Here is a short table of single words used as sumti. This table provides examples only, not the entire set of such words, which may be found in Chapter 7.
mi I/me, we/us
do you
ti this, these
ta that, those
tu that far away, those far away
zo'e unspecified value (used when a sumti is
unimportant or obvious)
Lojban sumti are not specific as to number (singular or plural), nor gender (masculine/feminine/neutral). Such distinctions can be optionally added by methods that are beyond the scope of this chapter.
The cmavo “ti”, “ta”, and “tu” refer to whatever the speaker is pointing at, and should not be used to refer to things that cannot in principle be pointed at.
Names may also be used as sumti, provided they are preceded with the word “la”:
la meris. the one/ones named Mary la djan. the one/ones named John
Other Lojban spelling versions are possible for names from other languages, and there are restrictions on which letters may appear in Lojban names: see Chapter 6 for more information.