Lojban and Chinese, A Word A Day

By Xah Lee. Date:
xagji ≔ x1 hungers for x2; x1 needs/wants food/fuel x2

To say “I'm hungry” in Chinese, it is 我饿了le3. The 了 at the end is to indicate a state.

“mi xagji le cidja” means specifically “i'm hungry for food”. Cidja ⇔ food. The ‘le’ is to make a selbri word into a sumti. (somewhat analogous to English verb into noun.) In Chinese, there is no phrase for “I'm hungry for food”, because the word 饿 means a roughly “no food in stomach”.

tcika ≔ x1 [hours, {minutes}, {seconds}] is the time/hour of state/event x2 on day x3 at location x4

“ma tcika ti” ⇔ “what time is it”. ‘ma’ is the place-holder for unknown sumti. ti ⇔ here/this.

In Chinese, “what time is it?” is “现 xian4 在 zai4 几 ji3 点 dian3”. ‘现在’ ⇔ “right now”. 几 ⇔ “how many”. 点 ⇔ o'clock/points.

nicte ≔ x1 is a nighttime of day x2 at location x3; (adjective) x1 is at night/nocturnal
cadzu ≔ x1 walks/strides/paces on surface x2 using limbs x3

In Chinese, 走 ⇔ walk/move/go. 路 ⇔ road. To say “walk” as by using legs, it is 走路.

prami ≔ x1 loves/feels strong affectionate devotion towards x2 (object/state)

mi prami do ⇔ I love you ⇔ 我爱你 wo3 ai4 ni3

cerni ≔ x1 is a morning [dawn until after typical start-of-work for locale] of day x2 at location x3

To say “good morning” as a greeting, lojban speakers simply use the common greeting ‘coi’.

To state that “morning is good”, it is “.i le cerni xamgu”. The ‘.i’ marks a new sentence. xamgu ⇔ good ⇔ 好 Hao3.

klama ≔ x1 come/go destination x2 from origin x3 via route x4 using means/vehicle x5

do ⇔ you ⇔ 你. ‘ma’ is a place-holder for unknown sumti, and thus making it a question. Where ⇔ 那里.