The questions are on a separate page; this file is answers and commentary only.

Hajime no Lojban ▶ New Game — Final Exam Answer Key#

(100 points total · 45–60 min)

Ⅰ. Simple morphology → Chapter 3#

• brivla (content word / predicate): ends in a vowel and has a consonant cluster within the first five letters.
• cmevla (name word): the name-shaped tokens that follow la. Always ends in a consonant. Note: cmene is a separate predicate word meaning "x₁ is the name of x₂" — don't confuse the two.
• cmavo (structure word / particle): ends in a vowel and has no consonant clusters outside the very beginning of the word.

(1) (a), (g)

• Note that (f) is indeed a cmavo, but it is a compound cmavo made up of pu and ze'u.

(2) (b), (d), (e)

(3) (d)

• (h) tsasman looks like the brivla tsasmani, but look carefully at the ending.
• {.ui} is an attitudinal expressing happiness, so gleki ("x₁ is happy about x₂") is the correct answer.

1 point each for a fully correct answer to (1), (2), and (3). [3 points total]

Ⅱ. Terminators#

This section is about terminators, one of Lojban's distinctive features. It's a pure knowledge question — make sure you have these memorized.

Correct answers: (a), (d), (e), (g), (i)

• (b) li is the number article; its terminator is lo'o.
• (c) poi is a relative clause marker, closed by ku'o, just like noi.
• (f) du'u is a NU abstractor; its terminator is kei.
• (h) le is an article for selbri-described sumti; like lo, its terminator is ku.
• (j) zo has no terminator at all.

2 points for a fully correct answer; −1 point per mistake. [2 points total]

Ⅲ. True / False#

(1) T (2) T (3) F (4) T (5) F (6) F (7) T (8) T (9) T (10) F (11) T (12) T

Explanations for False answers only:

• (3) lo sipna ku means "something that sleeps / a sleeping thing," not "the act of sleeping."
• (5) After a FA-tagged sumti, any following untagged sumti count from the next place after the tagged one — so ta fills x₄.
• (6) The correct order is PU · ZI · ZEhA (tense class · distance class · duration class).
• (10) e'inai means "indifference / letting it happen," not permission.

Chapter cross-reference: (1)→Ch. 5, (2)→Ch. 6, (3)→Ch. 7, (4)→Ch. 8, (5)→Ch. 9, (6)→Ch. 12, (7)→Ch. 13, (8)→Ch. 15, (9)→Ch. 17, (10)→Ch. 18, (11)→Ch. 19, (12)→Ch. 23

1 point per question. [12 points total]

Ⅳ.#

(1) Pure knowledge question → Chapter 21

• (d) Every other choice represents "1000," but (d) alone represents "1001."

(2) → Chapters 8, 9 (place structure)

The approach is to strip away any SE and FA tags.

• (1) dunda is converted by se. Removing the SE series word leaves ko'e dunda ko'a ko'i.
• (2) No SE at all, so it is simply equivalent to ko'e dunda ko'i ko'a.
• (3) Starting with te dunda, first strip the FA tags to get ko'i te dunda ko'a ko'e. Then removing te gives ko'e dunda ko'a ko'i.

1 point each for (1) and (2). [2 points total]

Ⅴ. Translation#

Note that answers may vary due to unspecified tense and aspect.

Full marks (2 points) if the meaning is correctly captured; partial credit allowed. [18 points total]

Ⅵ. Sentence repair → Chapter 11#

In most cases, the problem is that a word has absorbed more words than intended, or words that weren't meant to combine have formed an unwanted tanru. The first fix to consider is adding a terminator.

1. coi do / do'u / .i mi klama fi la .akit. — Hello. I came from Akito.
   coi was absorbing mi, which should be in x₁. Adding do'u stops it from doing so. → Ch. 25
2. le nanmu ku / cu melbi — That man is beautiful.
   nanmu and melbi were forming an unwanted tanru. → Chs. 6, 8
3. mi klama lo zarci gi'e te vecnu lo plise — I went to the store and bought an apple.
   The bridi-tail connective was missing. .ije would work in meaning, but since it is two words it cannot serve as a bridi-tail connective here. → Ch. 23
4. le nanla na catra le gerku — The boy didn't kill the dog.
   ○ Correct as written. na is serving as a natural separator between le nanla and catra. → Ch. 16
5. ca lo nu do klama ti kei / kei ku / ku mi sipna — When you came here, I was sleeping.
   NU abstractors can absorb words without limit, so be careful. Use kei to close the nu clause, or ku to close the lo. → Ch. 10

2 points each; no partial credit. [10 points total]

Ⅶ. Vocabulary#

(All of these words appear in the reading passage in Section Ⅷ.)

