Appendix:Lojban/le

Lojban

Particle

le (article)

1. returns a definite instance of an x₁ sumti (“argument”) of the following word, which would otherwise function as a selbri (“predicate”); thus, "le" and the word which follows it together act like a sumti (“argument”)

   le tavla cu sutra tavla

   the talker talks fast

   la suzyn. pu dunda ti'u li rere boi pa le re cukta mi

   Susan gave, at 10 PM, one of the two books to me.

Usage notes

• A sumti (“argument”) phrase begun with le ends with the cmavo ku unless no ambiguity results.
• An "inner quantifier" indicates number of members in the group (which is the subject of the predication), whereas an "outer quantifier" indicates a portion of that number, so "le ci nanmu" would mean "the three men" whereas "ci le nanmu" would mean "three of the men", "ci le mu nanmu" would mean "three of the five men"; so, as a rough analogy, le could be said to act as a divider (whereas lo acts as a multiplier, according to the xorlo proposal).

Related terms

• lo
• la
• li
• lei
• le'i