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Random vocab questions

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Ubutumwa 21

ururimi: English

Kalantir (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 19 Gitugutu 2011 21:28:18

I decided instead of making a new thread every time I have a question about a word, I'd just make this one thread and post all my random vocab questions in here.

The first word I am having difficulty with is placxas. I understand that placxi is "to please", "to be pleasing", or "to appeal". But when I don't quite understand what that becomes when it changes to -as, -os, -is, etc..

I'm sure it's really simple and reading the answer will probably cause a face palm moment

Chainy (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 19 Gitugutu 2011 22:04:16

La aŭto plaĉas al mi = I like the car (it's pleasing to me)

La aŭto plaĉis al mi = I liked/used to like the car. (lit. "it was/used to be pleasing to me")

La aŭto plaĉos al mi = I will like the car.

Kalantir (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 19 Gitugutu 2011 22:09:21

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Would it be more or less common for someone to say "Mi sxatas la auxto"?

Chainy (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 19 Gitugutu 2011 22:17:14

Kalantir:Thanks for clearing that up for me. Would it be more or less common for someone to say "Mi sxatas la auxto"?
Mi ŝatas la aŭtoN. (don't forget the 'n'!)

Yes, that's fine, too. It has pretty much the same meaning.

I'm sure this question has come up many times before - try doing a Google search through the forums to read other comments...

erinja (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 19 Gitugutu 2011 23:55:46

Both forms (Mi ŝatas Xn and X plaĉas al mi) are equally correct.

The ŝatas form is more common in modern Esperanto, which is fortunate for English speakers, because "ŝati" works basically like "to like".

Kalantir (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 27 Gitugutu 2011 12:43:42

Technically this isn't really a vocab question, but I figure better to post it here than to make a new thread...

Anyways, as I'm learning more I'm encountering sentences that seem rather awkwardly worded to me from an English speakers point of view. For example... "Fakte al mi pli plaĉas somero ol vintro". Is there any other way to word this which feels would feel more natural to me?

I interpret the literal translation of this to be "indeed to me more pleasant summer than winter".

Could I word it like "Fakte al mi somero pli placxas ol vintro"?

erinja (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 27 Gitugutu 2011 13:03:50

Yes, you could word it that way.

You could also word it as "Fakte mi pli ŝatas someron ol vintron"

Esperanto is pretty flexible. We do vary word order sometimes, and usually it has to do with emphasizing some part of the sentence, or making something sound nicer or flow better.

Kalantir (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 27 Gitugutu 2011 13:56:43

Cool! Does the flexible sentence structure ever make it hard for people with different native languages to understand each other? What I mean is... someone who grew up speaking a different language than me might favor a different word order. I can foresee this making it difficult for me to immediately translate what they are saying in my head.

UUano (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 27 Gitugutu 2011 13:57:58

Kalantir:I interpret the literal translation of this to be "indeed to me more pleasant summer than winter".
There is no verb in this rendering, which might be the source of confusion. Would "indeed to me is more pleasant summer than winter" be less confusing, although awkward in English? (plaĉi = to please, or to be pleasing...not just the adjective 'pleasant')

Kalantir (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 27 Gitugutu 2011 14:03:17

UUano:
There is no verb in this rendering, which might be the source of confusion.
Apparently I'm still having difficulty with the idea of pleasant used as a verb. Typically when I try to think of the verb form I try to add -ing to the end of the English word. When that makes a fake word like "pleasanting" I start to get confused (I'm hating English more and more as time goes on...)

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