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Contraction of passive voice and compound tenses

fra Tempodivalse,2012 12 27

Meldinger: 5

Språk: English

Tempodivalse (Å vise profilen) 2012 12 27 00:55:52

I've noticed that on some Esperanto websites, it's become somewhat common to drop the "estas" from a compound verb or passive voice and just add an -s to the corresponding participle. For example, I see Via helpo bezonatas instead of Via helpo estas bezonata or Li legantis instead of Li estis leganta.

I've never seen this contraction used in the Zamenhof era, and only infrequently in the more modern Esperanto books that I have. So my question is, how appropriate is it for serious writing? Should I stick to using "estas" most of the time?

Chainy (Å vise profilen) 2012 12 27 01:11:40

Tempodivalse:Should I stick to using "estas" most of the time?
Yes, stick with the good old 'estas'. Simple to read, easy to understand. In the examples you give, you can say:

Oni bezonas vian helpon. Via helpo estas bezonata. Li legis (the form 'estis leganta' is generally not needed).

This topic comes up very often in the forums here, so you might find a quick search quite interesting...

Tempodivalse (Å vise profilen) 2012 12 27 23:55:18

Yes, stick with the good old 'estas'. Simple to read, easy to understand.
Thanks for the reply! I should have thought to search.

On a related note, would this advice also apply to contractions of adjectival phrases, such as Ŝiaj okuloj belas instead of Ŝiaj okuloj estas belaj?

I only ask because, to me, there is a certain beauty in expressing oneself concisely. It seems a pity not to take advantage of Esperanto's flexibility. I find these contractions a nice way to mimic the zero copula and in general keep sentences free from too many repetitions of "esti".

erinja (Å vise profilen) 2012 12 28 02:59:56

You can definitely use constructions like "belas".

But I wouldn't overuse them. People often use them as a stylistic device; you will sound weird if you use that construction every single time you want to say "[noun] is [adjective]"

brodicius (Å vise profilen) 2012 12 28 05:33:59

Tempodivalse:On a related note, would this advice also apply to contractions of adjectival phrases, such as Ŝiaj okuloj belas instead of Ŝiaj okuloj estas belaj?
I've occasionally seen some speakers (mostly in writing) frequently using this construction for adjectives. There are quite a few languages that treat adjectives as a kind of verb.

I rather enjoy the construction, I think it lends brevity and a certain pleasant style to speech.

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