The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto : Grammar & Commentary

1. The Alphabet (la alfabeto) consists of 28 letters, viz.:—5 vowels (vokaloj) and 23 consonants (konsonantoj).

2. The Characters are written as in English, the marks over the letters requiring them being added as printed. In telegrams ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ, may be written ch, gh, hh, jh, sh, u.

3. Typewriting.—If the letters ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ, are not on the machine, type the plain letters and add the supersigns afterwards with the pen; most makers, however, supply a machine with the necessary characters, or they can be added to any machine on a "dead key" at the cost of a few shillings.

4. The Names given to the letters are different from those of other languages. For instance, in English we add E to some of the consonants to name the letter, but in Esperanto O is added to all the 23 consonants, and the alphabet runs thus:—A, Bo, Co, Ĉo, Do, E, Fo, Go, Ĝo, Ho, Ĥo, I, Jo, Ĵo, Ko, Lo, Mo, No, O, Po, Ro, So, Ŝo, To, U, Ŭo, Vo, Zo. Note particularly the pronunciation of the 12 consonants, given in the next paragraph.

5. The Consonants are pronounced as in English, with the following exceptions:—

For the pronunciation of the vowels, see pars. 8 and 9.

6. In spelling a word use the Esperanto name, thus:—A, No, To, A, Wo, spells antaŭ (before). E, Wo, Ro, O, Po, O, spells Eŭropo (Europe). U, No, U, spells unu (one).

7. Consonants. Note the following:—

(a). C and J are the only consonants which have a different sound than in English.

(b). C, Ĉ and Ŝ are the equivalents of the English combinations ts, ch (soft) and sh.

(c). G has always the English hard sound.

(d). Ĝ is like the English J.

(e). J is like the English Y.

(f). H is always aspirated.

(g). Ĥ is a guttural aspirate similar to the Spanish J as heard in mujer (a woman), or like the Scotch ch in "loch," or the Irish gh in "lough." If the learner cannot catch this sound it will be sufficient to aspirate the character strongly, as if it were a double letter hH, laying stress on the last H.

(h). S never has the sound of Z, as it has in the English words "rose, has, was," etc.

(i). ĵ, the small letter, does not require the dot in addition to the circumflex.

(j). Ŭ is a consonant, and is used in the combinations AŬ and EŬ (see par. 10).

8. Vowels.—There are no short vowels in Esperanto, as heard in the words bat, bet, bit, pot, but. All vowels should be of medium length, but it is well to begin by sounding them long (see note, page 12).

9. The vowel A is sounded like "ah!" or the a in "father"; I like ee in "seen"; U like oo in "fool."

As regards the vowels E and O, we have no words in English exactly expressing their true sounds. The correct sound of E is something midway between the vowels heard in "bale" and "bell," and that of O something midway between those heard in "dole" and "doll," viz., "eh!" (cut short) and "oh!" (cut short), but without the prolonged sound heard in these words. In the vowel E there should be no trace of the ee sound heard in "cake"; its true sound is much nearer to the e in "bell." The vowel O approaches to the sound of o in "for," or of aw in "law."

In the scheme of pronunciation (par. 19) we have therefore used ah for A; eh for E; ee for I; o for O; oo for U.

N.B.—Do not clip or drag the vowels.

10. Combinations, Vowel and Consonant.—The following 6 combinations resemble diphthongs, but are not so, since a diphthong consists of 2 vowels and j and ŭ are both consonants:—

It will be observed that if these double sounds be rapidly made the pronunciation will resemble the English words given, but remember they are each pronounced as one syllable, so the examples "cayenne," "wayward," "Hallelujah," are not strictly correct. AJ, EJ, OJ, UJ, resemble the sound heard in the French words "paille," "oseille," "boyard," "fouille," and AŬ is heard in the German word "Haus."

N.B.—It is difficult to explain the exact sound of EŬ. Pronounce our word "ewe," and then give the sound of eh (cut short) to the first letter, thus ehwe, pronouncing the word as one syllable. In the scheme of pronunciation at page 10 we have given it as ehw. It occurs very rarely.

11. Combinations of Consonants.—There are a few which do not occur in English, and the attention of the student is therefore called to the following:—

12. GV, KN KV, SV. When these letters commence a word, both must be clearly pronounced.

13. Ŝ, being the same as our Sh, must be distinctly pronounced, when followed by one or two consonants. Ŝm = shm, Ŝn = shn, Ŝp = shp, Ŝt = sht, Ŝtr = shtr, Ŝv = shv. If the sh sound be not clearly given, mistakes might occur in a few words, as, for instance, Ŝtupo is a step (of a ladder), but Stupo is tow; Ŝtalo is steel, but Stalo a stall.

14. SC. This combination may at first be found difficult, especially when it commences a word, since it represents STS, which, with a following vowel, form but one syllable. There are very few words commencing with SC, viz.:—The five given in the list of words (par. 19) and their derivatives, the word scii (to know) being the only one in common use. First the sound of S has to be given, then T, and lastly S. Since every letter has to be sounded, it is not sufficient to pronounce scii as tsee-e, for then the initial S is omitted; we must therefore mentally pronounce it estsee-e, the "es" being uttered very rapidly (as if it were merely a short sibilant) before the voice reaches the TS, on which the stress is made. When SC is not preceded by a comma or other stop, or is in the middle of a word, the pronunciation can be easily effected by joining the sound of the preceding letter to the S. Thus mi scias = I know can be pronounced meest-see-ahs. Mi vidis brunan sciuron = I saw a brown squirrel—mee-vee-dees broo-nahnst-see-oo-ron. But when the preceding word ends in S, the full sound of both of the letters S must be given, as mi havas sciuron = I have a squirrel—mee hahvahs (e)stsee-oo-ron (the initial e very short to help to give the sound of the first s) . [By repeating the sentence: "You at least see as well as I do," and then detaching the words "least see," the student will readily arrive at the proper pronunciation of "sc" in "Li scias."]

15. KZ. In pronouncing this combination, do not follow the English pronunciation of words like "exempt," etc., which our dictionaries give as "egzempt." Be careful not to turn the K into G in such words as ekzemplo = example, ekzameni = to examine. The full sound should be given to every letter in the three syllables, ek-zem-plo.

16. Pronunciation of Words.—Every vowel and consonant in a word is pronounced distinctly, and the sound never varies, whether the letters are initial, medial, or final; there is no mute letter in Esperanto. Each syllable must be distinct, and it must be remembered that when two vowels come together, such as ai, ae, ee, ii, oi, etc., or two similar consonants, as kk, ll, mm, etc., each letter always belongs to a different syllable, and must be given its full sound.

17. Tonic Accent.—The stress of the voice, or the tonic accent, is always on the penultimate (last syllable but one). Even in words of two syllables the tonic accent must be strongly perceived in the first syllable. The euphony and beauty of the language would in a great measure be destroyed by non-observance of this rule.

(a). In compound words, as in others, the accent must very distinctly fall on the penultimate of the whole word; but when a compound word consists of four syllables, or more, the meaning of the prefixed word, or words, may be shown by laying a certain stress on those syllables which would be accented if they were complete independent words. It will be noticed how much easier it is to grasp the meaning of a prefixed word if a slight stress of the voice be given to that syllable on which we are accustomed to hear the accent fall when the word stands alone, as:—Du-be-ni-gra = Blackish. An-taŭ-vi-di = To foresee. Gas-o-me-tro = Gasometer. Arm-il-far-ist-o = Gunsmith. Ĝar-den-la-bor-ad-o = Gardening. In-ter-ri-lat-o = Intercourse. Sen-la-bor-of-ic-o = Sinecure. Le-ter-pa-per-o = Note-paper.

18. Beginners should read aloud daily; at first slowly and slightly exaggerating the sounds, making free use of the organs of speech. It will then be found that in more rapid utterance the exaggeration will gradually disappear, and a good, bold, free pronunciation be attained. (See "Hints to Learners," page 363.)

19. It is advisable that the student, before proceeding to the grammar, should get a thorough knowledge of the sounds of letters, syllables, and words; he should, therefore, read over the following list of words, which gives most of the combinations of sounds in the language. The italics denote where the tonic accent falls.

SCHEME OF PRONUNCIATION.

Note.—Esperanto vowels are very similar in sound to those in German and Spanish, and in the Italian do, re, mi, fa.

20. Syntax (sintakso) treats of the connection, dependence, and arrangement of words to form intelligible speech.

21. Speech (parolo) consists of propositions.

22. A Proposition (propozicio) is a collection of words by which we assert, or question, the act, state, or quality of some person or thing. A complete proposition consists of two chief parts, viz., the Subject and Predicate.

23. The Subject (subjekto) is the name of the person or thing spoken of.

24. The Predicate (predikato) is what is said about the subject.

25. The Subject of a proposition is always:—

(a). One or more nouns.

(b). Some word used as a noun, e.g., (1), a pronoun, mi = I; (2), an adjective, mia kara estas bona filino = my dear (one) is a good daughter; (3), an infinitive, mensogi estas honte = to lie (or, lying) is shameful; (4), a phrase. Estas agrable por (or, al) mi, ke vi aĉetis tiun domon (here "ke vi aĉetis" is the subject) = I am glad (it is agreeable to me) that you bought that house.

26. The subject is always in the nominative case. When the subject is a noun, it must, therefore, always end in -O, if the noun is singular, or in -OJ, if the noun is in the plural. The subject of any verb can always be determined by putting the word "who?" or "what?" before the verb, and the word giving the reply is the subject, as:—La riĉulo havas multe da mono = The rich man has much (of) money. (Who has much money? The rich man = la riĉulo is the subject.) La papero estas blanka = The paper is white. (What is white? The paper = la papero is the subject.) De timo paliĝis Antono = Antony grew pale from fear. (Who grew pale? Antony = Antono is the subject.) Miaj fratoj batis min = My brothers beat me. (Who beat me? My brothers = miaj fratoj is the subject.)

27. Subject omitted.—Sometimes the subject is omitted, as:—Pluvas = it rains. Fulmis = It lightened. (See remarks on impersonal verbs, par. 164.)

28. The Object is the person or thing acted upon by the subject, hence the term objective (or accusative) case, as:—Johano batas la knabon = John beats the boy. Knabon = the boy is acted upon by Johano, the subject, therefore knabon is the object, and has the accusative termination N.

29. The Direct Complement (rekta komplemento).—The noun or pronoun (not governed by a preposition), which is the direct complement of a transitive verb, must have the accusative form -N in the singular, or -JN in the plural. The direct complement of a verb can be determined by asking the question "whom?" or "what?" after such verb, and the word giving the reply is the direct complement, as:—Diru al mi vian nomon = Tell me your name. (Tell what? Your name = vian nomon is the direct complement.) Johano min amas = John loves me. (Loves whom? Me = min is the direct complement.)

30. The direct complement of an active verb becomes the subject if the verb is put in the passive voice, as:—Mia patro amas min = My father loves me. Here min = me is the direct complement; but Mi estas amata de mia patro = I am loved by my father. Here mi = I is the subject of the verb. Note, that intransitive verbs cannot have a direct complement, for they have no passive voice (par. 162).

31. The Indirect Complement (nerekta komplemento) is formed with a preposition and a noun or pronoun in the nominative, as:—Donu al la birdoj akvon = Give (to) the birds water, or Give water to the birds. (Here "akvon" is the direct, and la birdoj the indirect, complement.) Venu kune kun la patro = Come together with (the) father. But if direction towards something be implied, and the preposition of itself does not denote movement, the noun, or pronoun, will then be in the accusative case (see pars. 67, 256), as:—Li eniris en la domon = He went into the house.

32. The Circumstantial Complement.—A word or phrase is termed a circumstantial complement (cirkonstanca komplemento) when it marks the time, place, manner, cause, etc., of an action, as:—En printempo floroj aperas, or Printempe floroj aperas = In Spring flowers appear. Li agas pro ĵaluzo = He acts from (owing to) jealousy.

33. The Predicate is what is said about the subject.

(a). A predicative verb is one which, of itself, shows in a definite manner some act, state, or quality, as:—Arbo kreskas = A tree grows. La arbo verdiĝis = The tree became green.

(b) A non-predicative verb is one which does not, of itself, show an act, but is accompanied by some adjective, participle or predicative noun, defining and describing the subject, as:—La urbo estas belega = The city is magnificent. Kolombo estas birdo = A pigeon is a bird. This is called a "Disjoined predicate" (disigita predikato).

34. The Predicate can furthermore be precisely defined by an adverb or a noun (or a word used as a noun) governed by a preposition. This serves to show the object of the act and circumstances surrounding it, as:—Arturo batis Georgon per sia pugno = Arthur struck George with his fist.

35. A noun can be more precisely defined by the addition of another noun or word used as a noun, as:—Eduardo, reĝo de Anglujo = Edward, King of England. This is called "apposition" (apozicio).

36. To every noun can be added adjectives or participles, which also can be defined by other nouns, as:—Homo mortiginta sian patrinon estas granda krimulo = A man who has murdered (having murdered) his mother is a great criminal. An adjective added, without any intervening word, to a noun is termed "qualifying," in order to distinguish it from an adjective (called a "predicative" adjective) having the verb esti (expressed or understood) between it and the noun, as:—Homo bona = A good man (qualifying). La homo estas bona = The man is good (predicative). (See remarks on adjectives, par. 108.)

37. A word consists of one or more syllables or distinct sounds, and has a definite meaning.

38. A root is an incomplete word conveying only an idea. It may consist of one or more syllables, but requires one or more letters to form it into a word.

39. Words in Esperanto may be divided into four classes: Primary, Simple, Compound, and Foreign.

(a). A Primary word is one which requires no additional letters to give it a distinct meaning (see list of Primary Words, Part V).

(b). A Simple word is one formed by adding a grammatical termination to a single root, or to a primary word (which then becomes a root), with or without suffixes or prefixes.

Examples.—Bon-a = Good. Ĉirkaŭ-i = To surround. Antaŭ-ul-o = A predecessor. Dis-sem-i = To scatter. Mal-san-ul-ejo = An infirmary.

(c). A Compound word is one formed by adding a grammatical termination to two or more roots, or to a primary word and a root, with or without suffixes or prefixes. Any of the component parts may be complete words, if euphony requires it.

Examples.—Bon-intenc-a = Well-meaning. Super-natur-a = Supernatural. Antaŭ-vid-i = To foresee. Ĉas-o-ŝtel-ist-o = A poacher. Ĉas-gard-ist-o = A gamekeeper. Vapor-ŝipo = A steamship. Griz-har-a = Grey-haired. Super-akv-eg-o = A deluge.

(d). A Foreign word is one common to most languages, being derived from the same root.

Examples.—Teatr-o = Theatre. Teatr-a = Theatrical. Geologi-o = Geology. Geologi-a = Geological.

40. To show the manner in which words are formed in Esperanto, it will perhaps be better first to do so in Dr. Zamenhof’s own words, as given on page 248 of his "Fundamenta Krestomatio." He says:—

"I arranged a complete dismemberment of ideas into independent words, so that the whole language, instead of being words in various grammatical forms, consists solely of unchangeable words. If you will take a work written in my language, you will find that each word is always in one constant form, namely, in that form in which it is printed in the dictionary, and that the various grammatical forms, reciprocal relation between words, etc., etc., are expressed by the union of unchanging words. But, because such a construction of language is quite strange to Europeans, I adapted this dismemberment of the language to the spirit of the European languages, so that anyone learning mine from a manual would not suppose that it differed in construction from his own. Take, for example, the word fratino, which in reality consists of three words, frat, in, o. Frat gives the idea of the offspring[9] of one’s parents, in the idea of the female sex, and o the idea of existence (person or thing), hence a noun. These three ideas combined, in Esperanto, make fratino = a sister. The first and last make frato = a brother. The instruction book shows this in the following manner:—Brother = frat-, but because every substantive in the nominative ends in o, therefore frato = brother. For the formation of the feminine, the little word -in- is inserted, therefore fratino = sister. In this way, the dismemberment of the language in no way embarrasses the learner; he does not even suspect that that which he calls a prefix, or suffix, or termination, is really an independent word, which always preserves its meaning, no matter whether it be used at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, or independently, and that every word, with equal right, can be used as a root word or grammatical particle."

