GRAMMAR
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Abbreviations

A number of abbreviations are used in Elefen. They are not written with periods (dots).

There are several abbreviations for common words or phrases. These are not capitalized, except at the beginning of a sentence:

acc (ance conoseda como) – a.k.a. (also known as)
aec (ante la eda comun) – BCE (before the common era) / BC (before Christ)
ec (de la eda comun) – CE (common era) / AD (anno domini)
etc (e tal cosas, e tal continuante) – etc (et cetera), and so on
lfn – LFN (Lingua Franca Nova)
n (numero) – number
nb (nota bon) – NB (nota bene), please note
ovn (ojeto volante nonidentifiada) – UFO (unidentified flying object)
p (paje, pajes) – p (page), pp (pages)
pd (per dise) – i.e. (id est), that is, that is to say
pe (per esemplo) – e.g. (exempli gratia), for example
pf (per favore) – please
ps (pos scrive) – PS (post scriptum), postscript
tv (televisa, televisador) – TV (television)
v (vide) – see (introducing a cross-reference)

Elefen also retains a few abbreviations from other languages that are recognized internationally, including the standardized abbreviations for metric units:

cd (disco compata) – CD (compact disc)
pc (computador personal) – PC (personal computer)
cm (sentimetre) – cm (centimeter)
km (cilometre) – km (kilometer)
mg (miligram) – mg (milligram)
μm (micrometre) – μm (micrometer)
MB (megabait) – MB (megabyte)

The abbreviated forms of proper nouns and titles use capital letters. But minor words such as la and de – which are not capitalized in the full form of the name – are not included in the abbreviation. Such nouns are often introduced by la, even when abbreviated:

Dr (dotor) – Dr (as part of a person’s name)
Sr (senior) – Mr (as part of a person’s name)
Sra (seniora) – Mrs, Miss, Ms (as part of a person’s name)
la NU (Nasiones Unida) – the UN (United Nations)
la RU (Rena Unida) – the UK (United Kingdom)
la SUA (Statos Unida de America) – the USA (United States of America)

Some proper nouns are best known internationally as untranslated abbreviations, and these are retained in Elefen:

IBM – IBM (International Business Machines Corporation)
KGB – KGB (Комитет государственной безопасности, Committee for State Security)