Use "seme la" as a yes/no question marker

[janKipo]

Note that pu says that ‘lon x’ at the end can be replaced by ‘x la’ at the beginning. Not the other way around. So, Lope is strictly correct here that you cannot go from ‘x la’ to ‘lon x’ generally.

[janKesi]

"X la Y" means roughly "in context X, Y." It encompasses some of the "lon X" meanings but it's also more general than that.

[janTepanNetaPelin]

[janKesi]

[janKipo]

Also, ‘ken la’, 'nanpa wan la’ ‘kin la’, tan ni la’, etc.

[janTepanNetaPelin]

[janKipo]

Well, pu is a little inconsistent on 'A,la B’ since, in fact, it gives the formula as ‘A la B’, but uses a comma in all examples. This seems to be just Sonja’s habit and not an “official” position, since the comma is never necessary for clarity (or ever mentioned).

[jan_Lope]

[janKipo]

Trick challenge. Any sample you offer (there is no explicit rule) can be immediately reinterpreted as a noun+ noun or noun+ adj string (cf. the pu/Pije ‘pi’ rule), so not a counterexample, despite “obviously” being a prepositional phrase. Thus ‘tan ni la’, ordinarily meaning “because of this, therefore, so” is now “given this cause/reason” with about the same force. It makes very little practical difference, but it does make some explanations harder or more arbitrary (cf ‘pi’ again).

[janTepanNetaPelin]