41. With reference to the above, it will be observed that Dr. Zamenhof calls all combinations of letters,[10] which convey an idea, a "word," as for instance frat, in, o, but in practice the student may find it helpful to use the terms which are defined in pars. 37–39, and (with the exception of the primary words in the list, Part V.) to call no combination a "word" until it receives a grammatical termination.

42. Grammatical Terminations (gramatikaj finiĝoj).—Every word in Esperanto, except the primary words, has a grammatical termination which shows:—

(a). The part of speech.

(b). Whether the word is singular or plural.

(c). Whether in the nominative or accusative case.

(d). The mood, tense, and participles of a verb.

A list of the grammatical terminations will be found in par. 53.

43. Suffixes.—Suffixes are syllables placed between the root and grammatical termination, adding to the word the idea contained in the suffix as well as that in the root.

A list of suffixes will be found in par. 54.

44. Prefixes.—A prefix is a syllable placed before the root, adding to the root the idea contained in the prefix.

A list of prefixes will be found in par. 55.

45. From the foregoing definitions we see that words in Esperanto are either primary words, or words composed of:—

(a). Roots and grammatical terminations.

(b). Roots, suffixes, and grammatical terminations.

(c). Prefixes, roots, and grammatical terminations.

(d). Prefixes, roots, suffixes, and grammatical terminations.

46. Order of Suffixes.—The grammatical terminations, A, E, I, O, U, AS, IS, OS, US, showing the part of speech and mood and tense of verbs, must end all words (except some of the primary words), the accusative N or plural J being added if required. Suffixes precede this termination in their natural order. For instance, if we want to say "a tiny female kitten," we commence with the root kat-, giving the idea only of "cat" ; then add -id- (suffix for "offspring of") kat-id- = kitten; then -in- (female suffix) kat-id-in- = kitten female; then -et- (diminutive suffix) kat-id-in-et- = kitten female tiny; we have now got the root and all the suffixes, and we might make the word an adjective by adding A, but we want a noun, so add O; kat-id-in-et-o = a tiny female kitten. If we place -et- after kat-, we commence by speaking of a "tiny cat," for kateto has that meaning, so katetidino would be the "female offspring of a tiny cat." If we reversed the three suffixes, we should get kat-in-et-id-o = offspring of a tiny female cat. This exaggerated example of building up suffixes will show the importance of placing them in their natural order. The student cannot make a mistake if he commences with the root and forms a word of each suffix in succession; for instance, hund-o = a dog, hund-id-o = a puppy, hundid-in-o = a female puppy, hundidin-eg-o = a huge female puppy.

47. Order of Prefixes.—In like manner prefixes must come in their natural order, as:—Sano = health, mal-sano = illness, re-mal-sano = a return of illness, a relapse.

48. Order of roots in compound words.—The principal root is always placed last, and receives the grammatical termination, with or without a suffix. The root of a subordinate word is sufficient without any suffix.

Examples.—Ĉas-gard-ist-o = A gamekeeper, (ĉasi = to hunt, ĉas-aĵo = a thing hunted, game; but it is unnecessary to add the suffix -aĵ- to the subordinate root). Roz-kolora = Rose coloured. Skrib-tablo = Writing table. Lerno-libro = Instruction book, manual (lern-o, the root, made a full word for euphony). Compare: librolerno, book-learning. Tir-kesto = A drawer (tir-i = to draw, kesto = a chest). Lum-turo = Lighthouse (lum-i = to shine, turo = a tower). Lip-haroj = Moustache (lip-o = a lip, haroj = hairs). Vang-haroj = Whiskers (vang-o = a cheek).

49. When the root should be a noun, adjective, or adverb.—When the joining of the root alone makes the compound word difficult to pronounce, the root is generally made a noun by adding O for the sake of euphony, as:—Lerno-libro = manual, instruction book. If the prefixed root alone would not give the required meaning, the suitable grammatical ending must be added. Estis unu-taga laboro = it was one day’s work. Estis la unua-taga laboro = it was the first day’s work. La supre-citita paragrafo = the above-quoted paragraph. In case of adverbs, N to form the accusative is also added, if direction is implied, as:—Li supren-iris la monton = he ascended the mountain (see 67 (b)).

N.B.—The hyphens are not necessary.

50. The idea conveyed by the root.—In forming a word, the first thing is to find out the exact primary idea contained in the root. Do not think, for instance, that because you happen to know that one of the meanings of cel-o is end, that cel-i will mean to finish or end. The primary idea of cel- is aim, or purpose, therefore cel-i is to aim, to purpose. Do not, in the case of a word with one or more suffixes, think that because you know one of its meanings, you know also the idea conveyed in its root. For instance, kresk-aĵ-o is a plant, but do not at once say that kresk-i is to plant; kreskaĵo comes quite logically from kreski = to grow, therefore kreskaĵo is a thing grown, a growth, a plant. In other words, make certain that you understand the exact meaning of the Esperanto root; and be careful not to be misled by the fact that many English words have a number of different meanings.

51. The Primary words are 158 in number, and must be carefully learnt (see list, page 334). They are not only complete words in themselves with a definite meaning, but they can be treated as root-words and receive prefixes, suffixes, and grammatical terminations. There is no rule to prevent any of these words, ending in a vowel, from receiving, if logically allowable, the accusative N or the plural J (see par. 142).

Examples.—Jen (behold), jene = As follows. Ne (no, not), nei = To deny. Tie (there), tieulo = A man from there (that place). Ĉirkaŭ (around, round), ĉirkaŭi = To surround. Jes (yes), jeso = An affirmation. Tiaj esprimoj = Such expressions. Tiuj ĉevaloj = Those horses. Li aĉetis ĉiujn ĉevalojn = He bought all the horses. Faru al mi ian respondon = Make me some (kind of) reply. Venu tien ĉi = Come hither. Diru al mi tion, kion vi faris = Tell me what (that which) you did (have done). Unuj faris tion ĉi, aliaj tion = Some did this, others that.

Among the Primary Words are found all the personal and demonstrative pronouns, all the cardinal numbers and prepositions, and also many common adverbs and conjunctions. It is important, therefore, that the student should thoroughly master their meaning.

52. Foreign words are those which in most languages are derived from the same source, and, being consequently much alike in formation, are easily understood by most nations, there being only a slight difference in spelling and that difference of termination which occurs in all languages. Dr. Zamenhof wisely lays down that they should undergo no change, beyond conforming to Esperanto orthography and its grammatical terminations.

In order to show their change from English spelling, the following examples are given, not only of words which may be called "foreign," but of others that are a near approach to English in formation. It must be borne in mind that these changes of letters by no means invariably take place; they are only general.

52 (a).—Initial and Medial Letters.

C (hard) = K generally, as:—Declare = deklari, economy = ekonomio, decameter = dekametro, hectogram = hektogramo. In a few cases C becomes Ĉ, as:—Dedicate = dediĉi, carpenter = ĉarpentisto (probably from the French charpentier).

C (soft) generally undergoes no change, so remains C with its sound of TS, as:—Cipher = cifero, cigar = cigaro, glycerine = glicerino, grimace = grimaco, spice = spico. Some few words change to Z, as:—Price = prezo.

Ch (soft) = Ĉ generally, as:—Chamber = ĉambro, charming = ĉarma, chaste = ĉasta, chief = ĉefo.

Ch (hard) = Ĥ generally, as:—Chameleon = ĥameleono, chaos = ĥaoso, chemistry = ĥemio, cholera = ĥolero, hypochondria = hipoĥondrio, chorister = ĥoristo. It will be seen that these words are mostly derived from the Greek.

G (soft or hard) = G generally, as:—Geology = geologio, elegant = eleganta, general (officer) = generalo. The exceptions in which Ĝ is used are mostly words following the French pronunciation, as:—Danger = danĝero, garden = ĝardeno, general (adjective) = ĝenerala, germ = ĝermo, giraffe = ĝirafo, etc.

PH = F, as:—Elephantiasis = elefantiazo, sphere = sfero, etc.

QU = KV, as:—Equivalent = ekvivalenta, eloquent = elokventa, inquisition = inkvizicio, quantity = kvanto, quadratic = kvadrata.

S = S, but in a few instances it becomes Ŝ (probably following German pronunciation) as:—Slime = ŝlimo, smear = ŝmiri, spare = ŝpari, spin = ŝpini, etc.

S (sounded like Z) = Z generally, as:—Desert = dezerto, rose = rozo, present = prezenti, preside = prezidi, etc.

Sh = Ŝ generally, as:—Shark = ŝarko, ship = ŝipo, shoe = ŝuo.

Th = T, as:—Theatre = teatro, mythology = mitologio.

X = KS or KZ, generally, as:—Example = ekzemplo, exercise = ekzerco, dispatch = ekspedi, excite = eksciti, exposition = ekspozicio, exist = ekzisti. In a few instances X becomes S, as:—Extinguish = estingi, explore = esplori, express = esprimi. Occasionally L is used for X, as:—Expel = elpeli, excrescence = elkreskaĵo, etc. When L is substituted it will be observed that the English prefix EX means "out of," and that, therefore, Esperanto logically uses the preposition EL, meaning "out of," as the prefix.

52 (b).—Terminal Letters.

Terminal Letters.—If the last syllable ends in the sound of a consonant, it is generally right to add O to the last consonant of the English word, to form a noun, as:—Diadem = diademo, diagonal = diagonalo, granite = granito, dialogue = dialogo, debate = debato. There are, of course, exceptions. Beginners should always consult an Esperanto Dictionary if they have any doubt as to internationality or spelling. Note the following terminations, which have a peculiarity of their own:—

-ER. = RO generally, for a noun, as:—December = Decembro, diameter = diametro. Words like "centre," "theatre," etc., sometimes spelt "center," "theater," follow the rule, as:—Centro, teatro.

-IC and -ICAL. = A or IA. These terminations are English suffixes for adjectives. Esperanto, however, discards them and gives its own adjectival suffix A, as Galvanic = galvana, hypnotic = hipnota, theatrical = teatra, identical = identa, theoretic = teoria, geographical = geografia. (See remarks on -OGY and -ISM).

-ICS. = KO. The English termination -ICS has a plural form, but in Esperanto -CS is generally represented by -KO, and not the plural -KOJ, as:—Mathematics = matematiko, etc.

-INE. The I in this termination is occasionally turned into E, as:—Gelatine = gelateno. More commonly it is retained, as:—Glycerine = glicerino.

-ISH. = DUBE (doubtful) may be prefixed to colours to form the adjective in -ish, as:—Dubenigra = blackish, dubeblanka = whitish, dubeverda = greenish. It is, however, better to use the suffix -et, thus: nigreta, verdeta.

-ISM. In many cases the ending -ISM forms part of an international root, and is thus used in Esperanto also; e.g., paroksismo = paroxysm, sofismo = a sophism, fallacy, aforismo = an aphorism, are simple words, for there are no roots paroks, sof (in this sense), afor. In the majority of cases the English suffix -ism and the Esperanto suffix -ism coincide, thus: komunismo = communism, vegetarismo = vegetarianism. Sometimes the English -ism has the meaning -ec, thus: heroeco = heroism, fanatikeco = fanaticism. Catholicism may mean katolikismo or katolikeco.

-IST. Esperanto words ending in -ism often have companion forms in -ist, to which similar remarks apply, as:—sofisto = a sophist, komunisto = a communist.

-MENT. When this is the English termination of a noun derived from a root not ending in -MENT, it becomes O, as:—Embarrass = embarasi, embarrassment = embaraso, rebate = rabati, rebatement = rabato. But when -MENT is part of the English root it is retained, as:—Element = elemento, experiment = eksperimento, fundament = fundamento.

-OGY. Words derived from the Greek change Y into IO, as:—Geology = geologio, theology = teologio. The adjectives of these words end in -IC and -ICAL, and, as their Esperanto root ends in -I, A must be added to this to form the adjectives geologia, teologia.

-SIS. = ZO generally, as:—Apotheosis = apoteozo, hypothesis = hipotezo, oasis = oazo, synthesis = sintezo.

-TH. = T, as:—Hyacinth = hiacinto.

-TION. = CIO occasionally, as:—Declaration = deklaracio, exposition = ekspozicio, arbitration = arbitracio, generation = generacio, situation = situacio. Usually, however, English -tion corresponds to Esperanto -o, -ado, or -aĵo, as:—information = inform-o, -ado, -aĵo; and such forms are often used even when an alternative form in -cio exists, thus: deklar-o, -aĵo.

-UM. = O generally, as:—Epithalamium = epitalamio, gymnasium (college) = gimnazio, geranium = geranio.

-Y. = IO generally in words derived from Latin or Greek, as:—Philosophy = filozofio, astronomy = astronomio, sympathy (liking) = simpatio, industry = industrio.

(Gramatikaj Finiĝoj).

N.B.—There are three forms of participles, the adjectival, substantival, and adverbial. The one given above is the adjectival. In the adverbial form the final A is changed into E. Farante tion, li ... = By (in, or through) doing that, he ... To form the substantive, change A into O. La faranto = The doer (the person doing). These three forms are applicable to all the three participles in both the active and passive voices (see pars. 208–210).

54. The following lists of suffixes (31) and prefixes (7 in number) should be carefully studied, since innumerable words of the finest shade of meaning can be formed by their aid, in fact, they are the ground-work of the language. In cases where a suffix can be used as a root, the word it helps to form is given. The hyphens are used only to show the root, suffix, and grammatical termination of the examples. The student should form other words himself, and study the works of the best authors. (For remarks on suffixes and prefixes, see pars. 270–290.)

• -AĈ- Denotes badness of quality or condition (aĉ-a, vile, bad), (par. 271):

  dom-o, a house, dom-aĉ-o, a tumble-down house.

  ĉeval-o, a horse, ĉeval-aĉ-o, a sorry nag.

• -AD- Denotes the continuation of an action (par. 270):

  paf-o, a shot, or discharge, paf-ad-o, a firing, fusillade.

  ir-i, to go, ir-ad-i, to continue going.

• -AĴ- Denotes some real or concrete thing made from, or having the quality of, the root (aĵ-o, a thing), (par. 271):

  mola, soft, mol-aĵ-o, a soft thing, or substance.

  frukt-o, fruit, frukt-aĵ-o, jam.

• -AN- Denotes a member, inhabitant, or partisan (an-o, a member, etc.), (par. 272):

  vilaĝ-o, a village, vilaĝ-an-o, a villager.

  London-o, London, London-an-o, a Londoner.

• -AR- Denotes a collection of the idea implied in the root (ar-o, a collection, flock), (par. 273):

  arb-o, a tree, arb-ar-o, a wood.

  hom-o, a man, hom-ar-o, mankind.

• -ĈJ- These letters, substituted for one or more of the letters of a masculine name, make it an affectionate diminutive (par. 274):

  Petr-o, Peter, Pe-ĉj-o, Pete.

  Vilhelm-o, William, Vilhel-ĉj-o, Willie, Vilhe-ĉj-o, Will, Vil-ĉj-o, Billy, Vi-ĉj-o, Bill.

  For feminine names insert nj instead of ĉj (par. 274):

  Mari-o, Mary, Ma-nj-o, Polly.

  Helen-o, Helen, Hele-nj-o, Nelly, He-nj-o, Nell.

