Is this tongue-twister grammatical?

[Xabju]

Hello all,

Beginner here looking for some help. Wondering if this nonsensical verse parses:

le skaci cakcinki cu sakcti ci cidja

.i je ca sy. ckaji ci skaci selcitka

It should read, "The 'skirt-beetle' suckingly eats three foods, and it is now characterized by three skirtish eaten-things."

- mi'e la xabju

[Pierre Abbat]

It does parse, but I think you mean ".ije sy. ca ckaji". "ca sy. ckaji" means
"when it, [missing subject] is characterized".

Pierre

--
i toljundi do .ibabo mi'afra tu'a do
ibabo damba do .ibabo do jinga
icu'u la ma'atman.

[Xabju]

Thank you. What kind of word (the missing subject) should appear between "sy." and "ckaji" if the order were kept the same?

Just to be clarify, all that was needed was "sy." and "ca" switching places, right? That's great -- preserves the meter.

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[Xabju]

I was also unsure if "sy." was the correct way to refer to "le skaci cakcinki", or if it should be "cy."

[Pierre Abbat]

On Friday, 6 September 2019 21.55.14 EDT Xabju wrote:
> Thank you. What kind of word (the missing subject) should appear between
> "sy." and "ckaji" if the order were kept the same?

It is perfectly grammatical in Lojban to omit the subject, but in English it
is not. However, "ca sy", although syntactically correct, makes no sense,
because skirts, skirt-beetles, and suck-eaters are not times. I say "ca li
ci", and a number is not a time either, but a clock is a common device for
assigning numbers to times.

Of course, nonsensicality is relative — lo miptera .enai lo cakcinki cu sakcti
.iseni'ibo lu le skaci cakcinki cu sakcti li'u na rirli, but "ca sy" is more
nonsensical than "le cakcinki cu sakcti".

> Just to be clarify, all that was needed was "sy." and "ca" switching
> places, right? That's great -- preserves the meter.

Yes.

On Friday, 6 September 2019 22.01.26 EDT Xabju wrote:
> I was also unsure if "sy." was the correct way to refer to "le skaci
> cakcinki", or if it should be "cy."

I'm not sure either, but for a tongue-twister, either is better than "ra".
"cy" could refer to the beetle or the food, whereas "ra" could refer to the
beetle but not the food (which would be "ri", since it's the immediately
preceding sumti).

Pierre
--
Por H o por B, los campos magnéticos se difieren dentro de un imán.