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Question: Kial vidas mi vin?

JenniferatLernu :lta, 8. joulukuuta 2007

Viestejä: 10

Kieli: English

JenniferatLernu (Näytä profiilli) 8. joulukuuta 2007 0.58.37

An intermediate Esperanto speaker just sent me a message and all it says is:

"Saluton. Kial vidas mi vin?"

Does this mean: "Hi. Why do I see you?"

I thought I'd ask here before I respond "Vi vidas min? Mi ne komprenas. Ĉu vi signifas kial mi uzas Lernu?"

Thanks in advance for your help. Hey and if there are any errors in my response please let me know that too. Constructive feedback = awesome. ridulo.gif

lagwagon555 (Näytä profiilli) 8. joulukuuta 2007 1.26.02

Haha, I wonder who asked that. I'm not sure if they meant what you suggest, but heck I dont know what else they could be on about. Might as well ask them!

JenniferatLernu (Näytä profiilli) 8. joulukuuta 2007 3.03.18

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I just wanted to check to make sure it wasn't some kind of advanced slang thing I was missing.

I'll respond and use "celi" as well. Thanks for the tip. ridulo.gif

Miland (Näytä profiilli) 8. joulukuuta 2007 16.27.39

Celi means 'to aim for' rather than 'to mean', so for 'Do you wish to ask me why I use Lernu!?', I might prefer 'Ĉu vi volas demandi mi kial mi uzas Lernu!?', though 'Ĉu vi celas demandi mi kial mi uzas Lernu!?' is certainly possible.

Miland (Näytä profiilli) 8. joulukuuta 2007 20.47.46

Correction: that should be 'Ĉu vi volas demandi min kial mi uzas Lernu!?', or possibly 'Ĉu vi celas demandi min kial mi uzas Lernu!?' In both cases al mi could be used instead of min.

pacepacapaco (Näytä profiilli) 8. joulukuuta 2007 21.30.29

Oh... can somebody "demandi homon?" I just assumed that the direct object would always be the question, so I would have said "Cxu vi volas demandi al mi kial mi usas Lernu!?" I thought in English, one asks somebody (dative) a question (accusative).

Would somebody mind clearing that up for me in English and Esperanto?

mnlg (Näytä profiilli) 8. joulukuuta 2007 22.29.26

pacepacapaco:I thought in English, one asks somebody (dative) a question (accusative).
Yes, in English that's what you do with that verb (even though I think they are both accusative, because otherwise you wouldn't be able to turn it to passive and say "somebody has been asked". A dative cannot become the subject of a passive sentence, at least in the languages I know...). Consider another verb, though; consider "to pay". You can pay the bills, you can pay the supplier, you can pay dollars, you can pay the service.

Which one is the direct object? All of them.

In Esperanto, "demandi" is just as elastic (and, yes, "pagi" too).

Terurĉjo says:

"You do not ask a question. You make a question, place a question; "demandi" is a transitive verb, and usually you ask someone; but you may of course express yourself in another form: you can ask about something to someone".

pacepacapaco (Näytä profiilli) 8. joulukuuta 2007 22.37.15

Mi nun komprenis tion, kiun vi eksplikis, sed nun mi havas novan demandon. Cxu oni diru "Gxi demandis min kial mi...?" Se jes, kiu parto de frazo estas "kial mi...?" Ne povas esti klauxzo aganta kiel akuzativo se la verbo ne estas transitiva.

pacepacapaco (Näytä profiilli) 8. joulukuuta 2007 22.43.23

Okay, that makes sense now... It really doesn't, but I think I understand now. So then really, it's grammatically impossible to present a question to a question in English using the verb "to ask?" Unless you say "I asked the question a question..." Okay, I guess it wasn't really that important.

erinja (Näytä profiilli) 11. joulukuuta 2007 14.21.15

Feel free to post in any language, but since this is the English forum, and we have a lot of beginners here, please accompany all non-English posts with an English translation.

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