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A question of politeness

af Leke, 7. jul. 2012

Meddelelser: 19

Sprog: English

Leke (Vise profilen) 7. jul. 2012 15.42.09

What are the levels of politeness in Esperanto? Like, if I say...

Get me a drink :: Irprenu al mi trinkaĵo.
...and...
Could you get me a drink? :: Ĉu vi irprenus trinkaĵo al mi?

Is the first considered rude? Is the second considered unnecessary? Are they even right lango.gif

Scratch (Vise profilen) 7. jul. 2012 15.59.26

It all depends some on the context, but to me, it's always more polite to put a request as a question. If you request something using a command, you might be at risk of being impolite.

darkweasel (Vise profilen) 7. jul. 2012 16.16.41

Your trinkaĵo lacks an -n.

erinja (Vise profilen) 8. jul. 2012 03.14.19

ir/ is totally unnecessary on "preni", and I wouldn't be completely sure of the intended meaning if someone told me to "irpreni" something.

sudanglo (Vise profilen) 8. jul. 2012 08.27.39

Mi petas, bonvolu venigi por mi ion por trinki, se tio ne estos tro granda ĝeno.

tommjames (Vise profilen) 8. jul. 2012 09.11.52

erinja:ir/ is totally unnecessary on "preni", and I wouldn't be completely sure of the intended meaning if someone told me to "irpreni" something.
I would guess they meant something like "fetch". I remember seeing irpreni in a dictionary somewhere, can't remember which one though. Think it might have been Benson. I've never really seen the word used though.

Tempodivalse (Vise profilen) 8. jul. 2012 15.44.33

tommjames:
erinja:ir/ is totally unnecessary on "preni", and I wouldn't be completely sure of the intended meaning if someone told me to "irpreni" something.
I would guess they meant something like "fetch". I remember seeing irpreni in a dictionary somewhere, can't remember which one though. Think it might have been Benson. I've never really seen the word used though.
"Irpreni" sounds okay to me, I understood it readily enough (isn't it just "iri + preni"?). But there are other ways to express the same thing. Personally I like "havigi al mi" (is that used frequently though?), or maybe just "bonvolu doni".

I'm not sure that using the imperative by itself is "rude" by default. I think, in spoken Esperanto, this might also depend on the intonation used. However, in practice, I think it's generally wise to moderate it with "bonvoli", or at least precede the demand with "Mi petas,".

But I find that one beauty of Esperanto is in the nuances and levels of meaning (or, in this case, politeness) that one can get across:

*"Donu al mi trinkaĵon!" - Gimme a drink! - Abrupt, not polite in formal company.

*"Bonvolu doni al mi trinkaĵon" - Please give me a drink. - Softer, more appropriate.

*"Mi petas, donu al mi trinkaĵon" - I request, give me a drink. - About the same as the 2nd one.

*"Ĉu vi povus havigi al mi trinkaĵon?" Would you be able to get me a drink? - Very polite, maybe unnecessarily so in some situations.

Kirilo81 (Vise profilen) 11. jul. 2012 14.44.03

I use "irpreni" quite often as it is the equivalent of a frequent German word, "holen", which basically means "go from A to B in order to get something/someone there and bring it/him back to A".
Neither "venigi" nor "havigi" for my sense convey these nuances - but of course one can argue that their are just as clear in most contexts, I'm aware that my mother tongue influences my habits also in E-o.

sudanglo (Vise profilen) 11. jul. 2012 21.40.42

I agree Erinja, I have never come across irpreni and its meaning is not obvious.

Perhaps venigi is better used for persons rather than objects.

Venigu kuraciston - fetch a doctor.
Alportu por mi trinkaĵon - fetch me a drink.

It seems unnecessary to emphasise the going part of fetching, but if so, then iru preni will do (or iru aĉeti, if relevant)

Leke (Vise profilen) 11. jul. 2012 22.26.16

I got irpreni from the dictionary here on lernu. I remember in school, we were told not to use the word 'get' and to try and find a different verb to express ourselves. I thought fetch was best and irpreni was the verb that was returned. Thanks for the suggestions though ridulo.gif

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