu le betfu
Do I need doctor's permission to use this medicine?
xu mi nitcu le nu le mikce ku curmi kei le nu mi pilno le velmicyxu'i
I have a cold.
mi vaxybi'a
Take this three times a day for the next two weeks.
ko cimoi citka/pinxa/je'erse'a ti di'i lo djedi ca'o lo ze'aba jeftu be li re

Medicines and Nutrients

aspirin
slamrsalike
antibiotic
(ledyselkra) jumcatra
herb
velmicyspa
pau d'arco / lapacho / taheebo (the inner barks of various trees)
ricrtabebu'i
protein
lanbi
carbohydrate
satleixu'i
starch
jalna
fat
grasu
unsaturated fatty acid
dronalclu rasyslami
saturated fatty acid
droclu rasyslami
vitamin A
abumoi mivytcuxu'i
vitamin B3
by.cimoi mivytcuxu'i / xumrniacine
vitamin C
cy.moi mivytcuxu'i / slamrskorbuti

Money

The unit of money in Lojbangug is the rupnu, which is divided into 100 fepni. The exchange rate is currently about 15 Lojbo rupnu to the American dollar. How come ? Who decided this ?

Lojbo have the odd habit of referring to everyone else's monetary units as rupnu too. To distinguish them, one can say merko rupnu or meryru'u for the American dollar, ponjo rupnu or ponru'u for the Japanese yen, etc. (ropno rupnu sounds especially fine!). To be absolutely clear, the Lojbanic rupnu can be known as a jboru'u or lojru'u.

The coins are:

fepni 1 fepni

mumfei / zinsi'i 5 fepni

dekfei / decru'u 10 fepni

niksi'i 20 fepni

xabru'u 50 fepni

rupnu 1 rupnu

cibru'u 3 rupnu

dekru'u 10 rupnu

(Boring. How about coins in powers of 2 fepni? Then you can always make change, never needing more than one coin of any denomination. What a great idea! Or for real laughs, have the denominations in Fibonacci sequence, which would also require at most one per denomination for any number, just a lot harder to work out.) The sequence 1 2 3 5 10 20 30 50... also works this way, and would be much easier to work out.

(let me know if anyone misses the confused, pointless discussion that was here, most of which was my fault -- rab.spir)

Incidentally, if the exchange rate really is 15 rupnu to 1 meryru'u, anything less than a rupnu would be an amount of money most people wouldn't even bother picking up off the street - less than a nickel. Not exactly worth making coins for it. Given that the phrasebook describes fepni coins, was it perhaps supposed to be the other way around?

What's the price of this?
ma jdima ti / ti rupnu li xo
That costs 13
rupnu ta rupnu li paci
Where should I pay?
.ei mi pleji vi ma
I'm looking for something less expensive
mi sisku lo'e kargu mleca
I would like to buy ...
mi djica le nu te vecnu ...
Where is the nearest bank?
le jbirai banxa cu zvati ma
I would like to exchange American dollars for rupnu.
mi djica lenu canja lo meryru'u lo jborupnu
What is the exchange rate of the euro against the rupnu?
ma canja parbi lo ronru'u lo jborupnu

-> Phrases that differ only in stress

Asking for things / marketing

Unlike many other languages, it is not necessary in lojban to turn orders into polite questions ; politeness words are completely optional, and it is not rude to omit them.

Can you give me that ? ko ti mi dunda

(same as I'd like you to give me that.)

I want to buy that. ko ti mi vecnu

(same as Please sell me that.)

How much does this cost ? ti se jdima ma / ti se vecnu fo ma

How much do you want to sell this ? ma ti fo do jdima

Who sells this ? ma vecnu ti

It is too expensive. li du'e cu jdima

I offer ... (amount of money) for this. mi te vecnu ti fo ...

Please, I'd like you to lend this to me. pe'udo'u mi jbera ti do

How long can I borrow it ? ma ve jbera

I don't have enough money. mi ponse le rupnu be li mo'a

Give me some more. ko ti mi zmadu'a

I would like to buy some cigarettes. mi na te vecnu ti poi snacukyvei .i se sraku

Numbers

In general, numbers in Lojban are expressed by reading off the digits from left to right, with a few exceptions. Three zeros can be said ki'o instead of nonono, and there are special words for some powers of ten, which aren't always used.

In some parts, an entirely different system based on lesi'o foli paxa kancu exadecimal is used, though as a foreigner your numbers will probably be understood if you say them in decimal. These parts are easy to recognize--everything is much more advanced. Those using decimal are vaporized quickly and painlessly. tinkit

Small integers

zero no

one pa

two re

three ci

four vo

five mu

six xa

seven ze

eight bi

nine so

ten pano

eleven papa

twelve pare

twenty reno

thirty cino

forty vono

hundred panono

thousand panonono / paki'o

million paki'oki'o

When counting, you don't say pa, re, ci, as that would be taken as the number 123 said slowly. To separate the numbers, you can say .i pa, .i re, .i ci, or li pa, li re, li ci. Or paboi reboi ciboi...

