Why the N --need help for grammar
by EoMy, May 22, 2012
Messages: 15
Language: English
Hyperboreus (User's profile) May 23, 2012, 6:10:05 AM
fajrkapo (User's profile) May 23, 2012, 8:54:21 AM
RiotNrrd:I said if you could give an example of any preposition replaced by -n, but i see you answered yourself memRiotNrrd:The accusative -n can be used to replace any preposition, whether it's describing a measurement or not.Not that I necessarily think it should.
The replacement of prepositions by the accusative case has always struck me as somewhat inelegant, and potentially confusing. I much prefer using adverbs, which basically do the same thing without making you wonder how that intransitive verb got a direct object, look at that -n, that's really weird, oh wait, that's right, preposition, duh.

sudanglo (User's profile) May 23, 2012, 9:11:27 AM
kiu datumis de Ludoviko XIVa, kaj kies refaron oni opiniis senutila, ĉar ĝi superis krutaĵon ducentmetre profundan
kaj tie vivas la gigantuloj, tridek fute altaj
I could find no hits with larĝa or longa. So the conclusion is that the normal way is N metrojn longa/larĝa/profunda etc.
In theory, N-metre M-a is perfectly valid Esperanto.
darkweasel (User's profile) May 23, 2012, 10:37:25 AM
黄鸡蛋:IMO the second one.sudanglo:The only examples I could find in the Tekstaro, HB, were :By the way, is tridek fute altaj ok or should it be tridekfute altaj?
kiu datumis de Ludoviko XIVa, kaj kies refaron oni opiniis senutila, ĉar ĝi superis krutaĵon ducentmetre profundan
kaj tie vivas la gigantuloj, tridek fute altaj
I could find no hits with larĝa or longa. So the conclusion is that the normal way is N metrojn longa/larĝa/profunda etc.
In theory, N-metre M-a is perfectly valid Esperanto.
RiotNrrd (User's profile) May 23, 2012, 4:27:36 PM
Hyperboreus:Could you give some source that explains using adverbs for measurements or some Zamenhofian text that uses it that way?I can't. As sudanglo said, it's theoretically correct. However, it seems that using the accusative for measurements is considerably more customary.
That could be because using the accusative to replace prepositions in general can generate some potentially confusing constructions, but in measurements it's kind of obvious what's going on, so the potential for confusion is quite a bit less.