1 point each. [14 points total]

Ⅷ. Reading comprehension#

The first reading-comprehension passage in Hajiloji. We hope you'll notice that with just the grammar covered in this book, you're already able to read and write passages like this one.

(1) (i) e　(ii) c

balvi ("future") and jibni ("close / near") are both brivla (content words). [1 point each]

(2) Starting now, I'm letting you know about / introducing you to Sanit.

jungau has the place structure x₁ gasnu lo nu x₂ djuno x₃ x₄ x₅ — "x₁ causes x₂ to know x₃ (proposition) about topic x₄ in system x₅." So "inform" or "introduce" are both acceptable. A more literal rendering such as "cause you to know" is also fine. [2 points; partial credit allowed]

(3) la .sanit.

Look at the second sentence: la .sanit. goi ko'a tells you that ko'a has been assigned to la .sanit.. [1 point]

(4) fo — jbena ("to be born") has birthplace in x₄ (see Section Ⅶ). [1 point]

(5) Key points:

• Sanit can understand the future by looking at the sky.
• Sanit can fly.

Look at .ue near the end of line 5, and .i la'e di'u spaji mi near the beginning of the second-to-last line. Both .ue and spaji signal surprise. la'e di'u refers to the content of the immediately preceding sentence. Since .i la'e di'u spaji mi means "that surprises me," the surprising thing must be ko'a kakne lo nu vofli. [3 points for both correct; −2 points per wrong answer]

(6) lo benske — ri is anaphoric and refers back to the most recent sumti. [1 point]

(7) lo benske — go'e refers to the content of the sentence two sentences back. Placing lo or le before it extracts the x₁ of that sentence. [1 point]

(8) (b), (d) [1 point each]

• (a) The end of line 11 tells us Sanit has a younger sister named Shanam. The text la .canam. ko'a citno mensi gi'e nelci says Shanam likes Sanit — not that she "doesn't like her very much."
• (b) Correct: Sanit is a woman (line 2) and values her health and her red glasses (third-to-last line).
• (c) From underlined section ②: Sanit was born on a southern island.
• (d) From line 6, Sanit is skilled at drawing pictures of birds.

(9) Each question below with its English translation and the relevant passage location. [2 points each; no partial credit]

• (a) lo benske — "What is Sanit studying?" (line 7 in the Lojban text)
• (b) na go'i — "Is Sanit's sister named Ni'icman?" (line 11). Note: Ni'icman is the name of the mountain Sanit visited before coming here (second-to-last line in the passage), not a person's name.
• (c) lo zarci klaji poi jibni lo xamsi — "Where did you meet Sanit?" She remembers meeting you on the market street near the sea (line 12).
• (d) go'i — "Is the mountain Sanit visited famous?" (second-to-last line, where misno = "famous / renowned")
• (e) na go'i — "Can you be sure that the narrator is male?" No information about the narrator's gender is given anywhere in the passage.

(10) How about we enjoy a meal together on a day off?

"How about we enjoy eating together" is also acceptable — it may even feel more natural. Check that the translation captures .e'u ("suggestion / let's…") and ca lo nalgundei ("on a day off / holiday"). [2 points]

[25 points total]

