Sisu juurde

A few grammar questions

kelle poolt jdawdy, 8. oktoober 2015

Postitused: 5

Keel: English

jdawdy (Näita profiili) 8. oktoober 2015 20:00.12

I'm unclear on a few aspects of grammar:

"I want some water". Should this be "Mi volas iom akvon"? Or "Mi volas iom da akvo(akvon?)?" I'm a little unclear on whether "da" is used here, and also whether the accusative is used.

How are past quantities of time dealt with?

Ex: "I lived there 5 years ago". Should this be "Mi vivis tien antaŭ 5 jarojn"? I know the accusative is used with expressions and quantities of time but I don't have good handle on it.

Thanks
Jim

Kirilo81 (Näita profiili) 8. oktoober 2015 20:08.53

1) It's Mi volas iom da akvo - no accusative, because akvo depends on da.

2) It's Mi vivis tie antaŭ 5 jaroj - again no accusative because of the preposition.

The accusative of time point (iun tagon mi spektis televidon 'some day I watched TV' ) or duration (mi sidis antaŭ la televidilo la tutan tagon ' I was sitting in front of the TV the whole day' ) is used instead of a preposition (en iu tago - dum la tuta tago).

eshapard (Näita profiili) 15. oktoober 2015 19:04.44

Kirilo81:1) It's Mi volas iom da akvo - no accusative, because akvo depends on da.

2) It's Mi vivis tie antaŭ 5 jaroj - again no accusative because of the preposition.
Yes, another way of saying it is that you don't use the accusative after a preposition (or in a prepositional phrase). 'Da' is a preposition, so no need for the accusative.

You use 'da' when something is made out of something else as an amount of water is made of water. So iom and da will always go together ( iom da ... - some amount of ...) as far as I know. As 'some amount' is always followed by 'of' in English.

Kirilo81 (Näita profiili) 15. oktoober 2015 20:05.25

Not necessarily, as da always conveys an indefinite meaning. With the article or other definite expressions you need de:
Mi volas iom da kuko
Mi volas iom de la kuko
Mi volas iom de ĉi tio

eshapard (Näita profiili) 15. oktoober 2015 20:08.10

Kirilo81:Not necessarily, as da always conveys an indefinite meaning. With the article or other definite expressions you need de:
Mi volas iom da kuko
Mi volas iom de la kuko
Mi volas iom de ĉi tio
Oh, yes. I hadn't considered that.

Tagasi üles