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A little phrase to help beginners with the basic tenses.

by thirddaykid, May 21, 2012

Messages: 24

Language: English

thirddaykid (User's profile) May 21, 2012, 2:45:40 AM

Here is a little phrase I came up with to help me remember the basic suffixes for the past, present, and future tenses.

As it is, it was, as it is, always it will be. (always = os; play on words)

PAST: As it -is, it was,
PRESENT: -as it is,
FUTURE: -os it will be.

Tell me what you think, or if you have your own devices for remembering these.

Ĝereto.

hebda999 (User's profile) May 21, 2012, 6:10:13 AM

thirddaykid:...

PAST: As it -is, it was,
PRESENT: -as it is,
FUTURE: -os it will be.

...
Kill me, man. They are only six letters! Such a big problem to remember that?

Try: isasos

fajrkapo (User's profile) May 21, 2012, 8:46:48 AM

hebda999:

Kill me, man. They are only six letters! Such a big problem to remember that?

Try: isasos
Isasos Usu, important greek bussiness man...
dont be so cruel with the boy!
Ne estu tiel kruela kun la knabo Hebda! he´s got ilusion making rules...
But for the correlatives he will need Hammurabi´s Code at least ridulo.gif

hebda999 (User's profile) May 21, 2012, 9:04:09 AM

fajrkapo:
Isasos Usu, important greek bussiness man...
Isasos Usui - don't forget the infinitive.

fajrkapo (User's profile) May 21, 2012, 9:21:38 AM

hebda999:Isasos Usui - don't forget the infinitive.
Hoooo, jesss, vi pravas, mi forgesis...I forgot
Ankaŭ mi forgesis la Antikvan egiptianan kuzon de Isasos, Itatot Intantont, (onklo de Tutanhamon) la familio kreskas...umm
too me forgot the old egiptian cousine of Isasos, Itatot Intantont, tutanhamon´s uncle, la family growing up (i forgot it was in english, too, take the pill, ...)

thirddaykid (User's profile) May 22, 2012, 3:27:15 AM

hebda999:
thirddaykid:...

PAST: As it -is, it was,
PRESENT: -as it is,
FUTURE: -os it will be.

...
Kill me, man. They are only six letters! Such a big problem to remember that?

Try: isasos
No offense taken. It is not that hard to remember, I am just starting. In my head when I was first learning the tenses I kept saying: is was, as is, os will. I just extended it to become a full phrase. I actually know them now without having to think of the phrase, but thought it was a clever mnemonic device. I was wondering if anyone had their own mnemonic devices for remembering things in Esperanto.

acdibble (User's profile) May 22, 2012, 3:41:40 AM

It usually better to learn things in context:

Mi estis, mi estas, mi estos.

I was, I am, I will be.

fajrkapo (User's profile) May 22, 2012, 11:50:27 AM

thirddaykid: I was wondering if anyone had their own mnemonic devices for remembering things in Esperanto.
as, is, os, the first always for the present--a-,
the others occupate the same places i-o than (a-e-i-o-u), i pass, o future. l-e-r-n-u, u the last for imperative: a-e-i-o-u
they are small memory rules but can be useful, or funny at least.

In the correlatives you have -am for time ( pronounce ta(i)m)
-om, for quantity, number, you could use at-om example, kiom da mono havas vi?, kiom-a horo estas?

cFlat7 (User's profile) May 22, 2012, 12:58:53 PM

I have avoided memory devices involving English words in them as I have wanted to ultimately speak and think in Esperanto with as little English 'baggage' as possible.

xdzt (User's profile) May 22, 2012, 7:26:10 PM

cFlat7:I have avoided memory devices involving English words in them as I have wanted to ultimately speak and think in Esperanto with as little English 'baggage' as possible.
On a related note, the only mnemonic device I've ever learned was "sohcahtoa" for "sine: opposite/hypotenuse, cosine: adjacent/hypotenuse, tangent: opposite/adjacent" -- my math teacher loved that phrase and drilled it into our heads. Even today it flashes up when I deal with any trigonometry -- and I hate it. It firmly compounded the idea that mnemonics are just extra things to memorize and are ultimately counterproductive when compared with simply memorizing the thing.

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