how do you say "a cup of coffee" in esperanto?
של aausernameaa, 9 בספטמבר 2015
הודעות: 11
שפה: English
aausernameaa (הצגת פרופיל) 9 בספטמבר 2015, 14:53:41
For example, in this sentence: I would like a cup of coffee.
Thanks
Vestitor (הצגת פרופיל) 9 בספטמבר 2015, 14:55:33
Mi volas tason de kafo.
erinja (הצגת פרופיל) 9 בספטמבר 2015, 14:56:29
"taso da kafo" is a cup full of coffee (emphasis on quantity), "taso de kafo" is a cup containing coffee (emphasis on contents)
Vestitor (הצגת פרופיל) 9 בספטמבר 2015, 14:59:44
erinja:Mi deziras tason da kafo - or, Mi deziras tason de kafo.What's 'a coffee cup'?
"taso da kafo" is a cup full of coffee (emphasis on quantity), "taso de kafo" is a cup containing coffee (emphasis on contents)
aausernameaa (הצגת פרופיל) 9 בספטמבר 2015, 15:03:38
erinja:Mi deziras tason da kafo - or, Mi deziras tason de kafo.which one is correct: "Mi deziras taso de kafon" or "Mi deziras tason de kafo"?
"taso da kafo" is a cup full of coffee (emphasis on quantity), "taso de kafo" is a cup containing coffee (emphasis on contents)
erinja (הצגת פרופיל) 9 בספטמבר 2015, 15:03:46
"taso de kafo" would actually work in context but most people would call it a kaftaso.
Btw you misplaced the -n in your post, you might want to edit that (tason de kafo, not taso de kafon - no -n after a preposition!)
Vestitor (הצגת פרופיל) 9 בספטמבר 2015, 15:10:02
Kaftaso it is then. I like it better.
Miland (הצגת פרופיל) 9 בספטמבר 2015, 15:12:01
vestitor:What's 'a coffee cup'?You could have taso por kafo (I wouldn't quarrel with kaf-taso).
Tempodivalse (הצגת פרופיל) 9 בספטמבר 2015, 18:08:30
(tason de kafo, not taso de kafon - no -n after a preposition!)To be 100% clear, this is not quite accurate - you can use the accusative ending after a preposition to indicate direction toward something - e.g. Mi iras en la domon means I go into the house, vs Mi iras en la domo I am walking around inside the house. But obviously you can only meaningfully use it for that are somehow spatial - the most common ones are en, sub, sur.
As a general rule, never use the accusative after the following prepositions: de, da, al, el, pri, per, por.
erinja (הצגת פרופיל) 9 בספטמבר 2015, 19:30:15
Tempodivalse:Yeah, it's a rule of thumb and not a 100% guarantee. Obviously you are correct that there are cases where it's ok and necessary. However if you were to take the position that you should never do it, you are more likely to be correct, since it's only a very limited subset of cases when it's correct, and most beginners overuse -n after prepositions, rather than underusing it when it's necessary.(tason de kafo, not taso de kafon - no -n after a preposition!)To be 100% clear, this is not quite accurate - you can use the accusative ending after a preposition to indicate direction toward something - e.g. Mi iras en la domon means I go into the house, vs Mi iras en la domo I am walking around inside the house. But obviously you can only meaningfully use it for that are somehow spatial - the most common ones are en, sub, sur.
As a general rule, never use the accusative after the following prepositions: de, da, al, el, pri, per, por.