«Original text» (Lojban)#

.i mi ca jungau do fo la .sanit.
.i la .sanit. goi ko'a pendo mi .ije ko'a melbi ninmu
.i ko'a nelci lo nu litru .e lo cipni .e lo nu finti lo pixra
.i ko'a jbena (a) lo snanu daplu
.i .ue ko'a kakne lo nu jimpe fi lo balvi kei ta'i lo nu catlu lo tsani
.i ko'a certu lo nu finti lo pixra be lo cipni
.i ko'a tadni lo benske
.i ri mutce cinri mi
.i mi djica lo nu ko'a ctuca mi fo lo se go'e
.i ko'a caze'i se cinri la'e zoi gy. Rubik's Cube gy. no'u lo kubli se kelci
.i la .canam. ko'a citno mensi gi'e nelci
.i ko'a morji lo du'u penmi do lo zarci klaji poi jibni lo xamsi
.i pu lo nu ko'a klama ti kei bu'u la .ni'icman. noi misno cmana ku'o ko'a ze'u catlu lo blanu tsani gi'e finti lo pixra be lo nebyplovoicpi fo lo pinsi
.i ko'a se vajni lo nu vo'a kanro .e lo xunre le'otci
.i ko'a kakne lo nu vofli
.i la'e di'u mutce spaji mi
.i mi na djuno lo du'u ta'i makau ko'a co'e
.i .a'o do pendo ko'a
.i .e'u ma'a zanfri lo nu citka lo sanmi kei ca lo nalgundei
.i ki'e

((a) marks the blank-fill location from Section Ⅶ.)

«Free English translation»#

I'm going to introduce you to Sanit. Sanit is my friend and a beautiful woman. She loves to travel, loves birds, and loves making pictures. She was born on a southern island. Remarkably, she can understand the future by looking at the sky. She is highly skilled at drawing pictures of birds. She's studying neuroscience. I find that very interesting — I'd love for her to teach me about it. She's recently been fascinated by the Rubik's Cube, a cubic puzzle toy. Shanam is her younger sister, and Shanam likes Sanit. Sanit remembers meeting you on the market street near the sea. Before coming here, at a famous mountain called Ni'icman, she spent a long time gazing at the blue sky and drawing pictures of herons with a pencil. She values her own health and her red glasses very much. She can fly. That greatly surprises me. I don't know how she does it. I hope you and Sanit become friends. How about the three of us enjoy a meal together on a day off? Thank you.

Ⅸ. Lojban composition#

In general, Lojban allows many equivalent sentences by using the SE and FA series, and further variation arises from whether optional terminators are included or omitted. The answers below use neither SE nor FA, and omit all terminators that can legally be dropped.

1. The girl writes pa le pu .kocon. lo be noi ci py.
le nixli cu ciska lo'u pa le pu .kocon. lo be noi ci py. le'u
   A quoting question. Grammatically incorrect Lojban word sequences are quoted with lo'u … le'u. → Ch. 22

2. Which do you prefer, spicy things or bitter things?
   do nelci lo cpina ji lo kurki
   A connective question. For questions about how sumti are connected, use ji. → Ch. 23

3. That man is certain that the apples over there are bad-tasting.
   le nanmu cu birti lo du'u lo vu plise cu to'e kukte
   Note that birti's x₂ takes a propositional sumti, that "bad-tasting" is the opposite (to'e) of kukte ("tasty / delicious"), and that "over there" can use a spatial distance tag. lo vu plise can be replaced with tu noi plise [ku'o]. If "that man" is read as "the man over there," lo vu nanmu or tu noi nanmu [ku'o] are also acceptable. → Chs. 10, 16

4. I am able to speak Lojban.
   mi kakne lo nu la .lojban. cu bangu mi
tavla means "speak to someone" — here the meaning is "Lojban can be my language," so bangu is the right word. lo lojbo or lo jbobau can replace la .lojban.. The mi inside the nu clause can be omitted. → Ch. 10

5. Make a sentence out of more than five words.
   ko zbasu lo jufra lo za'u mu valsi
za'u mu means "greater than five." Review su'e, su'o, za'u, and me'i. → Chs. 18, 21

6. Many people believe that everyone is kind. I don't.
   lo so'i prenu cu krici lo du'u lo ro prenu cu xendo .i mi na go'i
   Writing the second sentence as mi na krici lo du'u lo ro prenu cu xendo is not wrong (left to the examiner's discretion). → Chs. 10, 21, 24

7. Please drink one of these that is cold.
   .e'o ko pinxe ti poi ke'a lenku
   Rendering "please" with .e'o is expected. Omitting ko is not necessarily penalized. ke'a inside the poi clause can be omitted. → Chs. 18, 19

2 points each; partial credit allowed. [14 points total]

Grading scale#

There is no officially validated passing score, but the following is offered as a rough guide. Aim for B or above!