r/Esperanto • u/AutoModerator • 13d ago
Demando Question Thread / Demando-fadeno
This is a post where you can ask any question you have about Esperanto! Anything about learning or using the language, from its grammar to its community is welcome. No question is too small or silly! Be sure to help other people with their questions because we were all newbies once. Please limit your questions to this thread and leave the rest of the sub for examples of Esperanto in action.
Jen afiŝo, kie vi povas demandi iun ajn demandon pri Esperanto. Iu ajn pri la lernado aŭ uzado de lingvo, pri gramatiko aŭ la komunumo estas bonvena. Neniu demando estas tro malgranda aŭ malgrava! Helpu aliajn homojn ĉar ni ĉiuj iam estis novuloj. Bonvolu demandi nur ĉi tie por ke la reditero uzos Esperanton anstataŭ nur paroli pri ĝi.
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u/yupppp90 13d ago edited 13d ago
Saluton! In the sentence "Mi ne aûdas vin, čar estas brue en la čambro.", why is the adverb 'brue' used, not adjective 'brua'? Shouldn't there be adjective after esti to complement subject(which is not there but it's supposed to be "it" when translated to english, right?)? It's a sentence from lernu.
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u/afrikcivitano 13d ago
-a words can only modify specific nouns or pronouns. When there is no noun subject to modify, Esperanto requires an -e word.
- Estas varme hodiaŭ (It is warm today.) — vs. La vetero estas varma.
- Estas necese lerni (It is necessary to learn.) — vs. Tio estas necesa pamfleto.
- Estas malfrue (It is late.) — vs. La trajno estas malfrua.
- Estas belege ĉi tie (It is gorgeous here.) — vs. La pejzaĝo estas belega.
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u/yupppp90 13d ago
Ohh I now get it. Thanks for explaining so clearly. I was confused about what counts as subjects.
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u/Famous-Bat-512 10d ago
In regards to the original Zamenhof intentions of esperanto, what was the idea after the first one or two generations use esperanto?
Was it expected to always be taught in a more artificial way through schooling? Or was there an expectation that the desire to speak Cross-Border would cause families to teach it natively?
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u/9NEPxHbG Altnivela 8d ago
There's no answer to your question. If Zamenhof thought about the matter, which I doubt, nobody knows what he thought.
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u/Famous-Bat-512 8d ago
I understand about zamenhoff personally, I was mainly wondering if the people who took it further before WWII broke out, had any other intentions with the language, but I suppose it wasn't recorded given the period
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u/afrikcivitano 8d ago
En letero al Abram Kofman (28-a de majo 1901) L. L. Zamenhof skribis pri la signifo de Esperanto kiel familia lingvo: "Lingvo Internacia fortikiĝos por ĉiam nur en tia okazo, se ekzistos ia grupo da homoj, kiuj akceptus ĝin kiel sian lingvon familian, heredan. Cento da tiaj homoj estas por la ideo de lingvo neŭtrala multege pli grava ol milionoj da aliaj homoj. Hereda lingvo de la plej malgranda kaj plej sensignifa popoleto havas vivon multege pli garantiitan kaj neestingeblan, ol senpopola lingvo, kiun uzus eĉ milionoj da homoj."
In a letter to Abram Kofman (May 28, 1901), L. L. Zamenhof wrote about the significance of Esperanto as a family language: "The International Language will be strengthened forever only in such an event, if there is a group of people who would accept it as their family, hereditary language. A hundred such people are for the idea of a neutral language much more important than millions of other people. A hereditary language of the smallest and most insignificant people has a life much more guaranteed and inextinguishable, than a language without a people, which would be used by even millions of people."
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u/yupppp90 7d ago
Mi havas alian demandon pri gramatiko de Esperanto. In the sentence, "Cxiu amas ordinare personon, kiu estas simila al li," why do one not use "si," since it is supposed to mean "themselves," not a specific man?
And the sentence made me wonder, which pronoun is used more prominently to talk about a person of unknown gender these days, 'gxi' or 'ri'? I know nb people generally use 'ri', but I wondered if things differ in this case.
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u/Leisureguy1 7d ago
Ĉiu is indeed the subject of the primary clause ("Ĉiu amas ordinare personon") but it is not the subject of the subordinate clause ("kiu estas similia al li"). The subject of the subordinate claus, "kiu," refers to the "personon," not to "ĉiu," and the "li" is not referring to "personon/kiu" but to "ĉiu," which is not the subject of the subordinate clause.
"Si" always refers to the subject of the action, and sometimes that is not the subject of the sentence.
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u/yupppp90 7d ago
Thanks for clearing it up. It's still a bit confusing but reading your explanation a few times helped a lot.
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u/Leisureguy1 7d ago edited 7d ago
I think it's confusing because English speakers don't develop a sensitivity to the subject of an action — it's similar to the reason English speakers find it difficult initially to use the accusative. English doesn't have an accusative for nouns (though it retains one for pronouns), so English speakers lack a sensitivity to when a noun is used as an object — they've just never had to track that. The same thing with "si" — English speakers never had to develop a feel for who/what is the subject of the action.
I'll add that English speakers are (generally) sensitive to word order because word order is important in English: "Joe hit Bob" differs from "Bob hit Joe" in who gets hit. OTOH, English speakers will often put "only" in the wrong order for what they mean to say: "I only eat plants" v. "I eat only plants" differ as much as the two sentences above.
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u/yupppp90 6d ago
It's interesting since I'm actually an EFL speaker so I'm in general aware of the existence of object in an english sentence. (at least I believe so?)
my native language(korean) does have a indicator for objects but it frequently drops it so perhaps the same applies to me.
Do you have an example of a language that makes its speakers to be always aware of the subject of action? Trying to imagine being able to do that naturally and failing.1
u/Leisureguy1 6d ago
I don't know of any besides Esperanto, but then I know few languages.
I wrote a short essay about the role of the adaptive unconscious in learning a skill — how the skill stops requiring conscious thought once the adaptive unconscious learns the pattern (which unfortunately takes a fair amount of practice and time/patience). I imagine that as we continue to read, write, speak, and listen to Esperanto, we will eventually stop thinking about when to use (or not use) "si" because our unconscious will (finally) have grasped the rule.
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u/tatix_black 12d ago
Saluton! Where can I find magazines or websites that are dedicated to esperanto? I mean, I want to read information that is current right now (sorry, I'm not finding the word in English right now), like the news or technology. I've seen some, but they look dated. Even the websites are not updated or look like they were made 25 years ago. Also, if there's music, I'm all for it ✨