Ili - Singular or Plural?
від RiotNrrd, 20 серпня 2007 р.
Повідомлення: 8
Мова: English
RiotNrrd (Переглянути профіль) 20 серпня 2007 р. 06:29:52
For example, "They are good":
Ili estas bona (?)
or
Ili estas bonaj (?)
I can see doing it either way. "They", as a group, refers to a single entity, and so could be considered singular. But that single entity is composed of more than one element, and on that basis could be considered plural. Or does it simply depend on whether I am applying my adjective to the group as a unit, or to each element within the group, and in fact each example (above) is correct in the appropriate context? (This last is a more precise manner than English employs, of course).
Matthieu (Переглянути профіль) 20 серпня 2007 р. 10:52:29
licx (Переглянути профіль) 20 серпня 2007 р. 10:56:30
Mutesen:I would say that ili is only plural.Yes, I would say it too. It seems very odd to me to say: "Ili estas bona"
Mendacapote (Переглянути профіль) 20 серпня 2007 р. 13:46:46
pacepacapaco (Переглянути профіль) 20 серпня 2007 р. 18:33:57
irikagina (Переглянути профіль) 21 серпня 2007 р. 00:20:54
RiotNrrd:I've just started learning esperanto, but I would say "Ili estas bonaj".
Ili estas bona (?)
or
Ili estas bonaj (?)
Taked out of "A Complete Grammar of Esperanto" :
21. Predicate nouns and adjectives agree in number with the word or words with which they are in predicate relation:Rozoj is plural, so is belaj (concordance).
Rozoj estas belaj, roses are beautiful.
Now, if I want to replace Rozoj with a pronoun, i'll take "ili" and get: "ili estas belaj": your second option.
I also would say that ili may only be plural, and as such should be always used with plural adjectives:
9.6.3:Ili.(Lernu grammar)
Ili estas plurala
RiotNrrd (Переглянути профіль) 21 серпня 2007 р. 02:43:09
irikagina:Ouch. I'm thinking that description should read "'Ili' estas plurala". Following the tack that "ili" is always plural, as it is written the sentence is, in theory, grammatically incorrect.
I also would say that ili may only be plural, and as such should be always used with plural adjectives:9.6.3:Ili.(Lernu grammar)
Ili estas plurala
I understand that they are referring to "ili" as the singular word and not concerning anything that it is referring to (which would be inherently plural). But I think it's funny that technically the sentence is making a statement about a form that it itself is not following (mainly due to lack of punctuation).
"They" is plural.
They are plural.
Those quotes make a big difference.
mnlg (Переглянути профіль) 23 серпня 2007 р. 02:23:13
Vorto "ili" estas plurala.
In general a proper name must always follow the common name, if you want to specify the common name as well. Rivero Volga, lago Ontario, urbo Bostono, strato Main, placo Temple, ŝtato Kalifornio, provinco Alberto, nacio Brazilo, etc. Too often I hear mostly English speakers say "Washington ŝtato" or "Times placo". I understand why they use such a form, but that doesn't make it correct.