First Steps in Lojban
Lesson 20. be, bei, be'o (sumti links into selbri)
We widen selbri → practically sumti again (like Lesson 8).
Déjà vu!
It's a similar pattern: be and bei allow you to fill the slots of a brivla while it's still being used as part of a description.
mi citka lo plise I eat an apple.
The predicate citka has x1 eater, x2 food.
If you want to turn "eating an apple" into a single property, you'd say: citka be lo plise. This creates a new concept: "eats-apples."
So lo citka be lo plise would be "an apple-eater"!
- be
- Links the following sumti into the x2 terbricmi of the preceding word.
- bei
- Links further sumti into the next available terbricmi (x3, x4, etc.).
- be'o
- A terminator that ends the chain of links when needed.
mi klama lo klaji be la .latcmatcad. I go to the street(s) of Latcmatcad.
lo ckule be fi lo lojbo bei fu la .mikan. cu se stuzi ma Where is the Lojban school run by Mikan located?
ko na pencu lo nenri be lo tanxe be fi lo pelji Don’t touch what’s inside the paper box.
Why bei after the first sumti?
If we used be for every link, complex nested structures would become impossible for the parser to untangle. bei ensures that the groupings stay perfectly clear.
These be-phrases can even be used inside tanru, and you can use be'o to stop the chain before it accidentally swallows the next word in your description.
Explore the toolkit: Notice the subtle differences between:
- ti lumci be lo dinju be'o minji
- ti dinju lumci minji
- ti me lo minji poi ke'a lumci lo dinju
- ti minji lo nu lumci lo dinju
True or false
Pick whether each statement is true or false according to the lesson.
Sumti‑tail phrases with be are uncommon in main‑clause selbri, but common inside sumti.
The sumti after be fills x2 of the attached brivla.
When chaining more than one sumti tail, you may use repeated be instead of bei.
Using lo klama be tu bei ti matches zo'e noi ke'a klama with the same place assignment.