Verda Drako- Esperanto Club Notes and English-Esperanto Course

1). Motion Towards

We have already seen (in the last chapter) that we may express the date in two ways :

je la 4a de marto or la 4an de marto. (4th of March).

In the second case the preposition je is omitted and this is shown by the use of the accusative.

This use of the accusative to indicate an omitted preposition is common in Esperanto. A particularly important case is with motion towards.

Consider the following case : The cat jumped onto the table .

We could translate by La kato saltis al sur la tablo with two prepositions for onto. It is more common to leave out the al and use the accusative i.e. La kato saltis sur la tablon.

Such usage is so common that many people ignore the omission of 'to' and claim a special usage for 'motion towards' with the accusative.

Notice the difference in meaning between

La hundo kuras en la ^gardeno (the dog is running(about) in the garden) and La hundo kuras en la ^gardenon (the dog runs into the garden).

'Accusative of motion towards' can only be used with prepositions which indicate place or position (sur, en, super, sub ktp.) (on, in, above, under etc.) and do not themselves show motion towards e.g. not with al (to). Obviously al la tablon would mean 'to to the table' (sic) and is nonsense.

The accusative of motion towards can also be used with certain adverbs e.g.

The accusative of motion towards can even be used when the motion is in the mind! Have you ever noticed the instruction at the start of the Exercise section at the end of every chapter of this book :

Traduku en la anglan (Translate into English)

To avoid confusion the preposition is never omitted in the case of movement from- we use two prepositions e.g.

La kato saltis de sur la tablo (The cat jumped off (from on) the table.)

2). Weights and Measures

Another case where an accusative is used to replace a missing preposition is with weights and measures.

Monto Everesto estas alta dudek naû mil futojn. (Mt Everest is 29,000 feet high).

The full sentence would be Monto Everest estas alta je dudek naû mil futoj.

but the je is normally omitted and hence the accusative.

Another example is Elefanto estas sep tunojn peza. (An elephant is seven tonnes heavy - or simply 'weighs 7 tonnes').

Notice that tuno is a metric tonne (1000kg). A British ton (1016kg) is angla tuno.

3). Indirect Object

In English we often seem to have two objects e.g. He gave me the book. 'Book' is the direct object and 'me' is the indirect object and often written 'to me' i.e. He gave the book to me.

In Esperanto we avoid the confusion of two accusatives and always use al with the indirect object even if left out in English.

Li donis la libron al mi.

We have already met indirect objects several times in this book but never to date with the 'to' omitted.

4). Verbs followed by the Infinitive

Certain verbs in English (auxiliary verbs) are not complete in themselves but are followed by other verbs. In Esperanto the second verb is always in the form of the infinitive.

The common auxilliary verbs are :

Povi to be able to, 'can' (F : pouvoir) Mi povas kuiri (I can cook, I am able to cook)

Devi to have to, 'must' (F : devoir) Vi devas ripozi (You must rest, you ought to rest, you have to rest)

Voli to wish, want (E : volition)

Rajti to be entitled to, have right Mi volas fumi sed oni ne rajtas fumi ^ci tie. (I want to smoke but one does not have the right to smoke here)

(I wish to smoke but here it is not allowed)

These are difficult verbs in English (not in Esperanto) particularly in the past tense.

Mi povis respondi (I could (was able to) reply )

Mi devis respondi (I had (was obliged, was bound) to reply ) (There is no past tense of 'must')

Mi volis respondi (I wished (chose, had a mind) to reply.)

There is no future of 'must' or 'can'!

Mi povos korespondi (I shall be able to correspond) ;

Mi devos korespondi (I shall have to correspond);

Mi volos korespondi (I shall wish to correspond).

Some more Affixes

5). -A^j-

This affix indicates a definite object or substance made from the root.

It is particularly useful for a 'meat'

porko pig porka^jo pork

bovino cow bovina^jo beef

Notice porko. It is a 'false friend' (falsa amiko) - a word which confuses by suggesting the wrong meeting (often connected but slightly different to the true meaning).

6). -ad-

This affix conveys the meaning of prolonged or continued action.

It can also be used to indicate an action (and in English often ending in -ing)

7). -estr-

An affix which means chief or head.

Estro is commonly used independently to mean 'boss'. Subestro is a second in command and is sometimes translated as 'foreman'.

8). Nouns in Apposition

When nouns are used together with exactly the same meaning they take the same case and are said to be in apposition. This is usually when one of them is a name e.g. Mi laûdas vin, re^gon de Anglujo (I praise you, King of England) (L : laudo).

The vin and the re^gon are exactly the same person and so are in apposition.

If the second noun is narrower in extent than the first (i.e. not totally identical) then it is always nominative. One can understand that 'which is' has been left out- and hence the nominative after estas. In English we often use 'of' in this context.

Mi vizitis la urbon Bristolo I visited the City of Bristol; Dum la monato Junio During the month of June.

hejme	at home	hejmen	homewards
sude	in the south	suden	to the south
supre	above	supren	upwards
kie?	where?	kien?	where to?
eksterlande	abroad	eksterlanden	to abroad

konstrui	to build	konstrua^jo	a building	(E : construct)
man^gi	to eat	man^ga^jo	food
nova	new	nova^jo	a piece of news
teatro	a theatre	teatra^jo	a play, a piece of theatre

penso	a thought	pensado	contemplation
spiro	a breath	spirado	breathing	(E : respire)
uzi	to use	uzado	usage

legi	to read	legado	a reading
martelo	hammer	martelado	hammering	F : marteau
krono	a crown	kronado	coronation
sango	blood	sangado	bleeding	E : sanguine

lernejo	school	lernejestro	head teacher
urbo	town	urbestro	mayor
imperio	empire	imperiestro	emperor