L17-02

Chinese and Russian: event as a whole

In Chinese and Russian you can easily distinguish between an event still going on (imperfective), and a verb indicating that an event is viewed as a whole (perfective).

When in English we say I have spoken to the doctor, we are also indicating that we have now finished doing so — we are after the end of the event. When we say I am speaking to the doctor, on the other hand, we are also indicating that we are in middle of the event: the event is continuing, and is not yet over.

Chinese uses the particle 了 （le） to express this perfectivity.

To explicitly express perfectivity in Lojban we use the preposition co'i, which treats an entire event, from the beginning to the end as one single point:

mi pu zi co'i penmi lo dotco prenu I have recently met a German person.

A little while ago, I was at the point in time where i met a German person.

penmi = x₁ meets x₂ at location x₃

Spanish: this, that, that over there

este, ese, aquel

Spanish: estar and ser

The difference is usually idiomatic and is related to the verbs being used.

When it's a long term happiness you can say {mi ru'inai gleki}, with describing the current situation {mi ca gleki} or even {mi ca jarco lo ka gleki} (I demonstrate my happiness). When (nonsense but still) you were just born happy and will be happy forever then it'd be {mi se jinzi lo ka gleki}. As for feelings it'd be {mi cinmo lo ka gleki}. The simple {mi gleki} is just vague in this regard. Also "ser" might be expressed with {mi me lo gleki} (I am one of the happy ones). There is a lot of philosophy here. Usually in Lojban we just rely on what we mean, not on how it is expressed in a particular language. However, i just gave you some alternatives

English and Turkish: different words for why

The word why can ask different questions and the because can give different kinds of answers. In some languages, in fact, we would use different words for them: Turkish has three words for why, and until recently even English had two (the other being wherefore, as in wherefore art thou Romeo?). That's why in Lojban there are two words for why, although we can use more precise verbs instead of se ja'e.