• -EBL- Denotes possibility, similar to the English terminations -able, -ible (ebl-a, possible, ebl-e, perhaps), (par. 275):

  leg-i, to read, leg-ebl-a, legible.

  tra-vid-i, to see through, tra-vid-ebl-a, transparent.

• -EC- Denotes an abstract quality of the idea conveyed in the root, like the English terminations -ness, -tude, -ity (ec-o, a distinctive mark, or quality), (par. 271):

  bon-a, good, bon-ec-o, goodness.

  riĉ-a, rich, riĉ-ec-o, wealth.

• -EDZ- Denotes a married person (edz-o, a husband), (par. 276):

  doktor-o, a doctor, doktor-edz-in-o, a doctor’s wife, lav-ist-in-o, a washerwoman, lav-ist-in-edz-o, a washerwoman’s husband.

• -EG- Denotes augmentation, intensity of degree (eg-a, intense, eg-ec-o, intensity), (par. 277):

  grand-a, great, grand-eg-a, enormous.

  pord-o, a door, pord-eg-o, a portal, outer-door.

• -EJ- Denotes the place specially used for, or allotted to, the idea implied in the root (ej-o, place, location), (par. 278):

  preĝ-i, to pray, preĝ-ej-o, a church.

  tomb-o, a grave, tomb, tomb-ej-o, a graveyard, cemetery.

• -EM- Denotes propensity, inclination, disposition (em-o, a disposition, bias, tendency), (par. 275):

  babil-i, to chatter, babil-em-a, chattering.

  pac-o, peace, pac-em-a, inclined to peace, peaceful.

• -ER- Denotes one of many objects of the same kind, a small fragment (er-o, an item), (par. 273):

  sabl-o, sand, sabl-er-o, a grain of sand.

  mon-o, money, mon-er-o, a coin.

• -ESTR- Denotes a chief, leader, ruler, or head of (estr-o, a chief), (par. 272):

  ŝip-o, a ship, ŝip-estr-o, a captain of a ship.

  imperi-o, an empire, imperi-estr-o, an emperor.

• -ET- Denotes diminution of degree (et-a, little, small), (par. 277):

  mont-o, a mountain, mont-et-o, a hill.

  rid-i, to laugh, rid-et-i, to smile.

• -ID- Denotes the young of, offspring, descendant (id-o, offspring), (par. 279):

  ŝaf-o, a sheep, ŝaf-id-o, a lamb.

  Izrael-o, Israel, Izrael-id-o, an Israelite.

• -IG- Denotes the causing, making, or rendering anything to be in the state implied by the root (ig-i, to cause, to make), (par. 280):

  mort-i, to die, mort-ig-i, to kill.

  pur-a, clean, pur-ig-i, to clean, purify.

• -IĜ- Denotes the action of becoming, turning to, and has sometimes a reflexive force (iĝ-i, to become, to be made), (par. 280):

  ruĝ-a, red, ruĝ-iĝ-i, to become red, to blush.

  riĉ-a, rich, riĉ-iĝ-i, to become, or grow rich, or to get rich.

• -IL- Denotes the tool or instrument or means by which something is done (il-o, a tool, means), (par. 281):

  tranĉ-i, to cut, tranĉ-il-o, a knife.

  pres-i, to print, pres-il-o, a printing press.

• -IN- Denotes the feminine gender (in-o, a female), (par. 282):

  frat-o, a brother, frat-in-o, a sister.

  leon-o, a lion, leon-in-o, a lioness.

• -IND- Denotes worthiness, deserving of something, worthy of (ind-o, worth, merit), (par. 275):

  laŭd-i, to praise, laŭd-ind-a, praiseworthy.

  estim-o, esteem, estim-ind-a, estimable, worthy of esteem.

• -ING- Denotes a thing used for holding only one object (ing-o, a socket, or sheath), (par. 278):

  plum-o, a pen, plum-ing-o, a penholder.

  kandel-o, a candle, kandel-ing-o, a candlestick.

• -ISM- Denotes a theory, system, doctrine, school of thought (ism-o, an "ism"), (par. 293):

  real-a, real, real-ism-o, realism.

  protestant-o, a protestant, protestant-ism-o, protestantism.

• -IST- Denotes a person occupied with the idea contained in the root (par. 272):

  drog-o, a drug, drog-ist-o, a druggist.

  ŝtel-i, to steal, ŝtel-ist-o, a thief.

• -NJ- See ĈJ, page 29, and par. 274.

• -OBL- Denotes a numeral multiple (par. 284):

  du, two, du-obl-a, double.

  tri, three, tri-obl-a, triple.

• -ON- Denotes a numeral fraction (par. 284):

  kvar, four, kvar-on-o, a fourth.

  kvin, five, kvin-on-o, a fifth.

• -OP- Denotes a numeral collective (op-a, collective), (par. 284):

  du, two, du-op-e, by twos.

  dek, ten, dek-op-e, by tens, ten together.

• -UJ- Denotes that which contains, produces, encloses, or bears, a quantity or more than one article (uj-o, a receptacle), (par. 278):

  ink-o, ink, ink-uj-o, an inkpot.

  plum-o, a pen, plum-uj-o, a pen box (not a penholder).

  turk-o, a Turk, Turk-uj-o, Turkey.

• -UL- Denotes a person or being characterized by the idea implied in the root (par. 272):

  riĉ-a, rich, riĉ-ul-o, a rich man.

  avar-a, avaricious, avar-ul-o, a miser.

• -UM- Has no defined meaning. The meaning of a word with um is suggested by the context and the signification of the root to which it is joined. It is rarely used (par. 285):

  kol-o, a neck, kol-um-o, a collar.

  plen-a, full, plen-um-i, to fulfil.

  man-o, a hand, man-um-o, a cuff.

• BO- Denotes any relationship resulting from marriage (par. 286):

  patro, a father, bo-patro, a father-in-law.

  filino, a daughter, bo-filino, a daughter-in-law.

• DIS- Denotes division, dissemination, separation, etc., (dis-e, separately), (par. 287):

  ĵeti, to throw, dis-ĵeti, to throw about, to scatter.

  ŝiri, to tear, dis-ŝiri, to tear in pieces.

• EK- Denotes the beginning of an action, or its short duration (par. 288):

  kanti, to sing, ek-kanti, to begin to sing.

  brili, to shine, ek-brili, to flash.

• EKS- Denotes late, formerly, like the English ex-.

  kolonelo, colonel, eks-kolonelo, ex-colonel.

  edziĝo, a wedding, eks-edziĝo, a divorce.

• GE- Denotes persons of both sexes taken together (par. 286):

  patro, a father, ge-patroj, parents, or father and mother.

  mastro, a master, ge-mastroj, master and mistress.

• MAL- Denotes the direct opposite of any idea (mal-e, on the contrary), (par. 289):

  forta, strong, mal-forta, weak.

  estimi, to esteem, mal-estimi, to despise.

• MIS- Denotes mis-, amiss, wrongly, erroneously.

• RE- Denotes, as in English, repetition, again, back (re-e, again), (par. 290):

  iri, to go, re-iri, to go again.

  diri, to say, re-diri, to repeat.

55 (a). PREPOSITIONS AND OTHER ROOTS USED AS PREFIXES.

On reference to par. 254, it will be seen that prepositions are frequently used as prefixes. A good many other particles also are used in the same way, e.g.:—

• ĈEF par. 272 (g)
• DUON par. 286
• FI par. 270
• FOR par. 287
• FUŜ par. 270
• MEM par. 291
• SIN par. 291
• PRA par. 286
• VIC par. 292

56. Elision is not common in Esperanto, except in poetry, where it is used, when required, for the purpose of rhythm. Some prose writers use it, but it is better to avoid its use.

57. The letter A in the article la may be elided when the article is preceded by a preposition ending in a vowel, for then the L of the article can be sounded with the preposition and the full pronunciation given to the first letter of the following word, e.g., de l’ kreo de l’ mondo (for de la) = since the creation of the world. (Pronounce de l’ as del).

In poetry the letter A of the article is occasionally elided before a word beginning with a vowel.

The final O of the substantive may also be elided, e.g., kant’ (for kanto) = a song. The tonic accent (par. 17) remains on the same syllable on which it would fall if no elision had taken place.

Note that kant’ may not be used as an abbreviation of anything else but kanto. Thus, it cannot represent kanton, kantoj, kante, kantas, etc.

The dropped letter is in all cases noted by an apostrophe.

58. Questions are asked in two ways, viz.—either by the interrogative adverb ĉu = whether, or by one of the interrogative words kia = what kind of, kial = why, kiam = when, kie = where, kiel = how, kies = whose, kio = what, kiom = how much, or how many, kiu = who, which.

(a). Ĉu is used when none of the other words in a sentence are used in an interrogative sense. It is, in fact, the general word for interrogations answerable by "yes" or "no."

Examples.—Ĉu vi komprenas? = Do you understand? Ĉu li legas? = Does he read? Ĉu vi havas mian libron? = Have you my book? Ĉu vi havas tion, kion mi bezonas? = Have you what (that which) I want? Ĉu Johano iris lernejon? (or, al lernejo?) = Did John go (or, has John gone) to school? Ĉu vi pruntos al mi krajonon? = Will you lend me a pencil? Ĉu li estos foririnta, antaŭ ol vi alvenos? = Will he have gone away before you (will) arrive? Ĉu vi estus tion farinta, se mi estus tie? = Would you have done that if I had been there?

When the verb following ĉu is in the Imperative mood, it shows the ellipsis of some other verb expressing "wish, desire, etc." (see pars. 200, 237 (m)).

Examples.—Ĉu mi iru kaj kunpremu la gorĝon de tiu ĉi hundo...? (Zamenhof, "La Rabistoj") = Shall I go and squeeze the throat of this dog...? Here the full phrase would be, Ĉu vi volas, ke mi iru...? = Do you wish me to go...? Ĉu mi aĉetu por vi libron? = Shall I buy you a book? Ĉu ni luu fiakron? = Shall we take a cab?

The verb is sometimes omitted when a question is preceded by an assertion.

Examples.—Hodiaŭ estas merkredo, ĉu ne? (or, ĉu ne vere?) = To-day is Wednesday, isn’t it? Ili diris al vi la veron, ĉu ne? = They told you the truth, didn’t they? Ili ne diris al vi la veron, ĉu? = They didn’t tell you the truth, did they?

(b). The following examples show the use of the nine interrogatives kia, kial, kiam, etc.

Examples.—Kian leteron vi skribis? = What kind of letter did you write? Kial vi ne respondis? Why did you not answer? Kiam li alvenos? = When will he come? Kie estas la poŝtoficejo? = Where is the post-office? Kiel vi faris tion? = How did you do that? Kies domo estas tiu? = Whose house is that? Kion vi konsilas al mi fari? = What do you advise me to do? Kiom da ĉevaloj estas tie? = How many horses are there? (at that place)? Kiom kostas tio? = How much does that cost? Kiu estas en la ĝardeno? = Who is in the garden? Kiun vi vidis en la preĝejo? = Whom did you see in the church? Kiu estas tie? = Who is there?

(c). Of the above, those ending in a consonant are invariable. Those ending in a vowel can take the accusative N, but kia and kiu are the only words which take the plural J (par. 142).

Examples.—Kien vi iras? = Whither are you going? Kiajn tranĉilojn vi bezonas? = What kind of knives do you need? Kiujn librojn vi aĉetis? = Which books did you buy? Kiuj estas la tagoj de la semajno? = Which are the days of the week?

(d). From kiom the adjective kioma = how much, how many’th is formed, and this also may be used as an interrogative.

Example.—Je kioma horo vi venos? = At what o’clock (hour) will you come?

(See correlative words, pars. 147–157. For further examples see pars. 64, 170. For place of interrogative see par. 91.)

59. Double negatives are hardly ever used in Esperanto, for, if employed, they would, as in English, have an affirmative meaning.

(a). Ne = no, not, is the word in general use to imply negation. It immediately precedes the word or words it modifies.

Examples.—Ĉu vi ne vidis lin? = Did you not see him? Mi devas ne iri = I must not go.[11] Mi ne devas iri = I am not obliged to go.[11] Ne mi, sed li, havas katon = It is not I, but he, who has a cat. Mi ne havas katon = I have not (got) a cat.

(b). The nine correlative words, nenia, nenial, neniam, nenie, neniel, nenies, nenio, neniom, neniu, also imply negation.

Examples.—Li havas nenian sperton = He has no kind of experience. Li ne havas ian sperton = He has not any kind of experience. Nenial li subite foriris de Londono = For no reason he suddenly left London. Mi nenion trovis = I found nothing. Mi ne trovis ion (ion, not nenion, here) = I did not find anything. (See correlative words, pars. 147–157).

(c). Nek = nor and nek ... nek = neither ... nor have also a negative meaning.

Examples.—Nek mi nek li estis tie = Neither I nor he was there. Mi vidis nek Johanon nek Georgon = I saw neither John nor George.

Nek is generally used in the second clause of a sentence, although the first is negative.

Examples.—Mi ne scias la francan lingvon, nek la anglan, nek la turkan = I do not know the French language, or (nor) English, or (nor) Turkish. Nenio estas al mi pli kara, nek dolĉa, ol vi = Nothing is dearer to me or (nor) sweeter than you. Mi ne renkontis lin, nek lian fraton = I did not meet him or (nor) his brother.

(d). Compound words with ne, sen, mal, have also a negative signification, and such words are often employed with a negative to express an affirmative assertion. (See par. 289.)

Examples.—La okazo ne estis neatendita = The event was not unexpected. Lia riĉeco ne estis senlima = His fortune was not unlimited. Li ne estis malhonesta = He was not dishonest.

60. Double Negative.—Occasionally a double negative is used to give strong force to a negation. Dr. Zamenhof, in his translation of Hamlet, Act I., Scene 5, renders "Lay your hands again upon my sword: swear by my sword, never to speak of this that you have heard" by Metu viajn manojn denove sur la glavon, kaj ripetu, ke vi neniam al neniu diros pri la apero de la nokto, lit. = Lay your hands again upon the sword, and repeat, that you never, to no one, will speak of the apparition of the night.

Some Esperantists do not consider this a double negative, but it undoubtedly is, according to the literal English translation. Another explanation of the passage is to supply mentally an omitted kaj after the word neniam.

61. Of course, when two negatives refer to different verbs, expressed or unexpressed, this is not a double negative.

Examples.—Mi ne volis, ne skribi al vi = I did not wish, not to write to you. Ne nur ne malamiko, sed kunbatalanto li estis = (He was) not only not an enemy, but he was a comrade in arms (fellow combatant).

62. Two negatives may be used in such an expression as "could not help," etc.

Example.—Li ne povis ne kisi la malgrandulon = He could not help kissing the little one. Lit.:—He could not not kiss the little one.

63. Jes = yes is the word used to answer a question affirmatively.

Examples.—Ĉu vi vidis mian patron? Jes! = Did you see my father? Yes. Jes, with the conjunction ke, is also used for "it is so," as, mi vin certigas, ke jes = I assure you that it is so.

Ne = no, not, is used in a similar way to answer a question negatively.

Example.—Mi vin certigas, ke ne = I assure you that it is not so.

64. To give force to affirmative or negative replies one can add to ne or jes any suitable adverb, as certe = certainly, ja = indeed, kompreneble = of course, etc., etc., or repeat the verb of the interrogation without its complement, in the same way as in English we often repeat the auxiliary of the verb.

Examples.—Ĉu vi faris tion? = Did you do that? Jes! Jes! Mi faris, or Ne! Ne! Mi ne faris = Yes, yes, I did, or No, no! I did not. Ĉu vi finis vian laboron? = Have you finished your work? Jes! mi finis, or Ne, mi ne (finis) = Yes, I have, or, No, I have not. Ĉu vi mortigis tiun birdon? = Did you kill that bird? Jes! Certe mi mortigis, or, Certe jes! or, Ne, kompreneble, mi ne mortigis, or, Kompreneble ne! = Yes! Certainly I did, or, No! Of course, I didn’t! Ĉu vi deziras kafon? = Do you want coffee? Jes, mi deziras, or Ne, mi ne deziras; mi jam havas = Yes, I do, or, No, I do not; I have (some) already.

