What colour did you paint the walls?
од sudanglo, 13. фебруар 2015.
Поруке: 26
Језик: English
sudanglo (Погледати профил) 13. фебруар 2015. 12.43.07
johmue (Погледати профил) 13. фебруар 2015. 12.49.54
sudanglo:Translation please. I'll explain later why I ask.Kiakolore vi pentris la murojn?
Instead of "kiakolore" you could use "kiukolore" which means "which colour of some (imaginary) list of available colors".
Question for advanced learners: What about "Kiufarbe vi pentris la murojn?"
oreso (Погледати профил) 13. фебруар 2015. 13.46.32
A beginner appears!
Kiu koloro vi farbis la murojn?
Kiel vi farbis la murojn?
- Mi farbis la murojn verda.
- I painted the walls green
Balbutanto (Погледати профил) 13. фебруар 2015. 15.31.04
sudanglo:Translation please. I'll explain later why I ask.Per kiu koloro vi farbis la murojn?
kaŝperanto (Погледати профил) 13. фебруар 2015. 15.46.16
oreso:Komencanto aperas!If sudanglo counts as a beginner then I haven't even started learning yet
A beginner appears!
Kiu koloro vi farbis la murojn?
Kiel vi farbis la murojn?
- Mi farbis la murojn verdaj.
- I painted the walls green
I imagine he's pondering the problem of consistency between asking about what color you painted the walls and telling someone what color you painted them.
Mi farbis la murojn verdaj.
Kiu koloro vi farbis la murojn?
I like johmue's "kiakolore" suggestion, otherwise "Per kia koloro..." makes more consistent sense.
Rujo (Погледати профил) 13. фебруар 2015. 15.58.48
Oni skribus jene:
Je kiu koloro vi farbis la murojn?
Kiel vi farbis la murojn?
- Mi farbis la murojn verdaj.
- I painted the walls green
Je kiu koloro vi farbis la murojn?
Tempodivalse (Погледати профил) 13. фебруар 2015. 19.12.51
Vi farbis la murojn kiu koloro?
but this looks kind of wrong now, and I'm not sure why. Syntactically, this doesn't look any different from sundry cases like Vi farbis la murojn verdaj.
oreso:Kiu koloro vi farbis la murojn?Two nominative cases in a row ... this confuses me.
In Russian you would use the instrumental case. So - perhaps Per kiu koloro farbis vi la murojn? Or, failing that, just use the failsafe je.
Mustelvulpo (Погледати профил) 13. фебруар 2015. 19.39.03
Since the accusative can be used in place of a preposition, perhaps Kiun koloron vi farbis la murojn? is more concise, but I'd understand the meaning in any of the ways it's been expressed in any of the messages submitted so far.
nornen (Погледати профил) 14. фебруар 2015. 03.52.53
Mustelvulpo:Kiun koloron vi farbis la murojn?Predicate nouns never mark accusative.
Mustelvulpo:Since the accusative can be used in place of a preposition...
LLZ:Instead of je, the objective without a preposition may be used, when no confusion is to be feared.The accusative may be used instead of je, when no confusion is to be feared, but surely not instead of a predicate noun.
nornen (Погледати профил) 14. фебруар 2015. 06.16.19
sudanglo:Translation please. I'll explain later why I ask.Kiu koloro vi farbis la vandojn?
Vi farbis la vandojn kiu koloro?
I am not sure if Eo fronts wh-predicates.
Parallel:
A: Mi nomas vin azeno.
B: Kio vi nomas min?
A: Azeno! Azeno mi nomas vin!
A: La disputo lacigas min.
B: Kio igas vin la disputo? [1]
A: Laca, tre laca.
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[1] This sentence is actually syntactically ambiguous, however semantically unambiguous. The question "What turned you into a discussion?" doesn't make any sense. At least outside of Disc World. But due to the double nominative, all sentences with a predicate noun are syntactically ambiguous in Eo. "La urbestro nomis la ratkapiston heroo." can be syntactically be interpreted as a) "The mayor called the rat-catcher a hero." or b) "Some hero called the rat-catcher the mayor (of this town)."