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For one reason or another you may want to change the order, placing one particular sumti at the front of the bridi. The cmavo ``se'', when placed before the last word of the selbri, will switch the meanings of the first and second sumti places. So
7.1) mi tavla do ti
-- ===== -- --
I talk to you about this.
has the same meaning as
7.2) do se tavla mi ti
-- ======== -- --
You are talked to by me about this.
The cmavo ``te'', when used in the same location, switches the
meanings of the first and the third sumti places.
7.3) mi tavla do ti
-- ===== -- --
I talk to you about this.
has the same meaning as
7.4) ti te tavla do mi
-- ======== -- --
This is talked about to you by me.
Note that only the first and third sumti have switched places; the second sumti has remained in the second place.
The cmavo ``ve'' and ``xe'' switch the first and fourth sumti places, and the first and fifth sumti places, respectively. These changes in the order of places are known as ``conversions'', and the ``se'', ``te'', ``ve'', and ``xe'' cmavo are said to convert the selbri.
More than one of these operators may be used on a given selbri at one time, and in such a case they are evaluated from left to right. However, in practice they are used one at a time, as there are better tools for complex manipulation of the sumti places. See Chapter 5 for details.
The effect is similar to what in English is called the ``passive voice''. In Lojban, the converted selbri has a new place structure that is renumbered to reflect the place reversal, thus having effects when such a conversion is used in combination with other constructs such as ``le selbri [ku]'' (see Section 10 ).
|
Previous
Variant bridi structure |
A Quick Tour of Lojban Grammar, With Diagrams
The Lojban Reference Grammar |
Next
The basic structure of longer utterances |