64 (a). When the verb is omitted in the reply, the case must be used which would have been used had the verb been expressed.

Examples.—Kiom kostis la ĉapelo? Naŭ ŝilingojn (aŭ, ĝi kostis naŭ ŝilingojn) = What did the hat cost? Nine shillings (or, it cost nine shillings). Kien vi iras? En la ĝardenon (aŭ, mi iras en la ĝardenon) = Where (whither) are you going? Into the garden (or, I am going into the garden). Kiom pezas la kesto? Dek naŭ funtojn = What does the chest weigh? Nineteen pounds; but, Kiom estas la pezo de la kesto? Dek naŭ funtoj = what is the weight of the chest? Nineteen pounds.

65. Accusative: when used.—The accusative is used in Esperanto:—

(1). To show the direct object of a verb.

(2). To show motion towards something (Rule 13, par. 94).

(3). To show a preposition has been omitted (Rules 8 and 14, par. 94).

The following are examples of these three uses:—

66 (1). To show the direct object of a verb.

(a). After transitive verbs the accusative is used to show the direct object.

Examples.—Johano vidas la knabon = John sees the boy. Georgo aĉetis bonan ĉevalon = George bought a good horse. Now in either of these sentences the order of the words can be changed without altering the meaning. La knabon vidas Johano would still mean "John sees the boy," because Johano, being in the nominative, is clearly the subject, and knabon, being in the accusative, is clearly the object. But if we inverted the words in English, the sense would be entirely changed (see order of words, pars. 73–93).

(b). After participles.—The accusative is also used after active participles (adjectival or adverbial) to denote the object.

Examples.—Johano estis rigardanta la knabon, kiam mi lin vidis = John was looking at the boy, when I saw him. Johano, vidante la knabon, donas al li pomon = John, seeing the boy, gives him an apple. Georgo estis aĉetinta ĉevalon = George had bought a horse. Georgo, aĉetinte ĉevalon, donis ĝin al sia frato = George, having bought (or, after buying) a horse, gave it to his brother (par. 212 (d)).

(c). When a verb is omitted.—The accusative is also used in exclamations and in expressions in which some verb expressing "wish" or "desire" is understood (see par. 64 (a)).

Examples.—Peston al la tranĉilo: Mi tranĉis al mi la fingron! = Plague on the knife! I have cut my finger! Bonan tagon, Sinjoro = Good day, sir. Saluton al vi, sinjorino = (lit.) Salutation to you, madam. In reply to a question the accusative is used whenever the verb in the reply, which is omitted, governs the accusative, as:—Kiom kostas tiu ĉi krajono? (Ĝi kostas) du pencojn = How much does this pencil cost? (It costs) twopence. Kiom estas la kosto de tiu ĉi krajono? (Ĝi estas) du pencoj = What is the price of this pencil? (It is) twopence.

67 (2). To show motion towards something.

(a). Accusative of direction.—To show direction towards which movement (physical or otherwise) is made the accusative is used, and this is generally called "the accusative of direction." It will be observed, however, that we can also use a preposition to show the motion, and, if such preposition in itself shows movement, its complement must be in the nominative, since all prepositions govern that case; but if the preposition does not in itself denote movement, then its complement must be in the accusative.

Examples.—Mi iras Romon (aŭ, al Romo) = I am going to Rome. Li kuris en la ĝardenon = He ran into the garden. The preposition en does not show movement, therefore ĝardenon is in the accusative, but Li kuris en la ĝardeno = He ran in the garden. This means he was already in the garden, and was running in it. Sur la danan tronon mi havas rajtojn = On the Danish throne I have rights.

(b). Adverbs also take the accusative of direction.

Examples.—Kien vi iras? Mi iras nenien hodiaŭ = Where (whither) are you going? I am going nowhere to-day. Ĝi falis teren (or, sur la teron) = It fell to the ground (or, on to the ground; lit., earthwards). Li iris hejmen kaj restis hejme = He went home and remained at home.

68. (3). To show that a preposition has been omitted.

As stated in Rule 8, par. 94, every preposition in Esperanto governs the nominative case.

By Rule 14 we are told that every preposition has a defined and constant meaning, but that if we must use some preposition, and the direct sense does not show what special preposition we are to take, we can then either use the indefinite preposition je, or the accusative without a preposition. The following are examples under this head in which the accusative may be used:—

(a). After doubtful verbs.—From the foregoing remarks it follows that if we do not know whether a verb governs the accusative or not, we can always use the accusative, if no ambiguity is occasioned thereby. Otherwise some preposition should be employed instead.

For instance, we can say:—Obeu vian patron, or, Obeu je via patro, or, Obeu al via patro = Obey your father. Ŝi helpis al sia frato, or, Ŝi helpis sian fraton = She helped her brother. Li pardonis sian filon, or, Li pardonis al sia filo = He forgave his son. But in phrases where doubt as to meaning may arise we must always use a preposition, as:—Li pardonis al sia filo lian kulpon = He forgave his son his fault. Not Li pardonis sian filon lian kulpon, for the two accusatives here would create confusion. Li legis tion en la dua de Marto, or, Li legis pri tio la duan de Marto = He read that on the 2nd of March.

(b). Duration or any point of time.

Examples.—Mi restis tie kvar semajnojn (or, dum or tra, kvar semajnoj) = I remained there (during) four weeks. La proksiman lundon (or, en la proksima lundo) mi veturos Londonon (or, al Londono) = Next Monday I shall go to London. Printempon (or, en printempo) floroj aperas = In spring flowers appear. Li venos dimanĉon (or, en dimanĉo) = He will come on a Sunday. Similarly the accusative may be used for dates, as:—Washington (pronounced Ŭaŝington) estis naskita la dudek-duan (or, en la dudek-dua) de Februaro = Washington was born on the 22nd of February. La 23^an Marton, 1906^a, or Je la 23^a de Marto, 1906 = 23rd of March, 1906.

(c). Price, weight, measure.

Examples.—La libroj kostis dek ŝilingojn (or, po dek ŝilingoj) por dekduo = The books cost ten shillings (or, at the rate of ten shillings) a dozen. La ĉambro estas alta dek du futojn (or, je dek du futoj) = The room is twelve feet high. La kesto pezas tridek funtojn (or, je tridek funtoj) = The chest weighs thirty pounds.

69. General Remarks on the Accusative.

From the foregoing examples we see the important part the accusative N plays in the construction of Esperanto, the clearness it gives to the meaning of a sentence, and the advantage it affords in permitting words to be placed in almost any order, The following examples will further illustrate this.

(a). Qualifying and Predicative Adjectives.—An adjective is termed "qualifying" when its noun or pronoun actually possesses the quality which the adjective denotes; and the adjective then agrees with the noun or pronoun both in case and number. But a "predicative" adjective, although it agrees in number, is always in the nominative (pars. 36, 108).

Examples.—Mi trovis la belajn rozojn (or, rozojn belajn) = I found the beautiful roses. Mi trovis la rozojn belaj = I found the roses beautiful. In the first example the assertion is that beautiful roses were found; but in the second you assert only that you found, or discovered, that they were beautiful; they might, in someone else’s opinion, have been the contrary.

(b). Qualifying Adverbs are invariable.

Examples.—Li skribis al mi tute malveran raporton pri la afero = He wrote me an entirely false statement of the matter. Mi pensis, ke ŝi estas treege bela = I thought (that) she was (is) extremely beautiful.

(c). Nouns and Pronouns in apposition have like cases and numbers.

Examples.—Vi serĉas la princon, Hamleton = You seek the Prince, Hamlet. La diablo lin prenu, la sentaŭgulon = The devil take him, the wretch!

N.B.—Note the difference in case of two nouns in the following sentences:—Kuracisto havis du infanojn, filon kaj filinon; li nomis sian filon Johano, kaj sian filinon Mario. Kiam li parolis pri ili kun mi, li ĉiam nomis sian filon Johanon kun voĉo de amo, sed sian filinon Marion antipatie = A doctor had two children, a son and a daughter; he named his son, John, and his daughter, Mary. When he spoke to me about them, he always named his son, John, in voice of affection, but his daughter, Mary, with antipathy.

N.B.—In this example, when the nouns (Johano and Mario) are in the nominative, they express what is predicated or said about the objects (filon and filinon). But when they agree in case with the objects (filon and filinon), this shows they are nouns in apposition (see pars. 108, 109).

(d). Proper names.—In the case of non-Esperanto names it is possible to indicate the accusative, where desired, by the addition of N after a vowel, or ON after a consonant. This is the plan adopted by Zamenhof in La Malnova Testamento. Or the name may be regarded as a foreign word and left unchanged for the accusative.

Examples.—David, Davidon. Noa, Noan. Sara, Saran. Robinson, Robinsonon. Smith, Smithon (or simply Smith). Of course, proper names which have been converted by use into Esperanto are treated like other nouns in O, as, Londono, Londonon; Berlino, Berlinon. Jones iris Berlinon, kaj renkontis Arturon Brown = Jones went to Berlin and met Arthur Brown.

70. Capital Letters (Majuskloj) may be used as they are in English, but as their use varies in different languages, it is as well to follow the majority of Esperanto writers. We, therefore, advise the student to—

Use capital letters, as in English, except:—

(a). For words derived from the names of places, as:—La angla nacio = The English nation. Li estas franco kaj loĝas en Francujo = He is a Frenchman and lives in France. Sur la danan tronon mi havas rajtojn = On the Danish throne I have rights.

(b). For the names of the days of the week, as:—Mi alvenos lundon = I shall arrive on a Monday.[12]

(c). For the pronoun "I" = mi.

In the Fundamento, Zamenhof used capital letters to begin the names of months. In his mature style he also used capitals for nouns and adjectives of nationality, e.g. Angla, Anglo, Dana, Franco.

The hints in this chapter should be considered not as hard and fast rules to be learned by heart, but simply as an endeavour to state the usual practice of good writers. The best guide for the student is the study of the best authors, coupled with obedience to his own common sense and feeling for beauty of style and clarity of expression. (See par. 93.)

94. The following is the Complete Grammar of Esperanto, as given by Dr. Zamenhof at page 254 of his "Fundamenta Krestomatio de la Lingvo Esperanto," which he says is "a book that should be in the hands of every earnest student who desires to acquire a correct Esperanto style." This book contains a series of Exercises, Fables, Legends, Stories, Extracts from Scientific Articles, Articles on Esperanto, Poetry, Translations from Hamlet and The Iliad, showing how well Esperanto is adapted for every kind of subject.

It will be seen that the whole Grammar consists of sixteen short Rules, which can be learnt in less than an hour. The Esperanto is given alongside the translation. Remarks on the Rules, with examples, will be found by referring to the paragraphs given after each Rule.

95. There are nine parts of speech in Esperanto, as found in most other languages, viz., the Article (Artikolo), Noun (Substantivo), Pronoun (Pronomo), Adjective (Adjektivo), Verb (Verbo), Adverb (Adverbo), Preposition (Prepozicio), Conjunction (Konjunkcio), Interjection (Interjekcio).

Nouns, derived adjectives and adverbs, and verbs have distinctive terminations. If a word ends in -O, it is a noun; if in -A, an adjective; if in -E, an adverb; if in -I, -U, -AS, -IS, -OS, or -US, a verb. If it ends in -N, it is in the accusative case, and if in -J, it is plural.

Examples.—Domo = a house. Facila = easy. Feliĉe = happily. Doni = to give (Infinitive). Batu lin = beat him (Imperative and Accusative). Mi vidas la homojn = I see the men (Present tense and Accusative plural). Vi diris = you said (Past tense). Ni iros = we shall go (Future tense). Se ili estus bonaj = If they were good (Conditional mood and plural adjective).

96. There is no word in Esperanto for the Indefinite Article. It is, as in Latin, implied in the noun, if the sense in English requires it.

Examples.—Tio estas floro = That is a flower. Patrino kaj filo = Mother and son. Ĉu vi vidas birdon sur tiu arbo? = Do you see a bird on that tree?

97. The definite article is la = the. It is, as in English, the same for all genders, numbers, and cases.

Examples.—La patro = The father. La patrino = The mother. Donu al mi la libron = Give me the book. Ili estas la lernantoj diligentaj = They are the diligent scholars.

98. As regards its use, la is used very nearly as the definite article "the" in English, namely, to show that one is speaking of something known or definite, as opposed to what is indefinite.

Examples.—En la mezo de la korto mi vidis du infanojn el la apuda vilaĝo = In the middle of the yard I saw two children of the neighbouring village. In this sentence the yard and village are each defined by the article la, as they are also in English by "the." But if we omit the article the sentence runs:—En la mezo de korto mi vidis du infanojn el apuda vilaĝo = In the middle of a yard I saw two children of a neighbouring village. In this case the children might have been in any yard, and have belonged to any village in the neighbourhood of the speaker.

99. There are, however, cases in which the article is often used in Esperanto, though omitted in English, and also vice versa.

(a). It is usually used before nouns denoting the totality of persons or things.

Examples.—La homo estas mortema = Man is mortal. La homoj estas mortemaj = Men are mortal. La medicino estas scienco kaj la pentrado arto = Medicine is a science and painting an art. Kelkaj kuracistoj pretendas, ke la vino estas malutila al la sano = Some doctors maintain that wine is hurtful to health. Sen la akvo nia terglobo rapide fariĝus dezerto = Without water our earth would rapidly become a desert. La nokto estis tiel nigra, kiel la peĉo = The night was as dark as pitch. La azenoj amas la kardojn = Donkeys love thistles. La vento kaŭzas ofte teruran detruon en kelkaj landoj = Wind often causes terrible ruin in some countries. (In this case la vento means wind in general, spoken of as a whole, but "To-day we shall have wind" (meaning some wind) would be: Hodiaŭ ni havos venton.) Hajlo falas = Hail is falling (viz., some hail), but La hajlo estas tre malutila al la vinbero = Hail is very injurious to grapes (to the grape), means hail in general.

(b). It is not used before proper names, for the simple reason that they cannot be more definite than they are in themselves. In English it is sometimes used and sometimes not.[13]

Examples.—Danubo = The Danube. Tibro = The Tiber. Mediteraneo = The Mediterranean. Alpoj = The Alps. Unuiĝintaj Ŝtatoj Amerikaj (or, Usono) = The United States of America.

(c). If, however, a proper name is preceded by a qualifying word, the article is used.

Examples. La glora poeto, Dante = The famous poet, Dante. La imperiestro de Japanujo = The Emperor of Japan. La bona reĝino Viktorio = The good Queen Victoria.

100. The article may be used sometimes where, in English, we use a possessive pronoun.

Examples.—Li havas doloron en la kapo = He has a pain in his (the) head. Ŝi prezentis al mi la manon = She offered me her hand. Mi malkovris la okulojn = I uncovered my eyes (see also par. 134(a)).

(a). It is also frequently used instead of a possessive pronoun in speaking of one’s own relatives, or when there is no doubt as to the person to whom the article la refers.

Examples.—Mi amas la patron = I love my (the) father. Iru al la patrino = Go to your (the) mother. Kie estas la kuzo? = Where is your (the) cousin? La patro staras apud la filo = The father stands by (at the side of) his (the) son.

101. The article is almost always used before numeral adjectives showing the day, hour, month, etc., when these nouns are understood.

Example.—Hodiaŭ estas la dudek-sepa (tago) de Marto = To-day is the 27th of March.

(a). Its use is optional before the names of the seasons, and also before each separate noun or adjective.

