This is a thread about how to form the "reverse" in Esperanto.
door Foreigner, 1 juli 2014
Berichten: 4
Taal: English
Foreigner (Profiel tonen) 1 juli 2014 16:29:49
The word "granda" means "big," so "pli granda" means "bigger" and "plej granda" means "biggest." If you add "mal-" you get "malgranda" or "small."
Now let's say you want to say "smaller" or "smallest." Should you say "pli malgranda" or "malpli granda?" The first seems to say "MORE-SMALL" while the second appears to say "NOT-MORE-BIG."
This is confusing me and I would like to know the proper way to use these combinations.
Look at this page if you must; I got these questions while reviewing it.
http://en.lernu.net/lernado/gramatiko/konciza/komp...
erinja (Profiel tonen) 1 juli 2014 16:33:17
smallest - plej malgranda
less large - malpli granda
least large - malplej granda
Remember that mal does NOT mean "not". It means "opposite". So pli malgranda doesn't mean "more not big", it means "more opposite-of-big"
Foreigner (Profiel tonen) 1 juli 2014 16:35:35
nornen (Profiel tonen) 1 juli 2014 16:44:40
Foreigner:And so "less small" is "malpli malgranda" and "least small" is "malplej malgranda?"Exactely. Chapeau!