zipcpi: Yet another gadri article

From Lojban
Revision as of 09:11, 3 June 2015 by Spheniscine (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The following describes my personal thoughts on how gadri ("articles") should be used.

le

Definite article. le broda = the broda(s) that I have in mind.

For example, if a wife returns home after watching a play, she might have this conversation with her husband:
W: coi "Hello."
H: coi .i xu do nelci le draci "Hi. Did you like the play? (that you just watched)
W: na go'i uinai "No. *sadness*"

lo'e

Indefinite / archetypical article. lo'e broda = brodas in general, as a concept.

H: ue .i xunai do nelci lo'e draci "Eh? Don't you like plays? (plays in general)"
W: je'a "Yes (I do like plays; xunai only makes the question rhetorically negative, and does not change the expected answer)"
H: je'e "OK. (Understood / Roger)"

Note that this differs from xu do nelci ro draci "Do you like all plays?", which is most probably false. Even the biggest fan of plays would probably hate some plays; in fact, they may hate it all the more because of their appreciation of plays in general!

lo

Descriptive article. lo broda = something(s) that brodas. Can mean either le or lo'e depending on context. lo is pretty much "never wrong", but le and lo'e can be used when definiteness is important.

mi citka lo plise = "I eat an apple".