Examples.—En la vintro, or, En vintro = In the winter. En la somero, or, En somero = In the summer. La arboj, la floroj kaj la kreskaĵoj de la ĝardeno (or, La arboj, floroj kaj kreskaĵoj) = The trees, (the) flowers and (the) plants of the garden.

(b). It is not generally used after ĉiuj = all, or, all the.

Example.—Mi ne vidis ĉiujn arbojn en la ĝardeno = I did not see all the trees in the garden.

(c). It is not used after da (see par. 259).

N.B.—From the foregoing remarks it will be seen that the English student will have no difficulty in the use of the article, if he be careful to use it with words defining a class or the totality of persons or things. He will get a good idea of its use if he will carefully study the first few exercises in the "Ekzercaro," or Exercises 1 to 4 in Part III.

In case of doubt whether the article should be used or not, it is better to omit it.

102. Elision.—The final A of the article may be omitted in certain cases (see par. 56 and Rule 16, par. 94).

103. A noun (in the singular number) in all its cases, except the accusative, ends in -O. The accusative is formed by the addition of N. In the plural it ends in -OJ, and the accusative plural is formed by adding N to these letters. Thus the root arb- is made into a noun with its numbers and cases as follows:—

• Arb-o = a tree (nominative, singular).
• Arb-on = a tree (accusative, singular).
• Arb-oj = trees (nominative, plural).
• Arb-ojn = trees (accusative, plural).

Examples.—Domo = A house. La domo = The house. La domoj = The houses. Rigardu la domojn = Look at the houses. Knabo = A boy. La knabo = The boy. Mi vidis la knabon = I saw the boy. Knabino = A girl. La knabino = The girl.

104. There are but two cases in Esperanto (Rule 2, par. 94), viz., the nominative and the accusative (or objective); the latter is obtained from the nominative by adding N to the singular or plural. Other cases are expressed by the aid of prepositions, as:—

Note that per = by is the instrumental ablative, meaning "by means, or aid, or use, of," and that kun = with means "in company with," but not in an instrumental sense, as it is sometimes in English, e.g., I held him with both hands = Mi lin tenis per ambaŭ manoj, not kun ambaŭ manoj (see par. 259 (22)).

(a). In the plural the declension is the same, with the addition of the plural termination J, as:—

Examples.—La frato skribas, kaj la fratino legas = The brother is writing and the sister reading. La patro donis la libron al sia filo = The father gave the book to his son. Tiu ĉi kaŭĉuka ringo (or, ringo el kaŭĉuko) estas por la infaneto = This india-rubber ring is for the baby. Mi vidis Jozefon kun lia kuzo = I saw Joseph with his cousin. Venu, ni atendas Vin (Cin), Savinto de la mondo = Come, we await You (Thee), O Saviour of the world. Mi lin salutis per la mano = I saluted him by the hand. La domo estas kovrita per ardezoj = The house is covered with slates. Mi vidis vian patron kun liaj du filoj = I saw your father with his two sons. Kie estas la domo de via patro? = Where is your father’s house?

105. Ellipsis.—The case (nominative or accusative) of words in Esperanto often depends upon the verb omitted when ellipsis occurs in a phrase, and unless we write the sentence in full, or think what the ellipsis is, we may not at first know what case to use to express our meaning. A glance at the following examples will show how easy it is to determine the case. The words in brackets show the ellipsis:—

• Mi konas lin pli bone, ol vi (konas lin) = I know him better than you (do, or know him).
• Mi konas lin pli bone, ol vin (ol mi konas vin) = I know him better than you (than I know you).
• Petro amas Paŭlon tiom, kiom (li amas) Johanon = Peter loves Paul as much as (he loves) John.
• Petro amas Paŭlon tiom, kiom Johano (amas lin) = Peter loves Paul as much as John (loves him).

N.B.—In the above sentences we cannot, in English, tell the meaning until the ellipsis is supplied, whereas, in Esperanto, the meaning is at once clear from the case of the noun or pronoun (par. 112).

• Li iris tien, kiel ankaŭ vi (iris) = He went there as well as you (went).
• Mi vidis lin tie, kiel ankaŭ (mi vidis) vin = I saw him there as well as (I saw) you.
• Mi neniam vidis tian hundon, kia (estas) via = I never saw such a dog as yours.

105 (a). Elision.—The final O of a noun may be omitted (par. 57, and Rule 16, par. 94).

106. Possession is (a) expressed by help of the preposition de.

Examples.—La domo de la patro = The father’s house, or, the house of the father. La libro de mia patrino = My mother’s book, or, the book of my mother. La tranĉilo de Georgo = George’s knife. Tio estas la domo de miaj fratoj = That is my brothers’ house (the house of my brothers). (See par. 73.)

(b). Possession is also denoted by the correlative words ending in ES, viz.:—ies = someone’s, somebody’s, ĉies = everyone’s, kies = whose, nenies = nobody’s, ties = that one’s, of those (see par. 154).

Examples.—Ĉies ideo estis diversa = Everyone’s idea was different. Kies domo estas tiu? = Whose house is that? Ĝi estas nenies domo = It is nobody’s house. Ĉu ĉi tio estas ies tranĉilo? = Is this anyone’s (someone’s) knife? (see par. 154).

(c). An adjective is sometimes conveniently used when in English we employ an apostrophe.

Examples.—Unutaga laboro (for, la laboro de unu tago) = One day’s work. La unuataga laboro (for, la laboro de la unua tago) = The first day’s work. Lia unuataga laboro estis en la ĝardeno, kaj poste li faris unutagan laboron en la domo = His first day’s work was in the garden, and then (afterwards) he did one day’s work in the house. Mi atendis la kapitanan respondon = I awaited the captain’s reply.

(d). In speaking of places, the English preposition "of" is not translated.

Examples.—La urbo Londono = The City of London. La Kolonio Natalo = The Colony of Natal (see par. 253 (a)).

For numeral nouns, see par. 118; for participial, pars. 208, 209; for predicative, par. 109; for compound nouns, par. 49; for form of accusative with proper names, par. 69 (d); for the infinitive used as a noun, par. 180.

107. The Adjective always ends in -A in the singular. J is added to A to form the plural. The accusative case is formed by the addition of N to the singular or plural termination.

Examples.—Forta = Strong. Saĝa = Wise. Brava = Brave. Forta homo = A strong man. Saĝa patro = A wise father. Saĝaj patroj = Wise fathers. La brava filo = The brave son. La bravaj filoj = The brave sons.

108. There are two kinds of adjectives, viz.:—(a) Qualifying or attributive (apudmetita = put adjacent), and (b) Predicative (predikateca).

(a). A qualifying adjective is one placed before or after its noun, with which it agrees both in number and case (par. 36).

Examples.—Johano havas bonan panon = John has good bread. Vilhelmo akrigis la tranĉilojn malakrajn = William sharpened the blunt knives.

(b). A predicative adjective, usually placed after the verb, denotes what is said about the noun or pronoun to which it refers, or denotes their state, condition, appearance, etc. It agrees with them in number, but is never in the accusative case (par. 36).

Examples.—La pomo estas bona = The apple is good. Vilhelmo trovis la tranĉilojn malakraj = William found the knives blunt. If the adjective were in this sentence in the accusative, the meaning would be quite altered, for, Vilhelmo trovis la tranĉilojn malakrajn would mean, "William found the blunt knives," that is to say, he was looking for blunt knives, and he found them. A predicative adjective shows that ellipsis has taken place, and the omitted verb is generally esti. For instance, the ellipsis in the above sentence might be as follows:—William found (that) the knives (are) blunt—Vilhelmo trovis, ke la tranĉiloj estas malakraj. If we elide ke and estas, the substantive takes the accusative (tranĉilojn) and the adjective (malakraj) remains in the nominative. Other examples are:—La kutimo faris lin (ke li estu) indiferenta por tio ĉi (Hamleto V., 1) = Habit made him (to be, lit., that he be) indifferent to this. Kion vi intencas nun fari, por vin montri (ke vi estas) inda filo de via kara patro? (Hamleto IV.,7) = What do you now intend to do to show yourself (that you are) a worthy son of your dear father? (see par. 105 on ellipsis).

109. Predicative Noun.—A noun also can be predicative (see par. 35).

Examples.—La patro nomis sian filon Johano = The father named his son John. Now in English it is not clear whether the father gave the name of "John" to his son, or whether he made mention of his son whose name was John. In Esperanto it is quite clear that he gave the name, for otherwise "John" would be in the accusative (Johanon, so:—La patro nomis sian filon Johanon = The father named (made mention of) his son John. Ili nomis lin Adolfo = They called him (gave him the name of) Adolphus.

110. Nominative or Accusative.—The rule, therefore, for qualifying and predicative adjectives or nouns is:—

(a). The word will be in the accusative if the object already possesses the quality in question.

(b). The word will be in the nominative if that quality, which it did not before possess, or was not known to possess, is being given to the object.

111. Participial Adjectives.—Participles are often used in Esperanto to qualify nouns and pronouns, and they are then in reality true adjectives. To distinguish them from other adjectives they are called "Participial Adjectives" (Participaj adjektivoj).

Examples.—Johano kaj Georgo estis perditaj = John and George were lost. Ni trovis ilin mortantajn = We found them (who were) dying. Ni estis finintaj, kiam vi alvenis = We had finished when you arrived (see par. 209 (b)).

112. Comparison of Adjectives.

(a). The comparative of equality is tiel ... kiel = as, so ... as.

Johano estas tiel forta, kiel Georgo = John is as strong as George.

(b). The comparative of superiority is pli ... ol = more ... than.

Johano estas pli forta, ol Georgo = John is stronger than George.

(c). The comparative of inferiority is malpli ... ol = less ... than.

Johano estas malpli forta, ol Georgo = John is less strong (weaker) than George.

(d). The other modes of expressing comparison are:—

• tia ... kia = such, such a, such kind ... as.
• sama ... kia = the same ... as.
• same ... kiel = the same ... as.
• Ju pli ... des pli = the more ... the more.
• Ju malpli ... des malpli = the less ... the less.
• Ju pli ... des malpli = the more ... the less.
• Ju malpli ... des pli = the less ... the more.

Examples.—Tia domo, kia tiu, estas malofte vidata = Such a house as that is rarely seen. Mia bastono estas tia sama, kia via, or, Mia bastono estas same, kiel via = My stick is the same as yours. Ju pli mi lin konas, des pli mi lin estimas = The more I know him, the more I esteem him. Ju malpli mi dormas, des malpli mi sentas la bezonon dormi = The less I sleep, the less I feel the want (need) to sleep. Ju pli mi lin vidas, des malpli li plaĉas al mi = The more I see him, the less he pleases me. Ju malpli mi manĝas, des pli mi trinkas = The less I eat, the more I drink.

Be careful to note that the second term in a comparison is in the nominative or accusative, according as it is the subject or complement, e.g., Mi amas mian fraton pli, ol mia fratino = I love my brother more than my sister (loves him). Mia fratino is in the nominative, amas lin being understood. But Mi amas mian fraton pli, ol mian fratinon = I love my brother more than my sister. Here fratinon is in the accusative, and the meaning is perfectly clear. In English we should have to add "does" to the first example to make the phrase clear: "I love my brother more than my sister does" (see par. 105).

113. Superlatives (Superlativoj).

(a). The superlative of superiority is la plej = the most.

(b). The superlative of inferiority is la malplej = the least.

The preposition el = out of, of, is used with the superlative when it relates to numbers, or something collective, as a "group," "society," etc. But when the superlative relates to the place or position where the superiority is or was, then some other appropriate preposition is used.

Examples.—Johano estas la plej forta el la knaboj = John is the strongest of the boys. Petro estis la plej malforta el ĉiuj = Peter was the weakest of (out of) all. Georgo estas la malplej kuraĝa knabo en la domo = George is the least courageous boy in the house. Ŝi estis la plej bela virino, kiun mi iam vidis = She was the most beautiful woman whom I ever saw. Tiuj ĉi estas la plej grandaj arboj en la arbaro = These are the largest trees in the wood. Li estis la plej bona Esperantisto el la grupo (klubo, societo) = He was the best Esperantist of the group (club, society). Metu la plej grandajn glasojn sur la tablon = Put the largest glasses upon the table. Ne ĵetu la plej grandajn ŝtonojn en la puton, sed la plej malgrandajn (malplej grandajn) = Do not throw the largest stones into the well, but the smallest (the least large).

(c). The superlative absolute is indicated by tre = very, or treege = exceedingly, or troe = excessively, or some other suitable adverb.

Example.—Tiu virino estas tre malbela kaj treege grasa = That woman is very ugly and exceedingly fat.

114. Degrees of intensity of adjectives can also be shown by the aid of the suffixes -EG- and -ET- with or without an adverb. The suffix -EG- is stronger in its application than the adverb tre = very. For instance, take the adjective bela = beautiful, or fine. Tre bela = very beautiful, or very fine; but belega = magnificent, or superb. So, the diminutive -ET- shows more diminution than the adjective malgranda = small, or little, would show when qualifying a noun. For instance, malgranda rivero = a small river, but rivereto = a brook, or stream. The following list shows how twelve adjectives of varying shades of intensity can be formed from the root varm-, between the extremes tre varmega = broiling hot and tre malvarmega = intensely cold, supposing we were speaking of the weather:—

See remarks on the suffixes -EG- and -ET-, par. 277.

115. The cardinal numbers are:—

(1) unu, (2) du, (3) tri, (4) kvar, (5) kvin, (6) ses, (7) sep, (8) ok, (9) naŭ, (10) dek, (100) cent, (1,000) mil, (0) (zero, naught) = nulo.

Miliono (million) is a noun, the root being milion-.

(a). The numbers 11 to 19 are formed by simply placing (10) dek before the first nine, as:—(11) dek unu, (12) dek du, (13) dek tri, (14) dek kvar, (15) dek kvin, (16) dek ses, (17) dek sep, (18) dek ok, (19) dek naŭ.

(b). The numbers (101 to 119), or (1,001 to 1,019), are formed by the addition cent, or mil, as:—(101) cent unu, (102) cent du, (110) cent dek, (116) cent dek ses, (1,001) mil unu, (1,006) mil ses, (1,114) mil cent dek kvar.

(c). The tens, hundreds, and thousands are formed by prefixing one of the numbers 2 to 9 before dek, cent, or mil, as:—(20) dudek, (30) tridek, (40) kvardek, (200) ducent, (500) kvincent, (900) naŭcent, (2,000) dumil, (4,000) kvarmil, (8,000) okmil.

(d). The intermediate numbers (21 to 29), (31 to 39), etc., are formed by adding the required number to the tens, as:—(21) dudek unu, (22) dudek du, (33) tridek tri, (96) naŭdek ses, (121) cent dudek unu, (342) tricent kvardek du, (1,021) mil dudek unu, (8,754) okmil sepcent kvindek kvar.

(e). The cardinal numbers never change their forms for case or number.

Examples.—La du infanoj dividis inter si sep pomojn = The two children divided between themselves seven apples. Unu prenis tri kaj la alia prenis kvar el la pomoj = One took three and the other took four of the apples. Kvin kaj sep faras (or, estas) dek du = 5 and 7 make (are) 12.

(f). Unu is sometimes used in the plural, and unuj then means some. It is used generally in relation with aliaj = others.

Examples.—El ŝiaj multaj infanoj, unuj estas bonaj kaj aliaj malbonaj = Among (out of) her many children, some are good and others bad. Li ekzamenis la pomojn, kaj trovis unujn bonaj kaj aliajn malbonaj = He examined the apples, and found some good and others bad. Note that bonaj and malbonaj are predicative adjectives, and therefore in the nominative (see pars. 36, 108 (b)).

(g). Unu is sometimes used when our indefinite article is employed as a numeral.[14]

Example.—Ĉar ĉiu el ni havas unu vortaron, prenu vian kaj lasu mian = Since we have each a dictionary, take yours and leave mine.

