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Kwishura

Grammar Issue - Bonan matenon

ca, kivuye

Ubutumwa 11

ururimi: English

Alkanadi (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 2 Mukakaro 2014 09:03:34

Is this the correct way of saying "good morning"
Bonan matenon

Shouldn't it be like this
Bona mateno

Also, if it is supposed to have the N ending, can you explainn why?

Kirilo81 (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 2 Mukakaro 2014 09:16:08

erinja (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 2 Mukakaro 2014 12:07:06

What does "GEVA" mean? I see what your link is but it might be worth titling it with something more people can understand.

Duko (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 2 Mukakaro 2014 12:13:20

Guglo
Estas
Via
Amiko
?

Kirilo81 (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 2 Mukakaro 2014 12:26:51

Yes, I've got it from here. okulumo.gif

Urho (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 2 Mukakaro 2014 14:58:20

Mi deziras (tr) al vi… -n
Mi donas (tr) al vi… -n
Mi petas (tr) … -n
→
…bonan matenon!
…bonan tagon!
…bonan vesperon!
…agrablan vesperon!
…bonan nokton!
…trankvilan nokton!
…bonan semajnfinon!

…bondezirojn!
…bonŝancon!
…ĉion bonan!

…feliĉan vojaĵon!
…bonajn feriojn!

…dankon!
…koran dankon!
…anticipan dankon!
…antaŭdankon!
…pardonon!

…saluton!
…bonvenon!

and so on.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Edit: 2014-07-05

erinja (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 2 Mukakaro 2014 15:42:35

Kirilo81:Yes, I've got it from here. okulumo.gif
Um. Wow. I wouldn't assume people know those abbreviations. I even Googled it and didn't find it.

Duko (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 2 Mukakaro 2014 15:54:48

Did you google for GEVA alone? I searched for "GEVA Esperanto" and got the wiktionary entry as the sixth search result.

Edit:
@ OP: sorry for steering off topic with the acronymes. As said above, the -n final in the greeting indicates that the good morning is not the subject of the sentence, but its direct object. The morning doesn't do anything, it's the object of a whish directed at someone.

Ulsterano (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 4 Mukakaro 2014 16:47:51

“Good Morning!" said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat.

"What do you mean?" he said. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

+++++++++

This linguistic phenomenon is described in 'Teach Yourself Esperanto' as elliptical usage.

"This term refers to those cases in which, in ordinary speech, we do not use a complete sentence, the omitted words being understood. A common example is 'Good evening!', which actually means 'I wish you a good evening!"
(Teach Yourself Esperanto p.159)

We don't notice, for the most part, that we are doing this in English since English doesn't mark nouns in the objective case with a particular ending. English does, however, have distinct object pronouns, that can be used to illustrate the grammatical point. Worth noting would be how we might answer this question in English.

"Who(m) did you see in the garden this morning?"
"Him again!"

The reply isn't 'He again!", because the pronoun is the object of the verb 'to see' for although the first part of the sentence isn't explicit, it is understood = '(I saw) him again!' 'I saw he again!' is absurd.

I hope I am not now muddying the water here...

risgrynsgroet (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 5 Mukakaro 2014 13:36:08

Ulsterano, your comment actually helped me a lot more than the other one, so don't worry about it!

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