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Re: [ceqli] Digest Number 119



On Sat, Mar 08, 2003 at 05:59:15PM -0700, Rex May - Baloo wrote:
> > I'm not sure about "heni". There are places where you have to say
> > "anything" instead of "something" in English for no real reason (like "I
> > can't see anything"), but there are also times when you can use both and
> > "anything" emphasizes that it doesn't matter what it is. I suppose that
> > as long as it's only used in the second case, "heni" would be good.
> 
> Anybody know any tricks from other languages for this usage?

Lojban is currently having an involved discussion about just what "any"
means and how to say it.

Compounds like "henidiq" are dangerous because it's tempting to use them
without an article, like in English. But as long as you're careful to
realize it's just like any other word, "heni" could be a useful word
meaning "something arbitrary" in general. So you could translate
"anything" as "ta henidiq", or just "ta heni".
-- 
Rob Speer