116. Ordinal numbers, being really adjectives, are, in Esperanto, made such in the usual way by adding A to the cardinals, as:—unua = first, dua = second, tria = third, kvara = fourth, kvina = fifth, sesa = sixth, sepa = seventh, oka = eighth, naŭa = ninth, deka = tenth.

(a). If the cardinal is composed of two or more numbers, A is added to the last only, as:—dek-unua = eleventh, dek-dua = twelfth, dek-naŭa = nineteenth, dudeka = twentieth, dudek-unua = twenty-first, cent-tridek-naŭa = hundred and thirty-ninth.

N.B.—Note that the ordinal numbers are linked by hyphens.

(b). The Ordinals follow all the rules of adjectives as to case and number.

Examples.—Donu al li la trian, kaj prenu la kvaran = Give him the third, and take the fourth. La kvinaj etaĝoj de tiuj domoj estas tre altaj = The fifth stories of those houses are very high.

(c). The Ordinals are usually used in speaking of pages, hours, days, months, years, kings, etc.

Examples.—Paĝo trideka = Page thirty. Vidu paĝon kvardekan (or, 40^an) = See page forty (40). Henriko kvara = Henry IV. La dek-unua horo = 11 o’clock. En la dek-sesa (tago) de Aprilo = On the 16th of April. En la jaro mil-okcent-naŭdek-naŭa = In 1899. Mil-naŭcent-kvara = 1904.

In asking questions about the above, the adjective kioma is often used.

Examples.—Sur kioma paĝo vi vidis tion? = On what page did you see that? Kioma paĝo estas? = What page is it? Kioma horo estas? = What o’clock is it? Estas la dua = It is two o’clock. Kiun daton ni havas? = What is the date (or, day of the month)? Hodiaŭ estas la dudek-sepa (or, 27^a) de Marto = To-day is the 27th of March.

117. Ordinal adverbs are formed by adding E to the cardinals, as:—unue, firstly, due, secondly, sepe, seventhly, etc.

118. Substantives are formed from the cardinals by adding O. They have various meanings, as:—Unuo = a unit, or a one. Duo = a duet, or a two (of cards). Trio = a trio, or triplet, or a three (of cards). Kvaro, etc. = a four, etc. (of cards, etc., up to ten). Dek-duo = a dozen. Deko = half a score. Dudeko = a score. Cento = a hundred. Milo = a thousand. Miliono = a million.

Examples.—Li havas dudekojn da ĉevaloj, centojn da ŝafoj, kaj milojn da birdoj = He has scores of horses, hundreds of sheep, and thousands of birds. Tiuj ludkartoj estas la kvaro pika kaj la seso kera = Those cards are the four of spades and the six of hearts. Tiu cifero estas oko = That figure is an eight.

119. Multiples are formed by the addition of the suffix -OBL- to the cardinals, and then adding A, E, or O to mark the adjective, adverb, or noun. They can also be formed into transitive verbs by the suffix -IGI-, or intransitive by the suffix -IĜI-.

Examples.—Unuobla = Single. Unuoble = Singly. Duobla = Double, twofold. Duoble = Doubly. La duoblo = The double. Duobligi = To double, to duplicate. Duobliĝi = To become double. Triobla = Triple, threefold. Trioble = Trebly. La trioblo = The treble (of). Triobligi = To treble, to triplicate. Kvarobla = Fourfold, quadruple. Kvaroble = Quadruply. Kvaroblo = A quadruple. Kvarobligi = To quadruple, to make fourfold. Kvarobliĝi = To become quadruple. Sepobla = Sevenfold, septuple. Centoblo = A centuple. Kvinoble sep estas tridek kvin = Five times (fivefold) 7 is 35. Naŭoble ok estas sepdek du = Nine times (ninefold) 8 is 72. Kvaroble kvar estas dek ses = Four times four is 16. Dudek estas la kvaroblo de kvin = Twenty is the quadruple of five. Duobla fadeno estas pli forta ol unuobla = A double thread is stronger than a single (one). Kvarobligante sepdek kvin vi ricevas la centoblon de tri = By quadrupling 75 you get the centuple of 3.

120. Fractional numbers are formed by the addition of the suffix -ON- to the cardinals, and then adding A, E, or O to mark the adjective, adverb, or noun, as:—Duona = half, duone = by halves, duono = a half (1⁄2), triona = third, trione = by thirds, triono = a third (1⁄3).

Examples.—La kvarona parto de dudek kvar estas la duono de dek du, tio estas ses = The fourth part of 24 is the half of 12, that is 6. Unu triono = One third (1⁄3). Tri okonoj = Three eighths (3⁄8). Neniam faru ion poduone = Never do anything by halves. Duone ses estas tri = half of six is three.

121. The collectives are formed by the addition of the suffix -OP- to the cardinals, and then adding A or E to mark adjectives or adverbs, as:—Duopa = double, two together, duope = by twos, in pairs, triope = in threes, in triplets, dekope = by tens.

Example.—Kvinope ili sin ĵetis sur min = Five together (five at a time) they threw themselves upon me.

122. Reiteratives are formed by adding the adverb foje to the cardinals, as:—Unufoje = once, dufoje = twice, trifoje = thrice, kvarfoje = four times.

Examples.—Hieraŭ mi renkontis lin unufoje (or, unu fojon), sed hodiaŭ dufoje (or, du fojojn) = Yesterday I met him once, but to-day twice.

N.B.—Note that when the substantive fojo is used, it is in the accusative, as denoting point of time (par. 68 (b)).

123. Distributives are marked by the preposition po placed before the cardinals, meaning at the rate of, in the proportion of.

Examples.—Al ĉiu el la laborantoj mi pagis po kvin ŝilingoj = I paid each of the workmen at the rate of five shillings. Tiu ĉi libro enhavas sesdek paĝojn; tial, se mi legos en ĉiu tago po dek kvin paĝoj, mi finos la tutan libron en kvar tagoj = This book contains 60 pages, therefore if I (shall) read (in) each day at the rate of 15 pages, I shall finish the whole book in 4 days (see "po" in list of prepositions, par. 259 (22)).

124. There are several possible ways of expressing the time of day. "A quarter to three" (2.45) may be either:—

(a). Tri kvaronoj de la tria = three-quarters of the 3rd (hour).

(b). La dua kaj tri kvaronoj = the 2nd (hour) and three-quarters.

(c). Kvarono antaŭ la tria = a quarter before the 3rd (hour).

The last example is the only one which would be easily understood by an Englishman. Other nations use one or two of these methods, hence we find a diversity of methods used in Esperanto also. There is, however, one way used by nearly all nations, namely, that in railway time tables, and it is to be hoped that this will come into general use. Therefore to the question:—Kioma horo estas? = What time (hour) is it? we might simply say as follows:—

In Italy, Belgium, etc., where the hours are numbered from one to twenty-four, this system is equally applicable, as:—4.10 p.m. in Italy = 16.10 = La dek-sesa (horo) dek.

125. There are seven classes of Pronouns:—(1) Personal, (2) Possessive, (3) Relative, (4) Interrogative, (5) Demonstrative, (6) Distributive or Collective, (7) Indefinite.

As, however, the last five classes are so intimately connected with other parts of speech, and as some of the pronouns represent two classes, and some two parts of speech, it is better to treat them as correlative words (see pars. 139–157), so under the head of "Pronouns" we give only the personal and possessive.

126. The personal pronouns are:—

Nominative.

Accusative.

Oni = one, people, they, we (like the French "on"), is an indefinite pronoun of the 3rd person. Oni may be deemed singular or plural.

Owing to the fact that in most languages the word corresponding to oni is invariable, Esperanto authors have generally avoided the accusative and possessive forms onin and onia, although they are occasionally met with. These forms are, however, perfectly regular, and may be used without hesitation if desired.

Si = self, selves, oneself, is a reflexive pronoun of the 3rd person, singular or plural.

Vi, like "you" in English, represents both the singular and plural, but when it refers to more than one person, words depending on it take the plural form.

Ĝi, like "it" in English, is used to represent things, and also persons and animals when the name does not reveal the sex.

Examples.—Mi lin amas = I love him. Li min vidas = He sees me. Ili trovis lin kaj min en la ĝardeno = They found him and me in the garden. Vi ne vidis nin = You did not see us. Vi (plural) estas pli saĝaj, ol ili (estas) = You are wiser than they are. Ŝi vidis ilin en la dormoĉambro = She saw them in the bedroom. Oni diras, "Per mono oni povas aĉeti ĉion" = They (people) say (it is said), "With money one (or, we) can buy everything. Mi vidis la domon, sed ĝi estis tro malgranda = I saw the house, but it was too small. Se oni estus riĉa, or riĉaj = If one were rich.

(a).—In words like infano = child, persono = person, individuo = individual, etc., the sex is not revealed; neither is it in the general name of an animal, as:—leono = a lion, hundo = a dog, birdo = a bird, etc., unless we add the feminine suffix -ino. In all such cases, when we do not know the sex, we use the pronoun ĝi. If, however, the sex is known, and we wish to demonstrate it, we can use the pronouns li or ŝi respectively. Zamenhof advises the use of li and ŝi for human beings only, and of ĝi for all other animals, even when the sex of the animal is known and indicated; the use of li or ŝi in such cases is nevertheless legitimate if desired.

Examples.—La infano forkuris, kiam mi parolis al ĝi (or li if we know the sex) = The child ran away when I spoke to it. Tio estas bela ĉevalino, ĝi (or, ŝi) trotas bone = That is a fine mare, she trots well. Se iu vizitos min dum mi forestas, diru al ĝi, ke ĝi revenu morgaŭ = If anyone (someone) should call upon (visit) me whilst I am away, tell him or her (it) to come again to-morrow.[15]

127. The word mem = self or selves is sometimes used with a personal pronoun or noun to give emphasis.

Examples.—Mi mem ĝin vidis = I myself saw it. Ni mem ĝin trovis, or, Ni ĝin trovis mem = We found it ourselves. Vi venu mem = Come yourself. Ŝi mem parolos = She herself will speak. Li mem respondu = Let him answer (for) himself. La virinoj venu mem = Let the women come themselves.

128. Si is a reflexive pronoun of the 3rd person, and therefore cannot refer to the pronouns of the 1st and 2nd persons.[16] We cannot say Mi lavas sin, or Ni, or Vi lavas sin, for "I wash myself," "We wash ourselves," "You wash yourself." We must, in each of these cases, use the pronoun which is the subject of the verb, as:—Mi lavas min—Ni lavas nin—Vi lavas vin = I wash myself—We wash ourselves—You wash yourself (or if vi = you is plural), You wash yourselves. Si, therefore, is used for the 3rd person, singular or plural, when it refers to the subject of the verb. It takes the accusative termination N when necessary, and then represents "himself, herself, itself, oneself, themselves."

Examples.—Li razis sin = He shaved himself. Petro razis sin = Peter shaved himself (Petro razis lin would mean Peter shaved him, viz., some other man referred to in the sentence). Ŝi diris al si = She said to herself (Ŝi diris al ŝi would mean "She said to her," viz., some other woman). Ĝi vundis sin = It wounded itself (Ĝi vundis ĝin would mean "It wounded it," viz., some other animal). Ili mortigis sin = They killed themselves. Li pensis en si mem, ke ... = He thought to (in) himself that ... La du fratoj renkontas la rabistojn: la fratoj atakas kaj vundas ilin, sed, tiel farante, ili vundas sin (or, sin mem) = The two brothers meet the robbers: the brothers attack and wound them, but, in so doing, they wound themselves. Mia fratino havas amikinon, kiu faras ĉion por si, kaj nenion por ŝi = My sister has a friend, who does everything for herself, and nothing for her. Oni kelkfoje tro laŭdas sin = One (or people) sometimes praises oneself (or praise themselves) too much (see conjugation of a reflexive verb, par. 170).

129. The pronoun "it" is not expressed with impersonal verbs (see par. 164).

Examples.—Kiu estas tie? Estas mi = Who is there? It is I. Neĝas = It snows. Pluvis = It rained. Necesas, ke oni manĝu = It is necessary to eat.

130. Possessive Pronouns are formed by adding the adjectival A to the personal pronouns. They are essentially adjectives, and follow the adjectival rules as to the formation of the plural and the accusative.

131. They are mia = my, mine, via = your, yours, thy, thine (cia = thy, thine, like its personal pronoun, ci, is rarely used), lia = his, ŝia = her, hers, ĝia = its, nia = our, ours, ilia = their, theirs, sia = his (own), her (own), hers, its (own), their (own), theirs, one’s (own).

Examples.—Mia patro, via frato, lia fratino, ŝia onklo, kaj iliaj onklinoj, estas en la domo = My father, your brother, his sister, her uncle, and their aunts are in the house. Mi vidis vian libron, lian bastonon, ŝian ombrelon, kaj ilian keston en la stacidomo = I saw your book, his stick, her umbrella, and their box in the station. Mi havas viajn librojn = I have your books. Ĝia koloro estas ruĝa = Its colour is red. Mia fratino renkontis vian fraton kaj viajn amikojn = My sister met your brother and your friends.

132. When a possessive pronoun stands alone, as in sentences like the following, it may or may not be preceded by the article la, at the writer’s option, but many authors prefer to omit the article on the ground that it is superfluous.

Examples.—Ĉar ni ĉiuj havas (or, ĉar ĉiu el ni havas) unu vortaron, prenu (la) vian kaj lasu (la) mian = Since we have each a dictionary, take yours and leave mine. Ŝiaj infanoj estas pli grandaj, ol (la) viaj = Her children are bigger than yours.

Note in the first example that ĉiuj is in the plural because it is in apposition to ni (see par. 69 (c)).

133. Mia is sometimes placed after a noun to denote affection.

Examples.—Patrino mia = Mother mine, or Mother dear. Fratino mia = Sister dear.

134. When a possessive pronoun refers to two or more nouns, it may, as in English, be repeated or not, but if it is not repeated the possessive pronoun is usually put in the plural.

Example.—Lia patro, lia patrino, kaj lia fratino, or, liaj patro, patrino, kaj fratino, estis en la domo = His father, his mother, and his sister were in the house.

134 (a). Personal pronouns, preceded by the preposition al, are sometimes used in a possessive sense.

Examples.—Mi kovris al mi la orelojn = I covered my (to myself the) ears. Li fermis al si la okulojn = He closed his (to himself the) eyes (see also par. 100).

135. Sia, Lia, etc.—Great care must be taken not to use sia, when the sense requires one of the other possessives of the 3rd person, or vice versâ. Sia can only refer to the subject of the sentence or proposition in which it occurs, and being reflexive, it can never form part of the subject of a sentence, as:—Li diris al ni, ke lia (not, sia) hundo ĵus mortis = He told us that his dog had just died. Like its root si, it is used for the 3rd person, singular or plural, and may represent "his (own), her (own), hers, its (own), their (own), theirs, or one’s (own)."

Since sia, being reflexive, can never form part of the subject of a sentence, we cannot say Li kaj sia edzino iris Parizon, because li and edzino are equally subjects of the same clause. But if we substitute kun for kaj, then li becomes the sole subject, and we can correctly say, Li kun sia edzino iris Parizon, or, Li iris Parizon kun sia edzino = He went to Paris with his wife. If we use kaj we must say, Li kaj lia edzino iris Parizon = He and his wife went to Paris.

136. In the four following examples sia refers to the subject of the sentence:—

Mia patrino forgesis sian libron = My mother forgot (or, has forgotten) her book. Tiuj infanoj perdis siajn gepatrojn = Those children have lost their parents. La hundo amas sian mastron = The dog loves its master. Oni devas ami sian najbaron, kiel sin mem = One must love one’s neighbour as oneself. N.B.—Sin is here in the accusative owing to ellipsis, the words oni amas after kiel being understood (see par. 105).

