Conversion is swapping the places of a bridi around. We have already encountered one case of conversion: the cmavo, se, which changes round the first and second places of a bridi. For example
is the same asla djiotis. cinba la ranjit.
Jyoti kisses Ranjeet.
la ranjit. se cinba la djiotis.
Ranjeet is kissed by Jyoti.
se is part of a series of cmavo which go, in alphabetical order, se, te, ve, xe. Like a lot of these series, the first one is used a lot more than the others, but sometimes the others are useful.
Just as se changes round the first and second places, te changes round the first and third places, ve, the first and fourth, and xe, the first and fifth.
ti bakfu loi tirse grana loi skori
This is-a-bundle-of iron rods held together with string.
The ti has now moved to a less conspicuous place in the sentence, and so can now be dropped out without being missed. In fact place conversion is often used when we want to get rid of places like this.loi skori cu te bakfu loi tirse grana ti
String holds the bundle of iron rods together (literally, "with string are bundled iron rods.")
mi'a tugni do zo'e le dinske
mi'a tugni do fo le dinske
We agree with you [that something is true] about economics.
le dinske cu ve tugni
As regards economics [we] agree [with you].
le prenu cu klama zo'e zo'e zo'e lo trene
le prenu cu klama fu lo trene
The person goes somewhere, from somewhere, via somewhere, by train.
lo trene cu xe klama
[Someone] goes by train. (literally "By a train is gone")
A train is a vehicle.
As I've said, the more extreme conversions like ve and xe are rarely used, partly because most gismu only have two or three places, and partly because even with four- or five-place gismu, the less-used places are what come towards the end.
Vocabulary
| Exercise 1 |
Convert the following sentences so that the highlighted sumti comes first. Miss out any unimportant places.
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