Lesson 3. Quoting. Questions. Interjections#

«sei»: comments to the text#

The particle sei allows inserting a comment about our attitude regarding what is said in a relation:

do jinga sei mi gleki You won! (I'm happy about that!)

However:

do jinga sei la .ian. cu gleki You won! (And Yan is happy about that!)

Like with arguments formed using le, the relation formed with sei must end in a relation construct.

la .alis. cu prami sei la .bob. cu gleki la .kevin.

Let's add brackets to make it more easily readable.

la .alis. cu prami (sei la .bob. cu gleki) la .kevin. Alice loves (Bob is happy) Kevin. Alice loves Kevin (Bob is happy).

We can of course add more arguments to the relation with be and bei as we do inside argument terms:

do jinga sei mi zausku be fo la fircku You won! (I'll post congrats on Facebook)

la fircku

Facebook

zausku

$x_1$ praises $x_2$ for audience $x_3$ via means $x_4$

Quotation marks#

For quoting text, we place the quotation particle lu before the quote and place li'u after it. The result is an argument representing the quoted text:

mi cusku lu mi prami do li'u I say "I love you."

cusku

$x_1$ expresses/says $x_2$ (quote) to audience $x_3$

A nice feature of Lojban is that lu — «quote» and li'u — «unquote» marks are pronounceable. It is quite handy since, in spoken Lojban, you don't have to change intonation to show where a quoted text starts and ends.

However, in written text that quotes a conversation, the author often draws the reader's attention to the content of quotations. In such cases, sei is preferred.

We can also nest quotations, for example:

la .ian. pu cusku lu la .djein. pu cusku lu coi li'u mi li'u Yan said, "Jane said, ‘Hello’ to me."

which is similar to

la .ian. pu cusku lu la .djein. pu rinsa mi li'u Yan said, "Jane greeted me."

rinsa

$x_1$ greets someone $x_2$

Note that in Lojban, we distinguish things and their names:

lu le munje li'u cu cmalu "The universe" is small.

le munje na ku cmalu The universe is not small.

le munje

the universe, world

Here, the text "the universe" is small, whereas the universe is not.

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Interjections and vocatives work like sei constructs:

je'u mi jinga sei ra cusku Truly, "I won", he said.

je'u

interjection: truly

As you can see, je'u is not part of his words. It represents your attitude toward the relation. If you want to quote "je'u mi jinga", use quotation marks like this:

lu je'u mi jinga li'u se cusku ra "Truly, I won", he said.

Notice the difference between the two examples?

Here are several common relation words related to talking:

ra pu retsku lu do klama ma li'u She asked, "Where do you go?"

mi pu spusku lu mi klama le zdani li'u I replied, "I am going home."

mi pu spuda le se retsku be ra le ka spusku lu mi klama le zdani li'u I replied to her question by saying, "I am going home."

spuda

$x_1$ replies to $x_2$ by doing $x_3$ (property of $x_1$)

The remaining three relation words have identical place structure:

cusku

$x_1$ expresses/says $x_2$ (quote) to audience $x_3$

retsku

$x_1$ asks $x_2$ (quote) to audience $x_3$

spusku

$x_1$ replies/says answer $x_2$ (quote) to audience $x_3$

«zo» — quoting one word#

zo is a quotation marker, similar to lu. However, zo quotes only one word immediately following it. This means it does not require an unquote word like li'u; we already know where the quotation ends. By doing this, we save two syllables and make our speech more concise.

zo .robin. cmene mi "Robin" is my name. My name is Robin.

cmene

$x_1$ (quote) is a name of $x_2$ …

To present yourself in Lojban using your Lojbanized name, follow the example above. If your name consists of more than one word, use lu … li'u:

lu .robin.djonsyn. li'u cmene mi Robin Johnson is my name.

Another approach is to use me:

mi me la .robin.djonsyn. I'm Robin Johnson.

Notice the difference: "Robin" with quotation marks is a quoted name, whereas Robin is a person.

To show this better, here is a silly variation:

zo .robin. cmene la .robin. "Robin" is Robin's name. "Robin" is a name of Robin.