137. In the following three sentences the possessive pronoun does not refer to the subject of the sentence, and therefore we use lia, ŝia, ĝia, or ilia, as the case may be:—

Li vidis mian amikon kaj lian edzinon = He saw my friend and his (his friend’s) wife. Ŝi venis al mi hieraŭ, por ke mi redonu ŝiajn leterojn al ŝi = She came to me yesterday in order that I might return her letters to her. La reĝo amas Johanon kaj lian filon = The king loves John and his son.

N.B.—Here the English does not show whether it is John’s son or his own son whom the king loves, but in Esperanto it is clear it is John’s son, otherwise it would be sian filon; lian filon is in the accusative here, because the conjunction kaj connects like cases (see par. 266).

(a). Note in the following examples how the possessive varies in accordance with the construction of the sentence.

El ĉiuj siaj amikinoj, ŝi plej amas Marion = Of all her friends (female), she loves Mary best. (Here siaj refers to ŝi).

El ĉiuj ŝiaj amikinoj, Mario estas le plej amata = Of all her friends, Mary is the most loved. (Here ŝiaj refers to some woman not mentioned.)

Leginte sian libron, li ekdormis = After reading (having read) his book, he fell asleep. (Here sian refers to li, understood in leginte = When he had read his book, he ...). Leginte lian libron, li ekdormis = After reading his book, he fell asleep. (Here lian refers to some man not mentioned, who might have lent him the book.)

Johano, legante sian libron, venkiĝis de dormo = John, while reading his book, was (became) overcome by sleep.

138. The following are sentences more complicated, showing the advantage of Esperanto over English, or indeed over most national languages, in respect of its great clearness of expression:—

Petro skribis al Paŭlo, ke li konduku al li sian hundon = Peter wrote to Paul to bring him his dog (sian refers to Paul because li = he (Paul) becomes the subject, and sia always, as we have said, refers to the subject of its own particular clause; if, therefore, lian had been the possessive, it would have been Peter’s dog.)

Post kiam la reĝo mortis, lia filo edziĝis kun sia/lia kuzino = After the king died, his son married his cousin. Here sia would refer to filo, the son’s cousin, but lia to reĝo, the king’s cousin.

Mia patrino petis sian filinon, ke ŝi donu al sia/ŝia fratino sian/ŝian libron. This sentence in English, whichever of the possessives be used, would be "My mother requested her daughter to give (that she give) to her sister her book." Now the mother is the first subject in this sentence, therefore sian filinon is the mother’s daughter (ŝian would mean someone else’s daughter). But afterwards ŝi (the daughter) becomes the subject, therefore sia fratino would be the daughter’s sister, and ŝia fratino the mother’s. For the remainder of the sentence ŝi (the daughter) still remains the subject, therefore sian libron would be the daughter’s book, and ŝian libron the sister’s or the mother’s book. Ties libron would definitely specify it as the sister’s book.

138 (a). From the examples given in paragraphs 128, 135, 136, and 138, we see that the reflexive pronoun si and the possessive sia always refer to the subject (noun or pronoun) of their own clause.

(b). Si and sia are likewise used when the noun or pronoun to which they refer is not expressed, but only understood.

Example.—Tio estas nova metodo brosi sian (or, la) ĉapelon! = That is a new method of brushing one’s hat!

(c). Phrases introduced by an infinitive or a participle may be regarded as new sentences, the subject of which is mentally supplied: i.e., the infinitive or the participle may be expanded to make the full sentence implied.

Examples of Infinitive.—Estas bone ne trompi (ke oni ne trompu) sin = It is well not to deceive oneself. La patrino lasis Marion legi (ke ŝi legu) sian libron (Mary’s book); ŝian libron (the mother’s book). La oficiro petis Aŭguston rigardi (ke li rigardu) lin (him) sin (himself). La patro petis sian filon, helpi (ke la filo helpu) sian (the son’s) amikon; lian (the father’s) amikon.

Examples of Participle.—La reĝo ordonis, ke ĉiuj renkontante (kiam ili renkontis) lin, eliru. La princo montris viron, starantan post li. La knabo vidis siajn fratinojn, ludantajn (kiuj ludas) per sia (their own) pupo—per lia (with his) pupo. La reĝo forveturis, ne sciiginte (kaj ne sciigis) sian ministron pri sia (the king’s) devo—pri lia (the minister’s) devo.

(d). Boirac names lia, ŝia, ĝia, etc., the direct or normal form of the pronoun, "La rekta formo," and sia the secondary or accessory form, "flanka kaj akcesora." He points out that where the use of the normal form could cause no possible ambiguity, the use of the reflexive form, though always advisable if justified by rule, is nevertheless not obligatory. It is even possible, as shown by Millidge, that the non-use of si may in some cases be felt to be somewhat clearer than its use, e.g., "La Ĥino legas siajn skribajn signojn en sia dialekto, kaj la aliaj popoloj de Azio legas tiujn samajn signojn en ilia (instead of sia) lingvo (F.K., p. 258). In any case it is better, in case of doubt, to use the normal form. It is worse to use the reflexive form when it should not be used, than to omit it when it might be used.

139. The 45 correlative words (see table, par. 147) form a very important part in the construction of the Esperanto language. Their uses and meanings are very easily learnt and remembered, since they have been exceedingly cleverly devised on a simple and uniform plan. They are all to be found in the list of Primary Words given in Part V.

140. They consist of nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and adverbs. Many of them can be applied to denote not only one word, but also expressions which require several English words to define clearly.

141. The words in the table (par. 147) are placed in series horizontally and vertically. All the words in each of the vertical series commence with the same letter, and all in each horizontal series have the same termination. It will be seen that the letter I is the first letter in the first vertical series, and that this is a central letter in each of the other words in the table. The first letter of a word conveys an idea of its meaning, and the terminal letters following I show how that idea is applied, and consequently the full meaning of the word.

(a). The initial letters convey the following ideas:—

• I- that the word is "indefinite."
• Ĉ- that the word is "distributive" or "collective."
• K- that the word is "interrogative" or "relative."
• NEN- that the word is "negative" (nen- = ne, not, and N added for euphony).
• T- that the word is "demonstrative."

(b). The terminal letters following I denote that the idea is to be applied, in accordance with the termination, as follows:—

• -A in relation to "quality" or "the kind of" (adjectival).
• -AL in relation to "motive" or "reason for" (adverbial).
• -AM in relation to "time" (adverbial).
• -E in relation to "place" (adverbial).
• -EL in relation to "manner" (adverbial).
• -ES in relation to "possession" (pronominal).
• -O in relation to "a thing" (substantival or pronominal).
• -OM in relation to "quantity" or "number of" (adverbial).
• -U in relation to "person" or "thing specified". (pronominal or adjectival).

142. The correlative words are all complete in themselves, but some of them can be used as root-words, taking grammatical terminations when required by the sense to be conveyed. Those ending in the vowels A, E, O, U, must not necessarily be presumed to be the parts of speech these letters indicate; the letters are not grammatical terminations, they simply show, as before stated, how the idea conveyed in the preceding letters is to be applied. Those ending in a vowel all take the accusative N, and those ending in A and U also take the plural J.

Theoretically it is possible for the words ending in O also to take the plural J; but in practice this is seldom useful.

143. The demonstrative pronouns, tio = that (thing), tiu = that one, the former, and sometimes ĉio, are followed by the separate word ĉi = near, to express the demonstrative pronoun, "this." Ĉi is invariable, but tio and tiu can be inflected as before stated. Thus tio = that (thing), tio ĉi = this (thing) (lit., "that here"), tion ĉi (accusative) = this (thing). Tiu = that one, the former, tiu ĉi = this one, the latter. Tiuj = those, tiuj ĉi = these (lit., "those here"). Often ĉi is placed first, as:—Ĉi tiu = this one. In fact, other things being equal, it is preferable to place ĉi before rather than after the t- word, though both forms are equally correct. Ĉio ĉi = all this.

144. The adverb, tie = there, is also followed by ĉi to denote "here." Thus tie = there, tie ĉi = here, tien (accusative) = thither, tien ĉi = hither. Occasionally ĉi is placed first, thus: ĉi tie, ĉi tien.

145. The interrogative or relative series (viz., those commencing with K) may be followed by the word ajn = ever, as kia ajn = whatever kind of, kial ajn = for whatever reason, kiam ajn = whenever, kie ajn = wherever, kiel ajn = however, kies ajn = whosesoever, kio ajn = whatever, kiom ajn = however much, whatever quantity, kiu ajn = whoever, whichever.

Some writers use ajn after other correlatives, but Dr. Zamenhof himself has rarely used it except after the series kia, kial, etc. However, he does not say it is wrong to extend its use, for when asked the question whether it could be employed after the series ia, ial, etc., he replied that it could, because, in Esperanto, any word could be combined with any other. See par. 158 (c) (d).

146. Grammatical terminations and suffixes may be added to the correlatives if required, thus making them nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, etc., as shown in the following examples. The hyphens are given to show the construction of the words, but should not be used in writing.

Ĉiam-a = Everlasting, continual. Ĉiam-e = Everlastingly, forever. Ĉie-a = Of everywhere. Ĉi-tie-a (ĉi tiea) = Of here. Tie-a = Of there. Ĉi-tie-ulo (ĉi tieulo) = A man of this place. Tie-ulo = A man of that place. Kiom-a = Of what quantity. Kioma horo estas? = What time is it? Neni-igi = To reduce to nothing, to destroy completely. Neni-iĝi = To become nothing, to vanish. Tiam-a = Of then, of that time. Tiam-ulo = A man of that time, a contemporary. La kial-o = The why and wherefore, the reason (cause). Tiel-e = In that way.

147. TABLE OF CORRELATIVE WORDS.

148. In the following examples (pars. 149–157) we have taken the correlative words in the table in the nine horizontal series, since in this way we can best show how some of the words are used in pairs.

149. Series ending in A (quality, kind of), adjectival.

• Ia = some sort of, some, a, an.
• Ĉia = every (each) kind of, every sort of.
• Kia = what a! what kind of? of what kind, ... as.
• Nenia = no, no such, no kind of, of no kind, not any kind of.
• Ia ajn, of any kind (whatever).
• Tia = such a, that kind of, of that kind.
• Tia ... kia = such ... as.

Examples.—Ĉu vi ne havas ian libron, kiu klarigos tion? = Have you not some book which will explain that?

Mi havas ian ideon kiel ĝin fari = I have some (or, an) idea how to do it.

Ekster ĉia dubo = Beyond any (every sort of) doubt.

Tiaj frazoj troviĝas en ĉiaj libroj = Such (kind of) phrases are found in all kinds (sorts) of (or, in any) books.

Ni ne scias, kiel ili fariĝis tiaj, kiaj ili estas = We do not know how they became what (such as) they are.

Nenia antaŭa sperto estas necesa = No (kind of) previous experience is necessary.

Tian virinon oni ĉiam estimas = Such a woman one always esteems.

Mi donis al li la libron tian, kia ĝi estas = I gave him the book such as it was.

Kiun aĝon li havas? = How old is he? (what age has he?)

Kia estas la vetero? = How (what kind) is the weather?

Komencante de (k)ia ajn momento = Commencing at any (whatever) moment.

Kia bela domo! = What a beautiful house!

Kiaj estas la kondiĉoj? = What are the stipulations (or terms)?

Ili estas fieraj, ni ne estas tiaj = They are proud, we are not so.

Ŝi eksentis ion tian, kion ŝi mem komence ne povis kompreni = She began to feel something such as she herself at first could not understand.

Mi ĵus eksciis iajn aferojn, kiuj ne plaĉas al mi = I have just learnt some things that do not please me (that I do not like).

Jen estas la monumento tia, kian oni priskribis = Here is the monument such as they described.

Via aĝo estas tia sama, kiel tiu de via frato = Your age is the same as your brother’s.

N.B.—Do not confuse the series ending in A with that ending in U.

Examples.—Kian libron vi bezonas? = What (sort of) book do you want? Kiun libron vi bezonas? = What (or which) book do you want? Tia homo = Such a man, that sort of man. Tiu homo = That man. Ĉiaj libroj = All (kinds of) books. Ĉiuj libroj = All (or, all the) books. Mi ĝin prenos, kia ajn ĝi estas = I shall take it whatever (sort of thing) it is.

150. Series ending in AL (motive, reason for), adverbial.

• Ial = for some reason or cause (for any reason)
• Ĉial = for all reasons, for every reason, for every cause.
• Ial ajn, for any reason (whatever).
• Kial = why? wherefore, for what reason.
• Nenial = for no reason, or cause.
• Tial = therefore, for that reason.

Examples.—Ial li subite forlasis Londonon = For some reason he suddenly left London.

Ĉial tio estas la plej bona = For every reason that is the best.

Kial vi ne respondis? = Why did you not answer?

Li nenial ĉesis skribi al mi = He for no reason ceased writing to me.

Ŝi neniam volis sekvi mian konsilon, tial mi forlasis ŝin = She never would follow my advice, therefore I forsook her.

Mi ne povas imagi kial ajn li ĝin faris = I cannot imagine why ever he did it.

151. Series ending in AM (time), adverbial.

• Iam = ever, at some time (any time), once, one day, once upon a time.
• Ĉiam = always, for all time, ever, at every time.
• Kiam = when, at what time, as (relating to time).
• Neniam = never, at no time.
• Tiam = then, at that time.

Examples.—Se iam mi venos = If ever I come (shall come).

Ĉiam skribu legeble = Always write legibly.

En tiaj okazoj ĉiam mankas io = On such occasions something is always wanting.

Kiam vi skribis tiel? = When did you write like that (thus)?

Kiam la pastro venos, diru al li la veron = When the priest comes (shall come), tell him the truth.

Tiam, kiam mi estis riĉa, mi ne estis feliĉa, or, Kiam mi estis riĉa, tiam mi ne estis feliĉa = At that time when (or, when) I was rich I was not happy, or, When I was rich then I was not happy, or the sentence might be simply Kiam mi estis riĉa, mi ne estis feliĉa = When I was rich I was not happy.

Mi neniam skribas longajn leterojn = I never write long letters.

Mi neniam aŭdis tion = I never heard that.

Sendu lin al mi, kiam ajn li venos = Send him to me whenever he comes.

Kiam ajn li venos? = Whenever will he come?

N.B.—Kiam is used after tiam, and any word denoting "time" except antaŭ = before, when ol is generally used, though kiam is used occasionally after antaŭ also (see par. 259 (3)).

Examples.—Unutage, kiam = One day, when. Iun tagon, kiam = On a day, when. Tuj kiam = As soon as, immediately when. Samtempe, kiam = At the same time, when. De l’ tempo kiam = From the time when, since. Post kiam = After. Antaŭ ol li venis = Before he came.

152. Series ending in E (place), adverbial.

• Ie = somewhere (anywhere), in some (any) place.
• Ĉie = everywhere, in every place, in all places.
• Ie ajn, anywhere (whatever).
• Kie = where, in what place, in which place.
• Tie = there, yonder, in that place. Ĉi tie or tie ĉi = here, in this place.

Examples.—Mi ne povis trovi mian libron ie en la ĉambro = I could not find my book anywhere in the room.

Ĉu vi metis ĝin ien? = Did you put it anywhere (somewhere)?

Ĉie mi trovis amikojn = Everywhere I found friends.

Tion oni povas aĉeti ĉie = That can be bought (one can buy) anywhere (everywhere).

Kien vi iras? = Where are you going?

Mi iras nenien = I am going nowhere.

Kie estas la poŝtoficejo? = Where is the post office?

Ĝi estas tie, kie staras tiu domo = It is there where that house stands.

Kien vi iras? = Whither are you going?

Mi iras tien = I am going thither.

Ĉu vi estas ĉi tie? = Are you here?

