Re: On and around "let"

[Don Wiggins <dwiggins@BFSEC.BT.CO.UK>]

coi paulos

> I wonder how the following expressions are translated into Lojban:

.i mi stidi
I suggest

> 1. Let's eat.
.i ko po'u mi'o ku'o citka
You (imperative!) who are you and me eat.
I think this idiom has connotations of being a command, but I'm not certain
that this relative clause is grammatical.

> 2. Let me in!
.i ko curmi lenu mi nerkla
You (imperative!) allow the event of I inwardly-go.

> 3. I'll have my hair cut.
.i .ai lemi kerfa ba selka'a
(Intension) My hair will be be-cut.

> 4. I'll let her cut my hair.
.i mi curmi lenu ko'a ka'argau lemi kerfa
I permit the event of she is-cutting-agent of my hair.

> 5. She cut my hair! (where "cut" is an imperative, not a typo)
I'm confused by this one.  Do you mean to command the third person to do
something, without actually speaking to them?  Surely if one orders another
to do something, one must address that person directly as the second person,
therefore "ko" is appropriate.  I don't reminder anything in Spanish idiom
which would equate to this.
    Perhaps you mean to address the second person to bring about the action
of the third as in:
    Get her to cut my hair!
which I would translate as
    .i ko minde ko'a lenu ri ka'argau lemi kerfa
if the place structures are correct.

> 6. Let the[m] do their job themselves!
.i ko curmi lenu ko'e gunka kei lenu do na sidju
You (imperative) permit the event that they work under the conditions of the
event that you do not help (them to do their work).
I think this idiom implies that you do not assist/interfere or perhaps that
they are the only ones who work:
.i ko curmi lenu ko'e po'o gunka
You (imperative) permit the event that they only (and no others) work.

co'o mi'e dn.