Esperanto Self-Taught with Phonetic Pronunciation, William W. Mann [crime books to read TXT] 📗
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The English -ever is translated by ajn. For example: Kiu ajn li estas, ne parolu al li, whoever he be, do not speak to him. Kies ajn, whosesoever. Kiu(j)n ajn, whomever.
Relative Pronouns.The Relative Pronouns are identical with the Interrogative: Kiu(j), who, that, which, kiu(j)n, whom, that, which. Ex.:
La libro, kiun vi legas, the book (which) you are reading. Tiu, kiu parolis al vi, the one who spoke to you. La personoj, kiujn li konas, the persons (whom) he knows. Tio, kion li diras, ne estas vera, what he says is not true. La arbo, kies supron vi vidas, the tree whose top you can see. Indefinite Pronouns. iu (acc. iun), anyone, someone or other; ies, anyone's, someone's; iuj (acc. iujn), any persons, some persons or other; io (acc. ion), anything, something. ĉiu (acc. ĉiun), everyone, each; ĉies, everyone's, everybody's, each one's; ĉiuj (acc. ĉiujn), everybody, all; ĉio (acc. ĉion), everything, all. neniu (acc. neniun), no one, nobody; nenies, no one's, nobody's; nenio (acc. nenion), nothing, not anything.Note.—Iu, ĉiu, and neniu are also used with nouns. Thus: Kiun libron vi deziras? Which book do you desire? Iun ajn libron. Any book. Iu homo, any man, some man or other. Ĉiu bona patro amas siajn infanojn, every good father loves his children. Ĉiuj liaj amikoj (or ĉiu lia amiko), all his friends, every friend of his. Mi renkontis neniun amikon, I met no friend.
Other Pronominal Words and Expressions are:
multaj(n), many; multo(n), much; malmultaj(n), malmulte da…, a few. Ex.: malmultaj personoj, few persons; malmulte da scio, little knowledge.
kelkajn, some, several; kelke da…, some. Ex.: kelkaj personoj, some persons, several persons; kelke da libroj, some (quantity of) books.
alia(n), another, other; aliaj(n), others. Ex.: ili parolis unu al alia, they spoke to one another; ni parolis unu al la alia, we spoke to each other; unu aŭ la alia taŭgos, either (one or the other) will do; nek unu nek la alia konvenas, neither (one nor the other) is suitable.
ambaŭ (invariable), both. Ex.: ambaŭ venis, both came; mi konas ambaŭ fratojn, I know both brothers; mi vidis ilin ambaŭ, I saw both of them; mi ŝatas ambaŭ, I like both.
The Verb. Tenses.The Verb in Esperanto has three main Tenses—the Present, Past, and Future. These are denoted by means of the verbal endings -as, -is, and -os. Thus, from the root vid, see, are formed:
Every Esperanto verb has three Moods—the Conditional, the Imperative, and the Infinitive, which are formed respectively by means of the endings -us, -u, and -i. Thus:
The Conditional Mood is used to express supposition; the three Tenses, on the other hand, are used to express facts or actual happenings. (For examples, see "Conjunctions," page 83.)
The Imperative Mood is used to express an order, desire, wish, will, etc. (See page 84.) Used with the personal pronouns of the 1st and 2nd persons, this mood corresponds to the English let, used as an expression of a wish. Thus: mi pensu, let me think; li venu morgaŭ, let him come to-morrow; ili parolu, let them speak.
Note that let sometimes means to allow, to give leave, in which case the verb lasi is used. Thus: let (allow) him come, lasu lin veni; leave it there, lasu ĝin tie.
The Imperative may be used interrogatively to translate the English shall, with an idea of wish or desire. Thus:
What shall I give you? Kion mi donu al vi? What shall we do to-day? Kion ni faru hodiaŭ?What will he do? would of course be simply Kion li faros?—for there is here no question of desire or wish, but merely a question of future action.
The Infinitive Mood is used to express the mere idea of the verb, without any limit of person or number, and corresponds to the English to before the verb. Thus: kuri, to run; paroli, to speak.
Note.—In Esperanto, as is largely the case in English, the mood and tense endings of the verb do not vary according to person or number. For instance: mi vidas, I see, li vidas, he sees; also ni vidis, we saw, ili vidis, they saw; vi vidos, you will see; oni vidos, one will see; ŝi vidus, she would see, vi vidus, you would see.