Li venas ĉi tien = He is coming here.

Kie ajn li estas? = Wherever is he?

Kie ajn li estas, li ne estas tie ĉi = Wherever he is, he is not here.

153. Series in EL (manner), adverbial.

• Iel—somehow (anyhow), in some way, in some manner.
• Iel ajn, in any way (whatever).
• Ĉiel = in every way, in every manner, in all ways.
• Kiel = how, in what manner, like, ... as.
• Neniel = nohow, in no manner, not at all, by no means.
• Tiel = thus, in that manner, like (that), so, as ...
• Tiel ... kiel (in comparison) = as ... as; so ... as.

Examples.—Iel li ĉiel sukcesas = Somehow he succeeds in every way.

Mi havis nenian ideon, kiel ĝin fari = I had no idea how to do it.

Kiel vi fartas? = How do you do? or, How are you?

Ŝi neniel povis lin kompreni tiel longe, kiel li parolis la lingvon francan = She could nohow (or, not at all) understand him as long as he spoke in the French language.

Same kiel la prudento estas donita al la homo, tiel la instinkto estas donita al la besto = Just as reason has been given to man, so instinct has been given to beasts.

Kaj tiel plu (often written k.t.p.) = And so on, and so forth.

Kiel eble plej baldaŭ (k.e.p.b.) = As soon as possible.

Li estas tiel forta, kiel vi = He is as strong as you.

Kiel ajn malmulte = However little.

154. Series ending in ES (possession), pronominal; relate to thing or person, singular or plural.

• Ies = somebody’s, someone’s (anyone’s, anybody’s).
• Ĉies = everyone’s, each one’s, of each, of all.
• Kies = whose, of whom, of which.
• Nenies = no one’s, nobody’s, of none.
• Ties = that one’s, of that, of those.

Examples.—Ĉies devo estas nenies = Anybody’s (everybody’s) duty is nobody’s.

Ies perdo ne estas ĉiam ies gajno = Someone’s loss is not always somebody’s gain.

Ĉies ideo estis diversa = Everyone’s idea was different.

Kies libro estas tiu ĉi? = Whose book is this?

Kies plumon vi uzas? = Whose pen are you using?

La domo, kies tegmenton vi vidas, apartenas al mia patro = The house the roof of which you see belongs to my father.

El kies ĉiuj paŝoj, oni povas konkludi, ke ili estas lacaj = From all of whose steps we can conclude that they are tired.

Tiu libro estas tre malpura, kies ajn ĝi estas = That book is very dirty, whosesoever it is.

Ties opinio ne multe valoras = That one’s opinion is not worth much.

Mi neniam sekvas ties konsilon = I never take (follow) that one’s (his, her, their) advice.

N.B.—Be careful not to use kies for "of which," when these words do not mean possession. We cannot say La afero kies ni parolis for "The affair of which we spoke"; we must say La afero, pri kiu ni parolis.

155. Series ending in O (thing (not specified) indefinite), substantival or pronominal.

• Io = something.
• Io ajn, anything (whatever).
• Ĉio = everything, all things, all.
• Kio = what (thing), which.
• Nenio = nothing, not any thing.
• Tio = that (thing). Ĉi tio or tio ĉi = this (thing).

Examples.—Kio estas tio, kion vi skribas? = What is that (or, that which) you are writing?

Io estis sub la tablo, sed mi ne povis vidi ion tie = Something was under the table, but I could not see anything (something) there.

Li vidis ion, kion li tre amis = He saw something he liked very much.

Estas tempo por ĉio = There is a time for everything.

Ĉio (tio) ĉi montras, ke ... = All this shows that ...

Ĉio, kion mi havas, estas (la) via = All I have is yours.

Kio estas tio ĉi, kion mi vidas? = What is this that I see?

Nenio estas preta = Nothing is ready.

Mi nenion trovis = I found nothing.

Tio havas malbonan odoron, kio ajn ĝi estas = It (that) has a bad smell, whatever it is.

Li ne diris eĉ unu vorton pri ĉio tio ĉi (or, ĉio ĉi) al iu = He did not say even one word about all this to anyone.

156. Series ending in OM (quantity), adverbial.

• Iom = somewhat, some quantity, rather, a little, some.
• Ĉiom = all, all of it, the whole, every quantity.
• Kiom = how much, how many, what quantity.
• Neniom = none, none at all, no quantity.
• Tiom = so much, so many, as much, as many, that quantity.
• Tiom ... kiom = as much (many) ... as.

Examples.—La vetero estas iom pli varma = The weather is somewhat (a little) warmer.

Jen estas sukero, prenu iom, sed ne ĉiom = Here is sugar, take some, but not all (the whole).

Kiom da ĉevaloj vi havas? = How many horses have you?

Mi havas neniom = I have none (none at all).

Tiom pli bone = So much the better.

Tiom estas malfacile memori = So much is difficult to remember.

Donu al mi tiom da akvo, kiom da vino = Give me as much water as wine.

Kiom vi scias = As far (much) as you know.

Kiom eble = As far (much) (many) as possible.

Kiom ajn da teo tiu kesto povas enhavi, tiu ĉi povas enhavi duoble tiom = Whatever quantity (however much) of tea that chest will (can) hold, this one will hold twice as much.

157. Series ending in U (persons or specified things), pronominal or adjectival.

• Iu = someone, somebody.
• Iu ajn, anyone (whatever).
• Ĉiu = everyone, each one. Ĉiuj = all, all (of) the....
• Kiu = who, which, that, which one.
• Neniu = nobody, no one, no.
• Tiu = that (one), the former. Ĉi tiu, or tiu ĉi = this one, the latter. Tiuj, those; Ĉi tiuj, these.

Examples.—Iu estas tie = Someone is there.

Mi ne vidis iun = I did not see anyone (someone).

Ĉiu aĝo havas siajn devojn = Each age has its duties.

Ŝi legis ĉiun libron, kiun ŝi povis ricevi = She read every book she could get.

Kiu estas en la ĝardeno? = Who is in the garden?

Mi konis ĉiun viron, kiun mi renkontis = I knew every man whom I met.

Mi legis ĉiujn librojn, kiujn vi pruntis al mi = I read all the books that you lent to me.

Tiu pano estas freŝa, sed tiu ĉi estas pli freŝa = That bread is new, but this is newer.

Tiu, kiu havas la harojn nigrajn = He who has the black hair.

Neniu estis tie, tial mi vidis neniun = No one was there, therefore I saw nobody.

Tiu homo, kiu ajn li estas, ne estas malsaĝulo = That man, whoever he is, is not a fool.

Ŝi fariĝis edzino de iu bankiero, kiun ŝi konis pli bone, ol ĉiun alian = She became wife of a certain (someone, a) banker, whom she knew better than anyone (everyone) else.

Ĉiu vorto povas esti kombinata kun ĉiu alia = Any (each) word can be combined with any (each) other word.

Li pli sincere malĝojis je li, ol (k)iu ajn el liaj parencoj = He was more sincerely sorry for him, than any of his relations.

La pafilo povos en ĉiu tempo (ĉiam) esti ŝargita = The gun can be (will be able to be) loaded at any time.

Li ne permesos al (k)iu ajn tion fari = He will not allow anyone (whatever) to do that (see par. 158 (d)).

158. General Remarks.—The foregoing remarks on the correlative words show the importance of a correct knowledge of their true meanings. Twenty or more of them will be found in nearly every page of the "Krestomatio." Note the following difference in meaning of those ending in:—

(a). -AL and -EL. It will be noticed that the series AL represent phrases in English commencing with "for," as:—"for some reason," "for every reason," etc.; whereas in the series EL the phrases commence with "in," as:—"in some way," "in every way." Bear in mind that -AL relates to motive, and -EL to manner. Note the difference of meaning in tial and tiel when followed by ke. Tial, ke = for the reason that, forasmuch as, because that. Tiel, ke = in such a manner that, so that. Some beginners seem to think that kial and kiel have no difference in meaning, which is equivalent to using "why" and "how" indiscriminately. Kial li faras tion? = Why (for what reason) is he doing that? Kiel li faras tion? = How (in what way) is he doing that?

(b). -O and -U. The series O is rarely used in the plural; it relates to things which are not mentioned by name or referred to by a personal pronoun. Examples.—Kio estas tio? = What is that? Kiu estas tiu? = Who is that? Tiu estas mia frato, kiu promenadas kun sia edzino = That is my brother who is walking with his wife. Tio estas, kion mi bezonis = That is what I wanted. Tio, kio kreskas en mia ĝardeno, estas arbo = That which is growing in my garden is a tree. Tiu arbo, kiu kreskas en mia ĝardeno, estas kverko = That tree, which is growing in my garden, is an oak.

Tio is sometimes used for "it," relating to both persons and things, as:—Tio (or, ĝi) estis mi, kiu lin vidis = It was I who saw him. Tio estas ponto = It (that) is a bridge.

(c). -I: "ANY" (= SOME). It will be seen from the table of Correlative Words on pages 98, 99, that the words in the column commencing with I have as their main idea indefiniteness, corresponding to the English some (or other). Thus: Li estas ie = he is somewhere (or other). Mi manĝos ion = I shall eat something (or other). Iu faris tion = Someone (or other) did that.

In English, especially in a sentence which is negative, interrogative, or suppositional, the word any is often used in this sense instead of the word some. In such cases (as shown in brackets in the table) the i- words may be translated with any; thus: Ĉu vi manĝis ion? = Did you eat anything (something)? Mi ne manĝos ion = I shall not eat anything. Se li estus ie en la ĉambro = If he were anywhere (somewhere) in the room. Ĉu iu faris tion? = Did anyone (someone) do that? Mi ne konas iun, kiu povus = I do not know anyone who could. Se iu faris tion = If anyone did that....

(d). "ANY" (= ANY WHATEVER). Sometimes, however, the word any is used not with the meaning of some (as in the preceding paragraph), but with the meaning any whatever. Take, for example, the questions: What will you eat for breakfast? Where shall we go? The answers might be: Oh, anything (you like, it doesn’t matter what); and Anywhere (you like). This meaning of any (any whatever) may be expressed in various ways: (1) By a k-word followed by ajn, thus: Kion ajn, Kien ajn (the words vi volas or similar words being understood). (2) By an i-word followed by ajn, thus: Ion ajn, Ien ajn. Method 1 is usually adopted by Zamenhof, but method 2 is increasingly used. (3) Sometimes a ĉ-word may be used. Thus, the sentence: Anyone could do that, may be translated: Kiu ajn (or, Iu ajn, or, Ĉiu) povus tion fari.

(e). AJN. The word ajn is used not only as shown in the preceding paragraph, but also after the k-series, to correspond to the English -ever (see par. 248 (b)). It is also occasionally used with the ĉ-series and the nen-series, thus: Mi serĉis lin ĉie ajn = I looked for him absolutely everywhere. Li estas nenie ajn = He was nowhere at all, absolutely nowhere.

159. There are no irregular verbs in Esperanto. Every verb is conjugated exactly the same.

160. The following are the grammatical terminations of all verbs, from which it will be seen that there are only three tenses (see pars. 214–236), three moods (see pars. 171–202), and six participles (see pars. 203–213).

CONDITIONAL, or US MOOD.

-US, as: Se mi farus = if I did, or, should (or, would) do, or, were to do.

IMPERATIVE, or U MOOD.

-U, as: Diru al li, ke li tion faru = tell him to do that (lit., that he do that).
Ni faru tion = let us do that.

INFINITIVE MOOD.

-I, as: Fari = to do.

N.B.—For examples of the noun-participles see par. 209.

161. A transitive verb has two forms or voices, the active and the passive.

(a). A verb is in the active voice when the subject is acting upon the object. The object then, being governed by the verb, must be in the accusative case; as:—Johano batis la hundon = John beat the dog. Here Johano is the subject acting upon hundon, the object; therefore hundon is in the accusative.

(b). A transitive verb is in the passive voice when the subject is acted upon; as:—La hundo estis batata de Johano = The dog was (being) beaten by John. The preposition "by" or "with," preceding the complement of a verb in the passive voice, is de or per. De is used for the agent, and per for the means or manner, as:—La domo konstruita de mia patro estas kovrita per ardezoj = The house built by my father is (having been) covered with slates.

162. An intransitive verb expresses an action confined to the actor, as:—Johano dormas = John sleeps, or, is sleeping. Intransitive verbs have therefore no object and no passive voice.

163. There is but one auxiliary verb in Esperanto, esti = to be. This verb is used to form the passive voice, and also all the compound tenses of the active voice. The verb havi = to have is in no sense an auxiliary, but is an ordinary active verb denoting ownership, and governing the accusative case, as: Mi havas libron = I have a book.

In Esperanto the following and other verbs are often used where English would usually employ "to be," viz., kuŝi = to lie; sidi = to be situate; sin trovi = to find oneself; troviĝi = to be found; stari = to stand; farti, or, stati = to be (well or ill).

Examples.—La krajono kuŝas (estas) sur la tablo = The pencil is (lies) on the table. Sur la kameno staris (estis) fera kaldrono, en kiu sin trovis (estis) bolanta akvo; tra la fenestro, kiu sin trovis (estis) apud la pordo, la vaporo iris sur la korton = On the hearth was (stood) an iron kettle, in which was (found itself) boiling water; through the window, which was near the door, steam went out into (on to) the yard. Kiel statas via tuso? = How is your cough?

164. Verbs used impersonally (senpersone) express a fact or action without indicating any person as the subject or actor. In English they are used only in the third person singular, preceded by "it," but in Esperanto they are entirely impersonal. The following are cases of their impersonal use:—

(a). Verbs which relate to the weather.

Examples.—Pluvas = It rains. Pluvos = It will rain. Fulmis = It lightened. Neĝus = It would snow. Hajlis = It hailed.

(b). Verbs which are generally used with the subject expressed, but occasionally without.

Examples.—Okazas = It happens. Ŝajnos = It will seem. Prosperis al mi trovi = It was my fortune to find.

(c). The verb esti = to be, when used with an adjective-adverb, or passive participle-adverb.

Examples.—Estas pli bone forkuri = It is better to run away. Estas dirite, ke ... = It is said that ...

(d). In the compound tenses the participle takes the adverbial form, since there is no noun or pronoun with which it can agree (see par. 245).

Examples.—Se estus pluvinte hieraŭ, ni ne estus povintaj eliri = If it had (should have) rained yesterday, we should not have been able to go out. Mi tondigos la herbon, kiam estos pluvinte = I shall get the grass cut, when it has (will have) rained.

165. Reflexive verbs show the action of the subject on itself. They are used only when the subject really acts on itself, and not, as in many other languages, on other occasions (see par. 128 on the use of the reflexive pronoun si, and par. 170, conjugation of a reflexive verb).

Examples.—Mi lavas min = I wash myself. Li lavis sin = He washed himself. Vi razos vin = You will shave yourself. Ili vestis sin = They dressed themselves.

166. When there are more subjects than one, and the act goes from one to another of the subjects, the word reciproke, or the expression unu la alian, may be used. With the latter the personal pronoun is not repeated.

Examples.—Ili batis sin reciproke, or, Ili batis unu la alian = They beat one another. Ili ĵetis terbulojn al la kapo unu de la alia = They threw clods (lumps of earth) at one another’s heads.

167. CONJUGATION OF ESTI.

The following are the simple tenses and moods of esti, by the aid of which all the compound tenses in the active voice and all the tenses in the passive voice of every verb in Esperanto are formed. The compound tenses of esti, such as mi estas estanta = I am being, etc., are very rarely used.

INFINITIVE MOOD.

Esti = to be.

PARTICIPLES.

Note that participles take the plural J and accusative N if required (see par. 207); also the adverbial E (see par. 209 (c)).

INDICATIVE MOOD.

Present.

N.B.—The pronoun ci = thou is rarely used.

Past.

Future.