Berichten: 10
Taal: English
Hesiod (Profiel tonen) 25 februari 2014 07:17:21
"Estas malfacila trovi literaturon en esperanton."
Edit: I'm not so sure about the word order. Also, I think I may have posted this in the wrong spot.
johmue (Profiel tonen) 25 februari 2014 08:14:33
Hesiod:I was wondering if this sentence is grammatically correct. If it is, then I think I understand the -n. It's the simplest concept, I know, but I think a few bad anki cards have reinforced some bad habits. Never mind the validity of the statement itself. :]Corrected: "Estas malfacile trovi literaturon en Esperanto"
"Estas malfacila trovi literaturon en esperanton."
Read on -n after "en" here: http://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/rolmontriloj/n/...
The usage "Estas malfacila trovi ..." can also be considered grammatically correct, however according to my personal experience, the e-form is more common.
http://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/i-verboj/subjek...
Hesiod (Profiel tonen) 25 februari 2014 09:14:42
yugary (Profiel tonen) 26 februari 2014 06:43:46
johmue:Actually, only "malfacile" is right in this case. Verbs are always modified by adverbs in Esperanto, even when the infinitive functions as a substantive.Hesiod:I was wondering if this sentence is grammatically correct. If it is, then I think I understand the -n. It's the simplest concept, I know, but I think a few bad anki cards have reinforced some bad habits. Never mind the validity of the statement itself. :]Corrected: "Estas malfacile trovi literaturon en Esperanto"
"Estas malfacila trovi literaturon en esperanton."
Read on -n after "en" here: http://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/rolmontriloj/n/...
The usage "Estas malfacila trovi ..." can also be considered grammatically correct, however according to my personal experience, the e-form is more common.
http://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/i-verboj/subjek...
kaŝperanto (Profiel tonen) 27 februari 2014 16:01:48
Another interesting use that tripped me up on the exams is the use of accusative after "kiel", as in:
"Mi elektis lin kiel prezidanton" ~= "I elected him as president" (as in he is now the president, and I elected him to be president).
vs.
"Mi elektis lin keil prezidanto" ~= "I elected him as president" (as in I was the president and I elected him).
This usage actually perfectly jives with the "accusative is object" idea, since "kandidaton" links it to the object "vin" while "kandidato" links it to the subject "mi", but for some reason this tripped me up. I'm not sure if the Lernu exam materials list this, but PMEG has an entry about it (not under the accusative directory, though). I stole my example from there.
PMEG
The accusative is very powerful, it just takes time to learn (and more so to recognize) its peculiarities.
yugary:That is my understanding as well. You need a noun to have an adjective. You can have "Ĝi estas varma", but if you drop the subject from the sentence you must use "Estas varme".
Actually, only "malfacile" is right in this case. Verbs are always modified by adverbs in Esperanto, even when the infinitive functions as a substantive.
robbkvasnak (Profiel tonen) 27 februari 2014 21:05:32
eshapard (Profiel tonen) 11 juni 2015 22:45:17
yugary:If you say "erari estas home (to err is human)", then I think you are modifying the infinitive erari.Hesiod:Actually, only "malfacile" is right in this case. Verbs are always modified by adverbs in Esperanto, even when the infinitive functions as a substantive.
"Estas malfacila trovi literaturon en esperanto."
In "Trovi literaturon en esperanto estas malficila", is malficila modifying the infinitive trovi, or are you modifying the phrase 'trovi lituraturon en esperanto'?
erinja (Profiel tonen) 11 juni 2015 22:49:35
eshapard:In "Trovi literaturon en esperanto estas malficila", is malficila modifying the infinitive trovi, or are you modifying the phrase 'trovi lituraturon en esperanto'?This would need to be "...estas malfacile"
You're still modifying "trovi" regardless of how you want to parse it. If you wanted to use the a-form, it would have to be "Trovado de literaturo en Esperanto estas malfacila"
eshapard (Profiel tonen) 11 juni 2015 23:00:57
erinja:So would you say that you use the adverb form to modify both the infinitive and infinitive phrases?eshapard:In "Trovi literaturon en esperanto estas malficila", is malficila modifying the infinitive trovi, or are you modifying the phrase 'trovi lituraturon en esperanto'?This would need to be "...estas malfacile"
You're still modifying "trovi" regardless of how you want to parse it. If you wanted to use the a-form, it would have to be "Trovado de literaturo en Esperanto estas malfacila"
robbkvasnak (Profiel tonen) 12 juni 2015 01:31:44
So, just think of "you like ME" and not "you like I" to start with. This explains how even English has retained the objective form in some cases, even though the word order would suffice.
I bet that in an Esperanto-speaking world things would get more or less complicated but you can really always find a form like "malfacilas trovi..." and "bluas la ĉielo" - I think we often try to hold on to our Indo-European habits when we could just let go with the flow. Dang, back then they would have said "Esperanto is so grovy" but that sort of left town with the peace movement...
