In English, I might say “The dog is beautiful” , and you might reply “This pleases me.” How do you know what “this” refers to? Lojban uses different expressions to convey the possible meanings of the English:
The following three sentences all might translate as “This pleases me.”
|
di'u |
[cu] |
pluka |
mi |
|
This (the last sentence) pleases me (perhaps because it is grammatical or sounds nice). |
|
la'e di'u |
[cu] |
pluka |
mi |
|
This (the meaning of the last sentence; i.e. that the dog is beautiful) pleases me. |
Example 2.53 uses one sumti to point to or refer to another by inference. It is common to write la'edi'u as a single word; it is used more often than di'u by itself.