This page is part of the phrasebook.
- Yes. .i go'i (or) tugni
- No. .i na go'i (or) na tugni
- Please. pe'u do (or) cpedu
- Thank you. ki'e do (or) ckire
- Thank you very much. ki'e sai do
- That's all right/You're welcome je'e do (or) banzu
- I love you. mi prami do (or) .iu sai
Languages
- Do you speak ... .i xu do se bangu ...
- Lojban la lojban.
(In some places you may also hear "le jbobau")
- English le glibau
- French le fasybau
- German le dotybau
- Spanish le sanbau
- Italian le banrtalia
- Chinese le jugbau
- Japanese le ponbau
- Hindi le xinbau
- Russian le rukybau
- Arabic le rabybau
- I don't speak Lojban .i mi na se bangu la lojban.
- Where is the phrase in this book?
- .i ma jufra gi'e se vanbi le vi cukta
- Just a minute. I'll see if I can find it in this book.
- i .e'o ko denpa .i mi troci co tolcri fi le vi cukta
- I understand. je'e / .i mi jimpe
- I don't understand je'enai / .i mi na jimpe
- Could you talk more slowly please?
- .i .e'o ko skusno zenba
- Do you understand me? je'epei / xu do jimpe fi mi - xu do jimpe fi 'tu'a' mi (??) ...fi le se cusku be mi
- I am hungry mi xagji
- I am thirsty mi taske
- Where is the bathroom? ma stuzi le djacu kumfa
- Where is the toilet? ma stuzi le vimku'a
Some common words
- big barda small cmalu
- quick sutra slow masno
- early clira late lerci
- cheap tolkargu expensive kargu
- near jibni far darno
- hot glare cold lenku
- full culno empty kunti
- easy frili difficult nandu
- heavy tilji light linto
- open kalri shut ganlo
- right (of a person) tolsre wrong srera
- right (of a fact, etc.) drani wrong toldra
- old tolni'o new cnino
- old tolci'o young citno
- beautiful melbi ugly tolmle
- good xamgu bad xlali
- better xagmau worse xlamau
- a lot mutce a little milxe
- sufficient banzu insufficient tolbanzu
Presenting yourself and some others...
Before reading what follows, please take note that talking about the age of someone in lojban is essentially discussing birth dates.
Yourself
- I am ...-years-old (bad translation)
- .i tu'a mi nanca li ...
- (duration of life)
- .i mi renvi fi li ...
- I was born in ... (date)
- mi jbena fi li ...
- I was born in ... (place)
- mi jbena fo ...
- I am ... tall (speaking about your height, unit unspecified)
- li ... cu ni mi clani
- I am ... meters tall
- mi mitre li ... le ni clani
- I speak english.
- mi se bangu le glibau
- I can speak french.
- mi ka'e se bangu le fasybau
- I would like to visit ...
- mi djica le nu mi vitke fi ...
- I work as ...
- mi se jibri ...
- My mother is called ...
- zo ... cu cmene le mamta be mi
- Alice is my mother.
- la alis mi mamta
- My favorite color is ...
- mi zmanei le ka ... (insert color verb)
- I prefer the blue one over the red one.
- mi zmanei le blanu le xunre
- What's happening?
- .i mo
- I'm lost
- mi djuno noda le se zvati be mi
- I practice sport
- mi xadgu'a
Nationality
- I'm ... mi ...
- Spanish spano
- Hispanic xispo
- French fraso
- Chilean tci'ile
- Czech tce'exo
- Breton bre'one
- Hungarian magjaro
- Basque skalduna
- Russian rusko
If you want to say "I'm French by birth but German by nationality", you can say "mi fraso le ka jbena gi'e dotco le ka se natmi".
- I'm French by ... mi fraso le ka ...
- birth jbena
- nationality se natmi
- citizenship selgugycmi
- ancestry se dzena
- language se bangu
- ancestry se dzena
- language se bangu
Colors
Beware, the following words are verbs. For example, "this is orange" is "ti narju" - no "is" required. The word "cu" (which does not mean "is" but is a predicate marker, like "i" in tok Pisin) may be used before the verb.
- xekri black
- blanu blue
- bunre brown
- cicna cyan
- manku dark
- kandi dim
- grusi grey
- crino green
- nukni magenta
- narju orange
- zirpu purple
- xunre red
- labyxu'e rose
- xunblabi pink
- blabi white
- pelxu yellow
Asking others about themselves and you
- When are you born ? .i do jbena fi ma
- What is your size ? .i ma ni do clani
- Where do you live ? .i do xabju ma
- What are you doing ? .i do mo
- Where do you work ? .i do se briju fi ma
- Can you speak language ... ? .i xu do ka'e tavla bau ...
- What is your father's name ? .i ma cmene le patfu be do
- Have you already been to place ... ? .i xu do pu zvati ...
- How much do you earn ? .i do jerna li xo
- Where are you going to ? .i do klama ma
- Where do you come from ? .i do klama fi ma
- Did you know that ... ? .i xu do pu djuno fi le du'u ...
- What do you want me to do ? .i do djica le nu mi mo
- Can you help me ? pei sidju mi
- Do you find me pretty ? xu mi do melbi
- Do you live with someone ? xu do da kansa le ka xabju
- Are you married ? xu do speni
- Do you have (a) lover(s) ? xu do prami selpe'o
- Have you caught that Unicorn yet? pavyseljirna kavbu ba'oxuku