The first place of cmene is a quote, a text. Therefore, we use lu … li'u or zo to create a quote and fill the first place of cmene with it, instead of la (prefix for names).

Verbs of speech#

Here are some relations describing speech:

mi pu skicu le purdi le pendo be mi lo ka bredi I told my friend about my garden being ready.

skicu

$x_1$ tells about $x_1$ (object/event/state) to $x_3$ with description $x_4$ (property)

bredi

… is ready to …

mi pu cusku lu le purdi cu bredi li'u le pendo be mi lo ka cladu bacru I said to my friend, "The garden is ready," by uttering it loudly.

cusku

$x_1$ says $x_2$ (text) for audience $x_3$ via medium $x_4$

cladu

… is loud

mi pu tavla le pendo be mi le nu le purdi cu bredi kei le lojbo I talked to my friend in Lojban about the garden being ready.

tavla

$x_1$ talks to $x_2$ about subject $x_3$ in language $x_4$

In short:

• skicu means to tell, to describe with some description,
• cusku means to say some text,
• tavla means to talk in a language.

Content questions#

English has several wh- question words — who, what etc. In Lojban, for both of them we use one word: ma. This word is an argument (like mi, le prenu etc.) and it'ss like a suggestion to to fill in the missing place. For example:

— do klama ma — la .london. — Where are you going? — London.

— ma klama la .london. — la .kevin. — Who's going to London? — Kevin.

— mi plicru do ma — le plise — I give you what? (probably meaning What was it I was supposed to be giving you?) — The apple.

To translate which/what, we also use ma:

— ma gugde gi'e se xabju do — le gugde'usu — In what country do you live? — USA — What is a country and is inhabited by you — USA

xabju

… (someone) inhabits … (some place)

se xabju

… (some place) is inhabited by … (someone)

mo is similar to ma, but it is a relation word.

mo suggests to fill in a relation instead of an argument. It's like asking What does X do? or What is X? in English (Lojban doesn't force you to distinguish between being and doing).

We can see mo as asking someone to describe the relationship between the arguments in the question.

— do mo — How do you do? What's up? — You are what, you do what?

This is the most common way of asking How do you do? or Howdy? in Lojban. Some possible answers:

— mi gleki — I'm happy.

gleki

$x_1$ is happy

— mi kanro — I'm healthy.

mi tatpi I'm tired.

mi gunka I'm working.

Another way of asking How do you do?:

— do cinmo le ka mo — How do you feel (emotionally)?

cinmo

$x_1$ feels $x_2$ (property of $x_1$)

Other examples:

ti mo What is this?

la .meilis. cu mo Who is Mei Li? / What is Mei Li? / What is Mei Li doing?

Possible answers depending on context:

• ninmu: She's a woman.
• jungo: She's Chinese.
• pulji: She's a police officer.
• sanga: She's a singer or She's singing.

do mo la .kevin. What are you to Kevin? You are what (you do what) to Kevin.

The answer depends on the context. Possible answers to this question are:

• nelci: I like him.
• pendo: I am his friend
• prami: I adore/am in love with him.
• xebni: I hate him.
• fengu: I'm angry with him.
• cinba: I kissed him.

Note once again that the time is not important here: just as cinba can mean kiss, kissed, will kiss and so on, mo does not ask a question about any particular time.

If we do want to differentiate between to do and to be someone or something we use additional relations:

la meilis cu zukte ma Mei Li does what? What does Mei Li do?

le ka lumci cleaning.

la meilis cu zukte le ka lumci Mei Li is does cleaning.

zukte

$x_1$ does $x_2$ (property of $x_1$)

lumci

... cleans up or washes ... (something)

do du ma You are who?

mi du le ctuca I am the teacher.

Using modal terms with ma can give us other useful questions:

pe ma is attached only to arguments:

le penbi pe ma cu zvati le jubme Whose pen is on the table?

Number questions#

le xo prenu cu klama ti How many people are coming here?

mu Five.

The word xo means How many? and thus asks for a number. The full answer will be:

le mu prenu cu klama ti The 5 people are coming to this place.

The person being asked is supposed to put an appropriate value in place of xo.

Here are a few more examples:

le xo botpi cu kunti How many bottles are empty?

do ralte le xo gerku How many dogs do you keep?

