A fu'ivla can't be split, it's a simple word, like gismu and cmavo, not a compound like lujvo. (The pseudo-prefix of type-3 fu'ivla cannot be relied to carry any meaning.)

As for rules, fu'ivla are a left-over class, so it's hard to give succint positive rules of formation. Basically anything that is Lojbanic enough (i.e. consists of Lojban phonemes with no impermissible clusters) and is not cmevla/cmavo/gismu/lujvo, is a valid fu'ivla.

Type-3 are a special sub-class. The pseudo-prefix of type-3 fu'ivla has to be of one of three forms: CVCCr-, CCVCr-, CVCr- (where the "r" is replaced y "n" or "l" in certain cases). These prefixes, when followed by something that starts with a consonant, guarantee that you end up with a fu'ivla. You can try other stuff as a pseudo-prefix, but you may or may not end up with a valid fu'ivla.

>>361

How does one know when a fu'ivla ends?

>>366

It has penultimate stress and ends in a vowel, like the other brivla (gismu and lujvo).

The main type of fu'ivla that you should make on the fly or as a beginner is a type-3, and the rules for making those are quite simple: start with a consonant, end with a vowel, and choose a gismu to stick on the front with an -r- like "brodr-". Besides being easy to construct as far as the word-construction rules, such fu'ivla are also easier to understand, since you have a clue what category of thing you're talking about.

One of my favorite works in Lojban is "la grutrduriani" (Durian fruit), by Viktor Medrano. http://www.lojban.org/tiki/tiki-download_wiki_attachment.php?attId=594&page=Viktor%20Medrano It's the first book I was able to read and enjoy without constant trips to the dictionary, and part of what makes it so comprehensible is heavy use of type-3 fu'ivla: kelcrfudboli, kelcrfrizbi, grutrduriani, bangrnuktituti, vrusrpandanu, cidjrlomeini.. to the untrained eye those look like monsterous words, I suppose!, but if you recognize a fu'ivla when you see one then you can piece them apart. :)

Shorter form fu'ivla are only for those fu'ivla which are the most common and established and ordinary, so as a beginner you don't have to worry about how they're constructed. Just learn the few fu'ivla that you encounter-- I like "djirafa", giraffe, "odbenu", walrus, "spitaki", parrot, and "alzaitu", olive-- and if you feel like inventing your own fu'ivla, make a type-3. If you make a fu'ivla that's so popular it should be shortened, we'll help you figure out a short form that works.

mu'o mi'e se ckiku