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Your hair needs cutting

by sudanglo, October 10, 2015

Messages: 35

Language: English

sudanglo (User's profile) October 10, 2015, 9:04:23 AM

Can you translate into Esperanto the following preserving the same subject:

Your hair needs cutting.
The window frames need painting.
This room needs cleaning.

Серёга (User's profile) October 10, 2015, 9:53:47 AM

Via hararo bezonas tondadon.
La fenestra framo bezonas farbadon.
Tiu ĉi ĉambro bezonas ordofaradon.

Fenris_kcf (User's profile) October 10, 2015, 1:24:19 PM

I'd use either one of the affixes "-ind"/"-end" or the volative "-u" on "est" along with the passive participle, e.g.:

Via hararo estas tondinda/tondenda.
Via hararo estu tondata/tondota.

Tempodivalse (User's profile) October 10, 2015, 2:35:52 PM

Why do you want to preserve the same subject?

"X needs to [passive]" is rather idiomatic to English, I would think, and not easily (or appropriately) translated to some other languages.

Rujo (User's profile) October 10, 2015, 3:55:50 PM

It seems to me that the verb "postuli" also is good enough to formulate the examples. It is also unnecessary to use the suffix "ad", given in the examples "tondri" and "farbi", applying the principle of necessity (neceso) and sufficiency (sufiĉo) because the first are verbal and the last one is substantive. So, we would give the following examples: Viaj [kap]haroj postulas tondron. La fenestra framo postulas farbon. Tiu ĉi ĉambro postulas ord[ig]on.

RiotNrrd (User's profile) October 10, 2015, 4:27:25 PM

Eble...
Via hararo tondindas.
La fenestraj framoj farbindas.
Ktp.

I considered an -iĝ suffix in there, but thought that context is perhaps sufficient to make clear what is what. In some cases like these I am still not real strong on when to use it and when not to. So, perhaps tondiĝindas, etc.

Transitivity still bedevils me, sometimes.

klmn (User's profile) October 10, 2015, 4:32:13 PM

Vi bezonas tondri la hararon.
Oni bezonas farbi la ramon de fenestro.
La ĉambro devus esti ordigita.

Серёга (User's profile) October 10, 2015, 7:56:44 PM

RiotNrrd:Eble...
Via hararo tondindas.
La fenestraj framoj farbindas.
Ktp.

I considered an -iĝ suffix in there, but thought that context is perhaps sufficient to make clear what is what. In some cases like these I am still not real strong on when to use it and when not to. So, perhaps tondiĝindas, etc.

Transitivity still bedevils me, sometimes.
I like this variant.

robbkvasnak (User's profile) October 10, 2015, 9:03:58 PM

In large parts of the US people use the form: you hair needs cut - the room needs painted... etc.
I know "grammarians" will tell me that this is wrong [and it is also not a form that I use] but it is so common that trying to change the speech of so many would be impossible

Vestitor (User's profile) October 10, 2015, 9:26:40 PM

robbkvasnak:In large parts of the US people use the form: you hair needs cut - the room needs painted... etc.
I know "grammarians" will tell me that this is wrong [and it is also not a form that I use] but it is so common that trying to change the speech of so many would be impossible
Are you serious? It's not just 'wrong', but semi-literate. The same sort of structure creates: 'Your hair needs wash..' which sounds like someone speaking English as a second language. I could easily understand: 'Your hair needs (a good) wash', but not the former sentence.

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