mi'e rikardos .i ma do cmene

English Translation

My name’s Ricardo. What’s yours?

“mi’e rikardos .i ma do cmene” is a Lojban phrase which translates to “I’m Richard. What is your name?” in English. The sentence uses some basic structures of Lojban language and here’s a breakdown of the grammar:

  • “mi’e” is a sumti tcita, which is a kind of particle that marks the following word to indicate its role in the sentence. Here, “mi’e” is used to introduce oneself. It roughly translates as “I am”.

  • “rikardos” is a name (likely an adaptation of the name “Richard” to the phonology of Lojban).

  • “.i” is a short pause or period. This is used to separate sentences in Lojban.

  • “ma” is a pro-sumti, a kind of word that stands in for sumti (which are roughly equivalent to noun phrases in English). In this case, “ma” is a question word used to ask for a sumti. This is similar to “what” in English when asking for a noun or noun phrase.

  • “do” is a sumti that refers to the listener. It translates as “you”.

  • “cmene” is a verb, or more accurately a selbri, which means “name”.

So “mi’e rikardos” = “I am Richard” and “.i ma do cmene” = “What is your name”.