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Using adjectives as verbs

door kinghajj, 23 oktober 2007

Berichten: 28

Taal: English

kinghajj (Profiel tonen) 23 oktober 2007 23:18:14

How acceptable is it to turn an adjective into a verb? For example:

Li estas inteligenta.
Li inteligentas.

For sentences like that, dropping "esti" could ease conversations, at least for intermediate speakers of Esperanto. What are your thoughts on it?

RiotNrrd (Profiel tonen) 24 oktober 2007 01:08:30

kinghajj:How acceptable is it to turn an adjective into a verb?
It is perfectly acceptable, and is done all the time.

quickstopme (Profiel tonen) 25 oktober 2007 05:15:00

kinghajj:How acceptable is it to turn an adjective into a verb? For example:

Li estas inteligenta.
Li inteligentas.

For sentences like that, dropping "esti" could ease conversations, at least for intermediate speakers of Esperanto. What are your thoughts on it?
Hmm how would that translate if that is a verb?
(sorry, I'm a begninner)

lagwagon555 (Profiel tonen) 25 oktober 2007 09:02:04

Apparently in esperanto, you can use verbs for some of the things english uses 'am (adjective)'.

Mi ĝojas = I am happy

So hes asking if

Li inteligentas = He is intelligent

I am also interested to find the answer to the original question. I dont know where to draw the line either.

awake (Profiel tonen) 26 oktober 2007 01:10:33

Yes, that's exactly what it means.

You can ad the verb indicators -as, is, os, us, u, and i, to any root word where it makes sense

Consider Li kuras = he runs, or he is running.
Li koleriĝas = He is becoming angry
Li inteligentas = He is intelligent

You could also say things like

Inteligentu! ne fumu! = Be Smart! Don't smoke!

lagwagon555:Apparently in esperanto, you can use verbs for some of the things english uses 'am (adjective)'.

Mi ĝojas = I am happy

So hes asking if

Li inteligentas = He is intelligent

I am also interested to find the answer to the original question. I dont know where to draw the line either.

RiotNrrd (Profiel tonen) 26 oktober 2007 06:10:21

And also remember that in sentences where the word "it" refers to an artificial subject, the Esperanto word (ĝi) is dropped, turning the three word "It is *adjective*" sentence into a single Esperanto verb.

It's true!

Ĝi estas vera!
Ĝi veras!
Veras!

BasCostBudde (Profiel tonen) 26 oktober 2007 08:47:02

"it" in "it's true" may still refer to something factual, from previous fragments. In that case it should be translated.

Ĝi veras! => (the thing you just said) is true
Veras! => "there is truth", possibly followed by an explicative clause

"It rains" is the common example of an artificial subject, hence translates into "pluvas".

mnlg (Profiel tonen) 26 oktober 2007 09:45:23

BasCostBudde:Ĝi veras! => (the thing you just said) is true
"tio veras" is perhaps much better for this meaning.

I would use "ĝi veras" to mean more or less "it really exists", but on second thought perhaps I wouldn't.
Veras! => "there is truth", possibly followed by an explicative clause
Well, keep in mind that when you say something like "veras, ke lia nomo estas Jozefo" (it is true that his name is Joseph), the subject is "ke lia nomo estas Jozefo" (subjective sub-sentence introced by "ke"), so there is a subject after all.

RiotNrrd (Profiel tonen) 26 oktober 2007 15:11:32

BasCostBudde:"It rains" is the common example of an artificial subject, hence translates into "pluvas".
It seems to me that one could make the case that in the sentence "It is raining", "it" could be considered to refer to a real subject because "it" refers (or could refer) to that big cloud overhead.

"The big cloud right up above us is raining."
"It is raining."

So, I think there might be a bit of a grey area here.

mnlg (Profiel tonen) 26 oktober 2007 15:51:22

RiotNrrd:So, I think there might be a bit of a grey area here.
All that's grey is the raining sky okulumo.gif

No, I think that "pluvas" is the Esperanto version of (neo)latin impersonal verbs. You can say, for instance, "ventas kaj pluvas", or "sunas ekstere", and, as far as I know, that would be perfectly accepted.

If you really want an explanation, though, just think of "pluvas" as "estas pluvo", that is literally, "there is rain", just as in "estas libro sur la tablo", there's a book on the table.

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