Table 10: loglan grammar examples

"VERB" FORMS
DA DONSU DA DONSU DE DA DONSU DE Dl		HE GIVES. HE GIVES IT. HE, GIVES IT TO HIM.
DA NU DONSU ETC.		IT IS A GIFT.
DA NIU DONSU ETC.		HE IS A RECIPIENT.
DA NA DONSU DA PA DONSU DA FA DONSU		HE NOW GIVES. HE GAVE. HE WILL GIVE,
DA PAPA DONSU DA PANA DONSU DA PAPA DONSU ETC.		HE HAD GIVEN. HE HAS GIVEN. HE WILL HAVE GIVEN.
DA NAGA DONSU ETC.		HE IS NOW GIVING.
DA PAGANA DONSU ETC.		HE HAS BEEN GIVING.

LOGLAN GRAMMAR derives great flexibility and variety from manipulation of the 112 "little words" that do all of its work. These words are defined and their functions explained in the table on page 60. As demonstrated here, it is the little words that determine whether a predicate—a term of extralinguistic reference, such as donsu and prano—is to serve in a given statement as a noun, verb, adjective or adverb, as in more familiar grammars. Thus pa (before), na (now) and fa (after) give the predicate donsu (give) the function of a verb (upper left) and "conjugate" it through the future, present and past tense. Compound forms of these operators yield the compound tenses;

for example, papa (he-fore-before) indicates the pluperfect tense. In such combinations they not only duplicate all of the familiar grammatical forms but go far beyond to express relationships that can be only clumsily approximated in the natural languages, as is indicated by the translation of the compound operator pacagavi fad at center left. The flexibility of the system is suggested further by the transformations of donsu (in this table "give," "giver," "gift," "generous," "generously," "generosity," and so on) in accord with its association with operators and connectives or its place in a multiple predicate.

"ADVERB" FORMS
DA RANA DONSU DA RENA DONSU DA RINA DONSU ETC.		HE ALWAYS GIVES. HE USUALLY GIVES. HE OFTEN GIVES.
DA PACI DONSU DA PACA DONSU DA FACJ DONSU ETC.		HE RECENTLY GAVE. HE GAVE LONG AGO. HE WILL SOON GIVE.
DA VI DONSU DA VA DONSU DA VU DONOSU		HE GIVES HERE. HE GIVES THERE. HE GIVES FAR AWAY.
DA RAVI DONSU ETC.		HE GIVES EVERYWHERE.
DA PACAGAVI FACI DONSU ETC.		SOON HE WILL HAVE BEEN GIVING HERE FOR A LONG TIME.

NEGATIVES
DA NO DONSU NO DA DONSU NI DA DONSU		HE IS A NON-GIVER. HE DOES NOT GIVE, NONE OF THEM GIVES.

" NOUN" FORMS
LE MRENI LI MRENI LA MRENI		THE MAN THIS MAN THAT MAN
RA MRENI RE MRENI Rl MRENI ETC.		ALL MEN MOST MEN MANY MEN
Nl MRENI NE MRENI TO MRENI ETC.		NO MEN A MAN, ONE MAN TWO MEN
LE TE MRENI RA LE TE MRENI ETC.		THE THREE MEN ALL OF THE THREE MEN

ABSTRACT "NOUNS"
LE PO DONSU LE PO PRANO		THE GIVING THE RUN
LE PU DONSU LE PU MRENI		THE GENEROSITY THE MANLINESS

"ADJECTIVE" FORMS
NE LALDO MRENI NE DONSU MRENI		AN OLD MAN A GENEROUS MAN
NE LAIDO DONSU MRENI NE DONSU LAIDO MRENI		A TRADITIONALLY [?] GENEROUS MAN A GENEROUSLY [?] OLD MAN
NE MRENI KE LALDO NE MRENI KE DONSU NE MRENI KE DONSU E LALDO		A MAN WHO IS OLD A MAN WHO IS GENEROUS A MAN WHO IS GENEROUS AND OLD
NE MRENI KE DONSU DE NE MRENI KE DONSU DE Dl		A MAN WHO GIVES IT A MAN WHO GIVES IT TO HIM
LE LALDO MRENI KE PA DONSU TE DA LI SE PRANO ETC,		THE OLD MAN WHO GAVE THREE OF THEM TO THESE SEVEN RUNNERS

IDENTITIES
DA BI LU DJAN DA Bl LE MRENI DA BI LE LALDO MRENI KE PA DONSU TE DE LI SE PRANO ETC.		HE IS JOHN. HE IS THE MAN. HE IS THE OLD MAN WHO GAVE THREE OF THEM TO THESE SEVEN RUNNERS.

COMPOUND FORMS
DA PRANO O DZORU DA PRANO E DZORU ETC.		HE RUNS OR WALKS. HE RUNS AND WALKS.
DA O DE PRANO DA E DE PRANO ETC.		HE1 OR HE2 RUNS. HE1 AND HE2 RUNS
DA PRANO O DE DZORU DA PRANO I DE DZORU DA PRANO U DE DZORU DA PRANO A DE DZORU		HE1 RUNS OR HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS AND HE2 WALKS, IF HE1 RUNS THEN HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS IF AND ONLY IF HE2 WALKS
DA PRANO BO DE DZORU DA PRANO LO DE DZORU ETC.		HE1 RUNS BECAUSE HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS LIKE HE2 WALKS.
BO DE DZORU Kl DA PRANO ETC.		BECAUSE HE2 WALKS, HE1 RUNS.
DA PRANO NA DE DZORU DA PRANO PA DE DZORU DA PRANO VI DE DZORU ETC.		HE1 RUNS WHEN HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS AFTER HE2 WALKS. HE1 RUNS WHERE HE2 WALKS,
NA DE DZORU Kl DA PRANO ETC.		WHEN HE2 WALKS HE1 RUNS.

UNIVERSALS
RADAKU DA PRANO U DZORU RANAKU DA PRANO NA DE DZORU RAVIKU DA PRANO VI DE DZORU RADARODEKU DA DONSU U DA DONSU DE		ANYONE WHO RUNS CAN WALK. HE1 RUNS WHENEVER HE2 WALKS, HE1 RUNS WHEREVER HE2 WALKS. EVERYONE WHO GIVES GIVES SOMETHING

ATTITUDINAL FORMS
UA DA PRANO UE DA PRANO Ul DA PRANO ETC.		WHAT! HE RUNS? [ANGER] WELL! SO HE RUNS. [SURPRISE] HOW NICE THAT HE RUNS! [PLEASURE]
El DA PRANO EA DA PRANO DA PRANO EA DE ETC,		DOES HE RUN? WHO RUNS? WHERE DOES HE RUN?
IA DA PRANO IE DA PRANO II DA PRANO IA NO DA PRANO ETC.		YES; HE RUNS. HE PROBABLY RUNS, PERHAPS HE RUNS. NO; HE DOESNT RUN.
Al Ml FA PRANO AE Ml FA PRANO AO Ml FA PRANO Al NO Ml FA PRANO ETC.		YES; I WILL RUN. I WANT TO RUN. I HOPE TO RUN, NO; I WON'T RUN.
OA Ml FA PRANO ETC.		I MUST RUN.