Verbs of facts#

Consider the example:

mi djuno le du'u do stati I know that you are smart.

djuno

$x_1$ knows $x_2$ (proposition) about $x_3$

mi jimpe le du'u do pu citka I understand that you were eating.

jimpe

$x_1$ understands $x_2$ (proposition) about $x_3$

In places that describe facts, the particle du'u is used (instead of nu).

djuno (to know) and jimpe (to understand) describe facts. It would be illogical to say, I understand that you were eating, but in fact, you weren't.

Note that the relation started with du'u doesn't have to be true:

le du'u do mlatu cu jitfa That you are a cat is false.

jitfa

$x_1$ (proposition) is false

When should you use du'u and when should you use nu? You may consult the dictionary:

• The label (du'u) or (proposition) marks places where du'u is recommended.
• The label (nu) or (event) marks places where nu is recommended.

If you mistakenly use nu instead of du'u, you will still be understood. However, fluent Lojban speakers typically distinguish between these particles.

Indirect questions#

mi djuno le du'u ma kau tadni la .lojban. I know who is studying Lojban.

This is called an indirect question. The word who here is not a request for information, and there is no question mark. The answer is presumed, and in fact, you yourself know the answer to the question Who is learning Lojban?

kau is an interjection that we put after a question word to indicate it's an indirect question.

If I ask you the question ma tadni la .lojban., you know what value to fill in the ma slot with: la .kevin. So you could just say

ma tadni la .lojban. Who is studying Lojban?

mi djuno le du'u ma kau tadni la .lojban. I know who is studying Lojban. I know the identity of the person studying Lojban.

mi djica le nu ma tadni la .lojban. Who do I want to study Lojban? I want who to study Lojban?

This can never be an indirect question: it is asking for an answer (even if you're doing it rhetorically).

You can put it after other question words:

mi djuno le du'u le xo kau prenu cu tadni la .lojban. I know how many people study Lojban.

Indirect quotations (reported speech): ‘I said that I would come.’#

A relation like Alice said, "Michelle said, 'Hello' to me" can also be expressed in a subtler way:

la .alis. pu cusku zo'e pe le nu la .micel. pu rinsa la .alis. Alice said something about Michelle greeting her before. Alice said something about the event of Michelle greeting her.

Alternatively, you can make it shorter:

la .alis. pu cusku le se du'u la .micel. pu rinsa la .alis. Alice said that Michelle had greeted her.

The combination se du'u allows the expression of indirect speech.

Here are some examples of relations useful for reported speech:

le ninmu pu retsku le se du'u mi klama ma kau She asked where I was going.

mi pu spusku le se du'u mi klama le zdani I replied that I was going home.

mi pu spuda le se retsku be le ninmu le ka spusku le se du'u mi klama le zdani I replied to her question by saying in reply that I was going home.

Questions in reported speech:

mi pu cusku le se du'u ma tadni la .lojban. Who did I say is studying Lojban? I said who is studying Lojban?

Thus, Lojban has several words for that …, depending on what sort of thing is meant.

• If that describes what can be seen, heard, or what happens, use nu.
• If that describes what you think, some fact, or information, use du'u.
• If that describes what you say, use se du'u.
  • But if you need a literal quote, use lu … li'u.

Emotional interjections: ‘Yay!’ = «ui», ‘Aye!’ = «ie», ‘Phew!’ = «.o'u»#

We know such interjections as ui (Yay!), .a'o (I hope).

do jinga ui You won! (I'm happy about that!)

ui

interjection: Yay!, interjection of happiness

Interjections work like sei with their relations. ui means the same as sei mi gleki so we could as well say do jinga sei mi gleki meaning the same (although it's a bit more lengthy).

There are interjections expressing other emotional states. They are similar to smileys like ;-) or :-( but in Lojban, we can be more specific about our emotions while still remaining concise in our speech.

ie tu mlatu Agreed, that is a cat.

ie nai .i tu na ku mlatu No, I don't agree. That is not a cat.

ie

interjection: Yeah! Aye! (agreement)

ie nai

interjection: disagreement

.ai mi vitke do I'm going to visit you.

