Lojban grammar examples

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"verb" forms
ko'a dunda
ko'a dunda ko'e
ko'a dunda ko'e ko'i
He gives.
He gives it.
He, gives it to her.
ko'a se dunda It is a gift.
ko'a te dunda He is a recipient.
ko'a ca dunda
ko'a pu dunda
ko'a ba dunda
He now gives.
He gave.
He will give.
ko'a pu pu dunda
ko'a ba pu dunda
He had given.
He will have given.
ko'a ca ca'o dunda He is now giving.
ko'a pu ca'o dunda He has been giving.
Lojban grammar derives great flexibility and variety from manipulation of tense particles that do much of its work. as demonstrated here, it is the particles that determine whether a predicate—a term of extralinguistic reference, such as dunda and bajra—is to serve in a given statement as a noun, verb, adjective or adverb, as in more familiar grammars. thus pu (before), ca (now) and ba (after) give the predicate dunda (to give) the function of a verb (upper left) and "conjugate" it through the future, present and past tense. compound forms of these operators yield the compound tenses. for example, pu pu (before-before) indicates the pluperfect tense. in such combinations they not only duplicate all of the familiar grammatical forms but go far beyond to express relationships that can be only clumsily approximated in the natural languages, as is indicated by the translation of the compound operator ba zi ze'u at center left. the flexibility of the system is suggested further by the transformations of dunda (in this table give, giver, gift, generous, generously, generosity, and so on) in accord with its association with operators and connectives or its place in a multiple predicate.
"adverb" forms
ko'a ro roi dunda
ko'a so'e roi dunda
ko'a so'o roi dunda
She always gives.
She usually gives.
She sometimes gives.
ko'a pu zi dunda
ko'a pu zu dunda
ko'a ba zi dunda
She recently gave.
She gave long ago.
She will soon give.
ko'a vi dunda
ko'a va dunda
ko'a vu dunda
She gives here.
She gives there.
She gives over there.
ko'a bu'u ro da dunda She gives everywhere (in all places).
ko'a ba zi ze'u vi dunda Soon she will be giving here for a long time.
negatives
ko'a na ku dunda
na ku da dunda
no ko'a dunda
He doesn't give.
It is false that anyone gives.
None of them gives.
"noun" forms
lo prenu
lo vi prenu
lo va prenu
a person
this person
that person
lo ro prenu
lo so'e prenu
lo so'i prenu
all people
most people
many people
no lo prenu
lo pa prenu
lo re prenu
none of the people
a person, one person
two people
ro lo ci prenu all of the three people
abstract "nouns"
lo nu dunda
lo nu bajra
a/the giving
a/the run
"adjective" forms
lo laldo prenu
lo dunda prenu
an old person
a giving person
lo melbi verba zdani
lo verba melbi zdani
a pretty-child home
a childishly pretty home
lo prenu poi laldo
lo prenu poi na'o dunda
lo prenu poi na'o dunda gi'e laldo
a person who is old
a person who is generous
a person who is generous and old
lo prenu poi dunda ko'e
lo prenu poi dunda ko'e ko'i
a person who gives it
a person who gives it to him
lo laldo prenu poi pu dunda ci ko'e lo ze vi bajra the old person who gave three of them to these seven runners
identities
ko'a du la djon
ko'a du lo nanmu
ko'a du lo laldo nanmu poi pu dunda ci ko'e lo ze vi bajra
He is John.
He is the man.
He is the old man who gave 3 of them to these 7 runners.
compound forms
ko'a bajra gi'a cadzu
ko'a bajra gi'e cadzu
He runs or walks.
He runs and walks.
ko'a a ko'e bajra
ko'a e ko'e bajra
He or she runs.
He and she run
ko'a bajra i ja ko'e cadzu
ko'a bajra i je ko'e cadzu
ko'a cadzu i janai ko'e bajra
ko'a bajra i jo ko'e cadzu
He runs or she walks.
He runs and she walks.
If he runs then she walks.
He runs if and only if she walks
ko'a bajra ki'u lo nu ko'e cadzu
ko'a bajra tai lo nu ko'e cadzu
He runs because she walks.
He runs like she walks.
ki'u lo nu ko'a cadzu vau ko'e bajra Because he walks, she runs.
ko'a bajra ca lo nu ko'e cadzu
ko'a bajra ba lo nu ko'e cadzu
ko'a bajra bu'u lo nu ko'e cadzu
He runs when she walks.
He runs after she walks.
He runs where she walks.
ca lo nu ko'e cadzu vau ko'e bajra When she walks he runs.
universals
ro bajra cu cadzu
ko'a bajra ca ro nu ko'e cadzu
ko'a bajra bu'u ro nu ko'e cadzu
ro dunda cu dunda da
Anyone who runs walks.
She runs whenever he walks.
She runs wherever he walks.
Everyone who gives gives something.
attitudinal forms
le'o ko'a bajra
ue ko'a bajra
oinai ko'a bajra
What! She runs? [anger]
Well! So she runs. [surprise]
How nice that she runs! [pleasure]
xu ko'a bajra
ma bajra
bu'u ma ko'a bajra
Does she run?
Who runs?
Where does she run?
je'u ko'a bajra
la'a ko'a bajra
ju'o cu'i ko'a bajra
je'u nai ko'a bajra
Yes; she runs.
She probably runs.
Perhaps she runs.
No, she doesn't run.
ai mi bajra
au mi bajra
a'o mi bajra
e'u do bajra
I'm going to run.
I want to run.
I hope to run.
I suggest you run.
e'i mi bajra I must run.