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Chapter 10. Imaginary Journeys: The Lojban Space/Time Tense System
Prev: Section 10.17 Next: Section 10.19
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10.18. Tense negation

Any bridi which involves tenses of selma'o PU, FAhA, or ZAhO can be contradicted by a -nai suffixed to the tense cmavo. Some examples:

Example 10.129. 

mi punai klama le zarci
I [past-not] go-to the market.

I didn't go to the market.

As a contradictory negation, Example 10.129 implies that the bridi as a whole is false without saying anything about what is true. When the negated tense is a sumti tcita, -nai negation indicates that the stated relationship does not hold:

Example 10.130. 

mi klama le zarci ca nai
I go-to the market [present] [not]
le nu do klama le zdani
the event-of you go-to the house.

It is not true that I went to the market at the same time that you went to the house.

Example 10.131. 

le nanmu cu batci le gerku ne'inai le kumfa
The man   bites the dog [within-not] the room.

The man didn't bite the dog inside the room.

Example 10.132. 

mi morsi ca'onai le nu mi jmive
I am-dead [continuitive-negated] the event-of I live.

It is false that I am dead during my life.

It is also possible to perform scalar negation of whole tense constructs by placing a member of NAhE before them. Unlike contradictory negation, scalar negation asserts a truth: that the bridi is true with some tense other than that specified. The following examples are scalar negation analogues of Example 10.129 to Example 10.131:

Example 10.133. 

mi na'e pu klama le zarci
I [non-] [past] go-to the market.

I go to the market other than in the past.

Example 10.134. 

le nanmu cu batci le gerku to'e ne'i le kumfa
The man   bites the dog [opposite-of] [within] the room.

The man bites the dog outside the room.

Example 10.135. 

mi klama le zarci na'e ca le nu
I go-to the market [non-] [present] the event-of
do klama le zdani
you go-to the house.

I went to the market at a time other than the time at which you went to the house.

Example 10.136. 

mi morsi na'e ca'o le nu mi jmive
I am-dead [non-] [continuitive] the event-of I live.

I am dead other than during my life.

Unlike -nai contradictory negation, scalar negation of tenses is not limited to PU and FAhA:

Example 10.137. 

le verba na'e ri'u cadzu le bisli
The child [non-] [right] walks-on the ice

The child walks on the ice other than to my right.

The use of -nai on cmavo of TAhE and ROI has already been discussed in Section 10.9; this use is also a scalar negation.

Chapter 10. Imaginary Journeys: The Lojban Space/Time Tense System
Prev: Section 10.17 Next: Section 10.19
Table of Contents
Book Info Page