2.13. Possession

Possession refers to the concept of specifying an object by saying who it belongs to (or with). A full explanation of Lojban possession is given in Chapter 8. A simple means of expressing possession, however, is to place a sumti representing the possessor of an object within the description sumti that refers to the object: specifically, between the le and the selbri of the description:

Example 2.54. 

le mi gerku

cu

sutra

The of-me dog

-

is fast.

My dog is fast.


In Lojban, possession doesn't necessarily mean ownership: one may possess a chair simply by sitting on it, even though it actually belongs to someone else. English uses possession casually in the same way, but also uses it to refer to actual ownership or even more intimate relationships: my arm doesn't mean some arm I own but rather the arm that is part of my body. Lojban has methods of specifying all these different kinds of possession precisely and easily.