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Word for "a" in Esperanto

貼文者: Bemused, 2011年12月18日

訊息: 17

語言: English

robinast (顯示個人資料) 2011年12月19日上午10:35:00

sudanglo:Does the use of 'iu' or 'unu' emphasize indefiniteness?

Unu tagon, dum mi butikumis en la urbo, iu strangulo haltigis min kaj komencis prediki al mi pri Esperanto.

I'd translate that into English as 'One day, when I as doing some shopping in the town, this weirdo stopped me and ..,'
Hmm... as I understand - jes, 'iu' indicates indefinitenes indeed and I would not translate 'iu strangulo' as 'this weirdo'. I would have said 'a weirdo', 'a kind of a weirdo', 'some weirdo' or something. Do I mistake?

drinkulo (顯示個人資料) 2011年12月19日上午10:41:33

I read in a Esperanto literature magazine, somebody proposed use the adjective unuela, unu-el-a.

But I don't remember the writer, neither the magazine.

sudanglo (顯示個人資料) 2011年12月19日上午11:37:03

'Some weirdo' will do fine instead of 'this weirdo' but 'a kind of weirdo' won't.

'a weirdo' is neutrally factual. I'm not presenting it as my appraisal.

'this/some weirdo' seems more attitudinal.

I would be interested to hear comments from others on what they feel is the difference between:

a. Fiulo forprenis mian bieron, dum mi forestis.

b. Iu fiulo forprenis mian bieron, dum mi forestis.

Bemused (顯示個人資料) 2011年12月19日上午11:41:05

Thank you Sudanglo for the suggestion and Robinast for the link
"'iu' indicates indefinitenes".

"iu Montras nekonatan aŭ nedifineblan individuan personon, aĵon aŭ aferon."

Word by word translation obtained by clicking on the words:
" to indicate unknown or undefinable individual person, thing or affair".

To summarise, a(En) means iu(Eo).

Dankon

sudanglo (顯示個人資料) 2011年12月19日上午11:58:34

Yes, Bemused.

But to ask if a chap is married, say 'Ĉu vi havas edzinon', NOT 'Ĉu vi havas iun edzinon' - which is distinctly odd.

robinast (顯示個人資料) 2011年12月19日下午12:16:26

sudanglo:'Some weirdo' will do fine instead of 'this weirdo' but 'a kind of weirdo' won't.

'a weirdo' is neutrally factual. I'm not presenting it as my appraisal.

'this/some weirdo' seems more attitudinal.
Hmmm... I am in difficulties to understand how 'this weirdo' and 'some weirdo' are interchangeable. Yes, both are more attitudinal - but as for me, 'some weirdo' feels like 'indefinite' (closer to 'a weirdo') and 'this' - like somehow 'definite' (closer to 'the weirdo'). As English is not my native language, I may have got it not right, though...

sudanglo:
I would be interested to hear comments from others on what they feel is the difference between:

a. Fiulo forprenis mian bieron, dum mi forestis.

b. Iu fiulo forprenis mian bieron, dum mi forestis.
The only difference I feel is that the second expression is a bit more emotional and expresses somewhat deeper discontentedness.

sudanglo (顯示個人資料) 2011年12月19日下午12:45:47

Not to fuss Robinast. Your English is pretty good.

My usage of 'this' in the example was just a stylistic/idiomatic sort of thing. There's not a general equivalence between 'some' and 'this'.

Interestingly, in the example about the drink that was filched, only 'some' will do in the translation.

You wouldn't say 'A bugger took my drink', and 'This bugger took my drink' would be a direct accusation of a particular person. It would always be 'Some bugger took my drink'.

Though in Esperanto both 'fiulo forprenis, and 'iu fiulo forprenis' seem possible.

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