.ai

interjection: I'm going to … (intent)

.au do kanro I wish you were healthy.

.au

interjection of desire

.a'o do clira klama I hope you come early.

.a'o

interjection: I hope

clira

$x_1$ happens early

.ei mi ciska le xatra le pelji le penbi I should write the letter on the paper using the pen.

.ei

I should … (obligation)

ciska

$x_1$ writes $x_2$ on medium $x_4$

.i'e do pu gunka le vajni Very good! You did important work.

.i'e

interjection: Fine! (approval)

.o'u tu mlatu Oh, that's only a cat.

.o'u

interjection: Phew! (relaxation)

In this case, you probably thought that was something dangerous, but it's only a cat, so you are saying .o'u.

.u'i ti zmitci Ha-ha, this is a robot.

.u'i

interjection: Ha-ha! (amusement)

zmitci

… is an automatic tool

You can add or remove interjections to or from a sentence without the risk of breaking it.

Any word that starts with a pure vowel (excluding u and i before vowels) is prefixed with a dot in Lojban in writing and with a pause in speech. So, the correct spelling is .a'o and so on. It's common to omit dots in writing. However, while speaking, you should always show this dot by making a short pause before saying such a word to prevent merging two neighboring words together into one.

Like with xu or sei-relations, we can add interjections after any argument or relation construct, thus expressing our attitude towards that part of the sentence.

Urging interjections#

A special group of "imperative/hortative" interjections are used for instigations, commands, and requests. We have already encountered .e'o:

.e'o mi ciksi da poi mi cusku djica Please, let me explain what I want to say.

.e'o

interjection: Please … (request)

— au mi klama le nenri — .e'a — I'd like to enter. — Please do.

.e'a

interjection: I allow, you may … (permission)

le nenri

the interior, what is inside

.e'ei do zukte C'mon, do it!

.e'ei

interjection: Come on! (encouragement, instigation, provocation). Unofficial word

.e'i do zutse doi le verba Sit down, child!

.e'i

interjection: Do that! (command)

.e'u do pinxe le jisra I suggest that you drink the juice. You'd better drink the juice.

.e'u

interjection: Let's … (suggestion)

«ko» for quicker urges#

do bajra You run.

bajra Someone runs.

In English, the verb itself is a command:

Run!

In Lojban, bajra as a sentence means Someone runs (or is running / was running, depending on context). bajra can also mean a command, Do run!, but sometimes context isn't enough to determine if it's an urge to run or simply a statement that someone runs or is running.

The pronoun ko is used instead of do to make requests, suggestions, or commands:

ko bajra Run! Do run! Do it so that you run!

ko is a more vague alternative to do .e'o, do .e'u, do .e'i.

It's perfectly fine to say something more precise, like:

do .e'o bajra You, please run!

putting the emphasis in our politeness onto do (you).

By moving ko in a relation, the command/request is moved to that part. For example:

nelci ko Make it so you are liked by someone!

nelci

… likes … (something or someone)

As you can see, we have to restructure this relation in English, which still sounds strange. However, you could use it in Lojban in the sense of Try to make a good impression.

Note that prami corresponds to English to love, while nelci corresponds to English to like.

We can even have several ko in one sentence:

ko kurji ko Take care of yourself.

kurji

… takes care of … (someone or something)

Discursive interjections#

au mi citka le salta .e ji'a le grute I'd like to eat the salad and the fruits too.

ji'a

additionally, also, means that there exist others who also are the same (you in this case) or who do the same

salta

… is some salad

grute

… is a fruit

mi si'a nelci do I too like you

— mi nelci le'e mlatu — mi si'a nelci le'e mlatu — I like cats. — I like cats too (Me too).

si'a

similarly, too, denotes that something is similar while being different in other unmentioned aspects

Structure of interjections: «nai», «sai», «pei», «dai»#

Interjections can consist of

1. the root, like ui (Yay!)

2. after it suffixes like pei, dai, zo'o:

   ui zo'o Yay! (kidding, I'm not actually happy)

3. both the root and each of the suffixes can be modified with scalar particles like nai:

   ui nai Alas!

   ui nai zo'o Alas! (kidding, I'm not serious in this feeling)

   ui nai zo'o nai Alas, I'm not kidding, I feel unhappy

Some examples of how scalar particles work.

