View source for ELG: detri

'''detri''' is not used much.

:'''detri''' = ''x1 is the date (day, week, month, year) of state/event x2, at location x3, by calendar x4''
The location is only important if we're talking about radically different timezones, or different planets, and the default calendar is the standard Western one as it is international. If you want to use, for example, the Arabic or Chinese calendars, you can put '''lo xrabo''' or '''lo jungo''' in the fourth place. (As always, context is important — in a discussion of Islamic history we would probably assume that the Arabic calendar was being used).

The tricky bit is the number in x1. Normally we don't want to specify the day, week, month <u>and</u> year! To prevent confusion, the following conventions are used:
*If there is only one number, it is the ''day'' e.g. '''li pano''' is ''the 10th''.
*If there are two numbers, they are the ''day and month'' e.g. '''li pa no pi'e pa re''' is ''10/12'', or ''the 10th of December''.
*If there are three numbers, they are ''day, month, year'' (<u>not</u> month, day, year, as in the American convention) e.g. '''li re pa pi'e ze pi'e pa so xa so''' is ''21/7/69'' — the date of the first moon landing.
We can therefore say
:'''li repa pi'e ze pi'e pasoxaso cu detri lonu lo remna cu klama lo lunra'''
:''21/7/1969 is-the-date-of the-event a human goes (to) the moon.''
Now, just as with '''tcika''', we often want to put the event first — after all, in most languages we would normally say ''My birthday is on the fifteenth of August'' rather than ''The fifteenth of August is the date of my birthday.'' We can manage this change by using place tagsANOTHER NAME!!!, e.g.
:'''fe lonu mi jbena cu detri fa li pa mu pi'e bi'''
:<code>The-event I am-born is-dated 15/8</code>
but it is nice to use '''se''', like this:
:'''lonu mi jbena cu ''se'' detri li pamu pi'e bi'''
:<code>The-event I am-born is-dated 15/8</code>
In both cases, putting the '''lo nu''' before the '''cu''' is convenient — and a well-established Lojban trick of the trade: '''cu''' is powerful enough to close off any structure in front of it, including '''lo nu mi jbena'''.

As you have probably guessed, there is also a preposition for ''dated'': '''de'i''', which works like '''ti'u''' (notice how prepositions tend to be similar to the verb they suggest). So the other way I can tell you my birthday is:
:'''mi jbena de'i li pa mu pi'e bi'''

'''Question:''' If only one number is used with '''detri''', it is the day. So how do we say what year an event happened without giving the day and month as well?

Use '''datru'''.