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Which preposition to use.

de WereVrock, 2015-julio-10

Mesaĝoj: 7

Lingvo: English

WereVrock (Montri la profilon) 2015-julio-10 10:20:28

Different languages use different prepositions for different situations so dictionaries are not very useful to understand which one to use.

I would be glad if some can correct me if I use the wrong preposition in the following translations. Also feel free to correct me if I've made any other mistake.

It is too good to be true: Tiu estas tro bone por esti vera.

he is not brave enough to come: Li ne estas sufiĉe kuraĝa por veni.

it is good to know: I don't know if we can use a preposition for this. I would translate it as "Scii estas bona" or "Scii ĉi tiun estas bona". Is there a way to translate this literally by using a preposition?

I live to serve: Mi vivas por servi.

Kirilo81 (Montri la profilon) 2015-julio-10 11:29:09

Try not to attach yourself to the single words, because hardly ever word X from language A matches totally to word Y from language B. There is also no 1:1 equivalent in E-o to English to, which even not always is a preposition, but also a marker for the infinitive (as in some of your examples).

-It is too good to be true: ĝi estas tro bona ol ke ĝi povus esti vera - ĝi tro bonas por veri

-he is not brave enough to come: li ne kuraĝos veni

-it is good to know: estas bone scii

-I live to serve: mi vivas por servi, less literal servado estas mia vivcelo

And whenever it is still not clear which preposition to use, there is the joker preposition je - exactly for this reason.

sudanglo (Montri la profilon) 2015-julio-10 12:33:54

It is too good to be true:

tio estas tro bona por esti vera
tio estas tro bona por ke ĝi estu vera
tio tro bonas por esti vera

WereVrock (Montri la profilon) 2015-julio-10 12:50:14

Thanks but I need some clarification.

Kirilo81:it is good to know: estas bone scii
Is that a typo? You were against using "bone" with "estas". Is there something I'm missing?

Kirilo81:It is too good to be true: ĝi estas tro bona ol ke ĝi povus esti vera
I've never seen "tro" and "ol" together before. Can we say that "tro X ol Y" means "too much X for Y"?

sudanglo:tio estas tro bona por esti vera
I've meant to write this but I've written "bone" instead of "bona" due to an old habit ridulo.gif

sudanglo:tio estas tro bona por ke ĝi estu vera
Why "estu"? Can we use "esti", "estis", "estos" or "estas" instead? And if we can use "esti" instead of "estu", what difference would it make in the meaning.

Kirilo81 (Montri la profilon) 2015-julio-10 12:57:48

WereVrock:
Kirilo81:it is good to know: estas bone scii
Is that a typo? You were against using "bone" with "estas". Is there something I'm missing?
It doesn't depend on estas, but on scii. Verbs go with adverbs: Legado estas agrabla - Legi estas agrable

WereVrock:
Kirilo81:It is too good to be true: ĝi estas tro bona ol ke ĝi povus esti vera
I've never seen "tro" and "ol" together before. Can we say that "tro X ol Y" means "too much X for Y"?
"ol ke" is a combination suitable after comparisons. With tro and a single word you can't use it, but use por, as sudanglo wrote and I added in my first post.

WereVrock:
sudanglo:tio estas tro bona por ke ĝi estu vera
Why "estu"? Can we use "esti", "estis", "estos" or "estas" instead? And if we can use "esti" instead of "estu", what difference would it make in the meaning.
Again it depends of a combination: por ke always goes with the volitive -u

DuckFiasco (Montri la profilon) 2015-julio-10 17:13:00

I find "tro bona por esti vera" to be sufficient, like Sudangulo suggested. You don't usually introduce a whole nother clause when the subject is the same.

E.g., not usually "Mi volas, ke mi legu pli" but most often "Mi volas legi pli".

sudanglo (Montri la profilon) 2015-julio-11 11:16:08

Translating the spirit of 'too good to be true', which is often use in a cautionary fashion -

Tro perfekta, certe difekta

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