• ju'o = interjection: I'm sure (certaintty)
• ju'o cu'i = interjection: maybe, perhaps (uncertainty)
• ju'o nai = interjection: I have no idea!

Common examples of interjections:

• an interjection made of a bare root:

ju'o le bruna co'i klama I'm sure, the brother has come.

• the scalar particle cu'i turns a bare root interjection into its middle attitude:

ju'o cu'i le bruna co'i klama Maybe the brother has come, I'm not sure.

• the scalar particle nai turns inttheyerjection into the opposite attitude:

ju'o nai le bruna co'i klama Maybe the brother has come, maybe not, I have no idea

Similarly, ui is Whee! Yay!, while ui nai means Alas!

Precise meanings of interjections that are meaningful with their scalar particles cu'i and nai are given in the dictionary.

• the scalar particle sai denotes strong intensity of interjection:

.u'i sai Ha-ha-ha!

Vocatives can also be modified with scalar particles:

ki'e sai do Thank you a lot!

Suffixes are added after the root of the interjection (together with its scalar particles if we used them):

• the interjection suffix pei turns interjection into a question.

— .au pei do .e mi klama le zarci — .au cu'i — Do you want that you and I go to the store? — Meh, I don't have any preferences.

— ie pei tu melbi — ie — That one is pretty, isn't it? — Yeah.

• the interjection suffix dai shows feelings of others, not feelings of the speaker:

ui nai dai do na ku co'i jinga You must be sad, you haven't won.

.a'u That's interesting!

.a'u dai That must have been interesting for you!

• Bare interjections express the speaker's attitude. ei do cliva means not You ought to leave, but I feel the obligation for you to leave. dai shows that the speaker is empathizing someone else's feelings.

.ei dai do cliva You feel the obligation for yourself to leave.

Note that interjections don't necessarily show attitude towards the speakers themselves. Instead, they express the speakers' attitude towards other things.

• the interjection suffix zo'o marks the attitude as expressed not seriously:

.e'u zo'o do pinxe ti I suggest that you drink it (kidding).

• Suffixes can also be modified with scalar particles:

ie zo'o nai I agree (not kidding).

• zo'o nai is used to show that the information is not a joke:

zo'o nai ra pu klama la .paris. — I'm serious, he went to Paris.

• Suffixes can be used on its own:

  • pei when used alone asks for any interjection that the listener would feel appropriate:

— pei le lunra cu crino — .ie nai — The moon is green (what is your feeling about it?) — I disagree.

• For other suffixes, it means that the root interjection ju'a (I state) was omitted:

zo'o do kusru ju'a zo'o do kusru You are cruel (kidding).

ju'a

interjection: I state (don't confuse it with ju'o (I'm sure))

Just for reference: interjections in tables#

Here is a more comprehensive view: emotional, urging, and various other interjections by series.

Notice how an emotion changes to its opposite when using nai, and to the middle emotion when using cu'i.

Why are some cells of interjections with cu'i and nai empty? Because English lacks concise ways of expressing such emotions.

Moreover, many of these interjections are rarely used.

Combining interjections#

iu ui nai Unhappily in love.

ue ui do jinga Oh, you won! I'm so happy!

jinga

… wins

In this case, the victory was improbable, so I'm surprised and happy at the same time.

Interjections (unlike scalar particles and interjection suffixes) don't modify each other:

ue ui do jinga ui ue do jinga Oh, you won! I'm so happy!

Here, two interjections modify the same construct (the whole sentence) but they don't modify each other so their order is not important.

pei .u'i le gerku cu sutra plipe (What do you feel?) Heh, the dog is quickly jumping.

Here, pei is used alone and doesn't modify .u'i, which is put after it.

Forgot to put an interjection at the beginning?#

do pu sidju mi ui You help me (yay!)

ui modifies only the pronoun mi putting the attitude only to me.

ui do pu sidju mi Yay, you helped me.

What if we forgot to add ui at the beginning of this sentence?

We can explicitly label the relation as complete with vau and then put the interjection:

do pu sidju mi vau ui You helped me, yay!