Fractions

one half pimu / fi'ure xadba

one third pira'eci / fi'uci

two thirds pira'exa / refi'uci

one fourth piremu / fi'uvo

three fourths pizemu / cifi'uvo

one seventh pira'epavorebimuze / fi'uze

3+1/7 / 22/7 vei cisu'ifi'uze / cipira'epavorebimuze / rerefi'uze

Some powers of 10

10^-12 piki'oki'oki'oki'opa vei gei ni'upare picti

10^-9 piki'oki'oki'opa vei gei ni'uso nanvi

10^-6 piki'oki'opa vei gei ni'uxa mikri

10^-3 piki'opa vei gei ni'uci milti

.01 pinopa centi

.1 pipa decti

10^0 pa vei gei no pamei

10 pano dekto

100 panono xecto

10^3 paki'o vei gei ci kilto

10^6 paki'oki'o vei gei xa megdo

10^9 paki'oki'oki'o vei gei so gigdo

10^12 paki'oki'oki'oki'o vei gei pare terto

Note that the words kilto etc. are verbs. kilto means "is a group of a thousand", as in mi viska lo kilto be loi manti, I see a thousand ants.Note also that it is not ten but the radix being used in whatever your base is, with ten the most common by far (though hex and occasionally duodecimal are used), so kilto is not one thousand but paki'o, which to a hexist is over four times as many. This is why we are lucky in that some areas use hex and some decimal, but the borders are clearly defined. Only one region is in dispute, and that is the jboste, where base is a source of conflict. Elsewhere in jbotut the bases don't mix, with La Xagvar ne exeption.

  • A ki'o does not mean 3 digits in hexadecimal, which tinkit calls the default base. Either 2 or 4--probably 4 (this is often defined as a "word"). Dekto, xecto, centi, and denti either need to be removed or add 2 more to fill up the extra digit. mi'e tinkit
    • It's okay when you make your misinformative statements on the list, where we are free to ignore them, but it's possible that someone new to Lojban might come across the Wiki and believe you, or worse, believe that features such as ki'o are not yet decided. Hexadecimal is supported in Lojban (as it should be, being the largest base that has some real-world usage), but it is false (contradicted by the Book itself) that it is the default. --rab.spir
      • The book says ki'o just means a comma. That can be interpreted as anything--including 4 digits which is what is most commonly used in the (9+7) base.
        • The book also says the default base is 10, so I hardly think you can refer to it authoritatively here. (Incidentally, I don't disagree that a comma could represent 4 places in hex - what I take issue with is your outright, false assertion that hex is the default and that as a result (since falsehood implies everything) the metric words are all of indeterminate meaning.)

Smileys

-) (contempt) ui
  • Ahem, contempt is ga'i, you meant content, I believe ? mi'e greg.
-) (amusement) u'i
-D u'isai
-) zo'o
-( uinai
-o ue
-O uesai

8-) (voyeurism) a'usairo'o / a'usairo'u

-* (kiss) iu
-% (puzzlement) oiro'e
-/ (embarassment) oiro'a
  • I use this one for disappointment or annoyance. -- mi'e bancus.
'-P (physical fatigue) o'u.a'ero'o
'-( (sadness) uinai.oiro'i
'-D (amusement to tears) u'icai

>:-( (disapproval w/ complaint) i'enai.oi

-| (neutral) ... cu'i

What do you feel? pei

What do you feel about the fact that ... ? pei du'u ...

While many lojban chatters know about smileys and use them instead of the lojban words, it is good practice to write the words instead in e.g. more formal texts.

Is it smileys or smilies? --Skorgu

Common Phrases

English Esperanto Lojban
hello saluton coi
good-bye ĝis revido co'o
Please bonvolu pe'u
thank you dankon ki'e
English angla le glibau
yes jes go'i
no ne na go'i
I am sorry mi bedaŭras .u'u
I don't understand mi ne komprenas mi na jimpe
Where is the toilet? kie estas la necesejo? vimku'a bu'u ma
Do you speak English? Ĉu vi parolas la anglan? xu do se glibau
Excuse me, I do not speak Lojban well Pardonu min, mi ne bone parolas Loĵbanon
I don't know Mi ne scias mi na djuno

On a bus stop

Very useful phrases

My hovercraft is full of eels.
lo mi fulta bloti cu culno lo angila

Links

The original of this page and those behind the links can be found at https://github.com/lojban/lojban-cvs/tree/master/lojban/phrasebook