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12

Lojban Through Dialogues

Lesson 12. How Much? Is It Expensive?

Checking the menu prices at the café. meryru'u gives you exact prices; kargu and tolkargu cover expensive vs cheap. And pleji — to pay.

LojbanEnglish
la mentu
la mentu
xu kargu
Is it expensive?
la lifri
la lifri
lo nanba cu meryru'u li pa ci
The bread costs 13 dollars.
la mentu
la mentu
na kargu .i tolkargu
Not expensive — cheap!
la lifri
la lifri
lo stasu cu meryru'u li re no
The soup costs 20 dollars.
la mentu
la mentu
xu do se jdini
Do you have money?
la lifri
la lifri
go'i .i .ai mi pleji
Yes — I'll pay.

New words

LojbanMeaning
karguexpensive
tolkargucheap (lit. opposite-of-expensive — tol- reverses any predicate)
meryru'ux₁ costs x₂ US dollars — lo X cu meryru'u li N = "X costs N dollars"
jdinimoney — se jdini = "to have money": xu do se jdini = "do you have money?"
plejix₁ pays x₂ to x₃ for x₄ — mi pleji = "I pay"

Grammar note:

tol- is a systematic reversal prefix: kargu → tolkargu (expensive → cheap), sutra → tolsutra (fast → slow, though masno is the natural word). li before a number works the same as in clock times: meryru'u li re no = "costs 20 dollars." se jdini uses the familiar se swap: jdini = "x₁ is money for x₂," so se jdini = "x₁ has money x₂."

Practice dialogue

Linto discovers the price of soup.

LojbanEnglish
la linto
la linto
xu lo stasu cu kargu
Is the soup expensive?
la mentu
la mentu
go'i .i lo stasu cu meryru'u li re no
Yes — the soup costs 20 dollars.
la linto
la linto
.u'u .i lo stasu cu kargu
Ugh! The soup is expensive.
la mentu
la mentu
xu do se jdini
Do you have money?
la linto
la linto
milxe .i .ai mi pleji
A little. I'll pay.
la mentu
la mentu
ki'e
Thank you!

Anticipation prompts

PromptLojban
Is it expensive?xu kargu
I don't have money.mi na se jdini
The soup costs 20 dollars.lo stasu cu meryru'u li re no
I'll pay..ai mi pleji

Spaced recall — Lessons 9–11

LojbanEnglish
mi pu klama le panka .i ku'i mi ba klama le zdaniI went to the park, but I'll go home.
.ai mi pinxe lo djacuI'm going to drink water.
.au mi citka lo stasuI want to eat soup.
.ai mi klama lo gustaI'm going to a restaurant.
ca le prulamdei mi pu klama le pankaYesterday I went to the park.

Challenge

PromptLojban
I went to the restaurant yesterday. The soup was expensive.ca le prulamdei mi pu klama lo gusta .i lo stasu cu kargu