Messages: 6
Language: English
morgant2 (User's profile) August 30, 2013, 4:18:40 PM
Could someone clarify for me which correlatives are allowed to take a -j ending for plural? For instance, I've seen kiaj or kiuj as opposed to kiu and kia in texts, but when I research this I keep being told that you don't add these endings to correlatives.
What correlatives can take a -j, and in what contexts? I'd be much obliged for any insights.
RiotNrrd (User's profile) August 30, 2013, 4:33:06 PM
morgant2:What correlatives can take a -j, and in what contexts?Any correlative that ends in a, o, or u, can take both -j and -n.
-e words (whether functioning as adverbs or correlatives) never take -j, although they may take -n (but in their case it is to show movement rather than to mark the direct object; -n in Esperanto is somewhat overloaded).
No correlative ends in -i.
Treat them like adjectives* as far as endings go (i.e., they should match anything that they link to as far as accusative and plural markings go).
Kiu homo?
Kiuj homoj?
Tia libro estas amuza.
Mi amas tiajn librojn.
---------------------------------
* Note that they are not adjectives, though. I'm just equating them for a rule of thumb.
morgant2 (User's profile) August 30, 2013, 4:37:14 PM
efilzeo (User's profile) August 30, 2013, 6:13:19 PM
kia -> kiaj
kiom -> /
kies -> /
kie -> /
kiam -> /
kiel -> /
kial -> /
kio -> /
RiotNrrd (User's profile) August 30, 2013, 6:36:01 PM
morgant2 (User's profile) August 30, 2013, 6:46:04 PM
It actually makes sense to me, as someone with English as their L1, why you'd want to make a point of distinguishing plurality with kiu and kia specifically. It doesn't really make sense with the others, at least to me.