Participles.There are in Esperanto six participles, three active and three passive, corresponding to three tenses. They are formed in the Active by means of the endings -ant, -int, and -ont, and in the Passive by means of the endings -at, -it, -ot, with the addition of the adjectival termination -a. Thus:
The Participles may be used either as Nouns, Adjectives, or Adverbs, the terminations -o, -a, -e being added to the participial endings as required. When used as nouns or adjectives, they of course take the sign of the Plural (-j) and of the Accusative (-n) when the construction of the sentence so requires. Ex.:
(1) Active. En la venonta jaro, in the coming year. La parolanto, the speaker. La aŭskultantoj, the audience (lit., listeners). Mi vidis lin skribantan, I saw him writing. Li foriris kurante, he went off at a run. Li revenis ne vidinte sian amikon, he returned without having seen his friend.
(2) Passive. La ekzamenato, the examinee. La mortigitoj kaj vunditoj, the killed and wounded. Estimata sinjoro, dear (lit., esteemed) sir. Frapote, li sin defendis, about to be struck, he defended himself. Mi aŭdis tiun himnon kantatan, I heard that hymn sung.
Compound Tenses.The Compound Tenses are formed by means of the auxiliary verb esti, to be. Thus, by the combination of the participles with the six tenses and moods, we obtain thirty-six compound tenses, enabling us to express with the utmost precision any time-relation whatsoever. We have in all:
or estus, or estis,
or estu, or estos
or esti vidanta or vidata
vidinta or vidita
vidonta or vidota
The use of the participles is very easy when once one grasps the fact that the auxiliary esti serves to denote the particular division of time, or the particular manner, of the occurrence of the action denoted by the participle. Ex.:
Li estis skribanta, kiam mi vidis lin, he was writing when I saw him. Li estis fininta, kiam mia amiko alvenis, he had finished (lit., was having finished) when my friend arrived. Mi estis tuj forironta, kiam vi aperis, I was just about to go out when you appeared. Li estas nunmomente parolanta, he is speaking at this very moment. Li estas mortonta, he is about to die. Li estus jam foririnta, he would have already departed (lit., would be already gone away).The word by after a Passive is translated by the preposition de. Thus: The wood was being chopped by the boy, la ligno estis hakata de la knabo. He has been seen by all, li estas vidita de ĉiuj.
Note.—The Compound Tenses should not be used if the Simple Tenses suffice to show the meaning clearly. Thus, I have seen him is more neatly expressed by mi jam vidis lin than by mi estas vidinta lin. Li jam foriris might stand for either he had gone or he has gone, according to circumstances, and the context would clearly show which was meant. Li parolas is generally quite right for he is speaking. Li estas parolanta should be used only when it is particularly intended to show that he is actually engaged in the act of speaking.
The Adverb.In Esperanto, Adverbs are denoted by the ending -e, and may be placed in any position, either before or after the verb. Thus: bela, beautiful—bele, beautifully; vera, true—vere, truly. Li parolas saĝe, he speaks wisely. Li rapide kuras, he runs quickly.
Adverbial Numbers.Adverbial Numbers are formed by adding -e to the Cardinals. Thus: unue (1e), firstly; trie (3e), thirdly; sepe (7e), etc.
The Preposition.In English, one preposition often has many different meanings. In Esperanto, on the contrary, every preposition, with the exception of the word je, has one precise and fixed meaning.
The preposition je is the only one in Esperanto without a definite meaning. It sometimes happens that one wishes to use a preposition of some sort or other, but is uncertain just which preposition will precisely express the idea. In such cases je is used. Thus: He laughed at me, li ridis je mi; full of water, plena je akvo; six metres long, longa je ses metroj; fear of him, timo je li, etc.
Je should not be abused. Its too frequent use is a mark of the beginner in the language.
Use of Accusative.When there is no ambiguity to be feared, the preposition je, and even other prepositions, are often omitted in Esperanto; and the word to which the preposition, if expressed, would have referred is put into the accusative. Thus, instead of saying li ridas je mi (he is laughing at me), one might say li ridas min; similarly, du metrojn alta would stand for alta je du metroj. Ĝi kostis je tri ŝilingoj is more usually expressed: ĝi kostis tri ŝilingojn. Mi restis tie dum kvin horoj (I stayed there for five hours) could be: mi restis tie kvin horojn; and so on.
Certain prepositions, viz., antaŭ, before, ĉe, at, en, in, sub, under, sur, on, kontraŭ, against, super, over, and trans, across, are often used to denote movement towards, whereas of themselves they only express rest at. In order to make it quite clear whether motion or rest is intended, use is made of the accusative. Thus: li promenis en la urbo, he took a walk in the city; but li promenis en la urbon, he took a walk into the city. Li kuris antaŭ mi, he ran (along) before or in front of me; but li paŝis antaŭ min, he stepped in front of me; and so on.
Adverbs are sometimes used with prepositional force. Thus: proksime de la domo, near the house; dekstre de la arbo, on the right of the tree, etc.
The Conjunction.A full list of Conjunctions will be found on
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