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Confusion over grammar

de Mart1986, 7 septembrie 2008

Contribuții/Mesaje: 20

Limbă: English

Mart1986 (Arată profil) 7 septembrie 2008, 12:59:18

Hi, just a quick question for someone that may be able to help.

I wanted to say the following in Esperanto but I then realised I wasn't sure of how to say it:

"Martin is working"

Now, I came up with the following options:

1. "Martin estas laboras"
2. "Martin estas laborado"
3. "Martin estas laboradas"

I think the second would be wrong, would that mean "Martin is [a working]"?

But I'm not sure about 1 and 3. Can two verbs occur after each other like this?

Can anyone clear this up for me?

Kind regards,

Martin Rue.

Espi (Arată profil) 7 septembrie 2008, 13:47:15

Mart1986:1. "Martin estas laboras"
2. "Martin estas laborado"
3. "Martin estas laboradas"
Hi Martin,

my offers:

1. very simple and preferable: Martin laboras.

2. continuous form: Martin estas laboranta.

Amike
Espi

Mart1986 (Arată profil) 7 septembrie 2008, 13:59:18

Thanks Espi,

I was confused because "laboranta" ends with 'a' and it seems to mean that it is an adjective. But I thought "working" is an action and should have a verb ending.

I understand now the correct use. But it would still make more sense to me if the word was "laborantas".

Thanks for the reply.

Martin.

Rohan (Arată profil) 7 septembrie 2008, 14:22:28

Mart1986:But it would still make more sense to me if the word was "laborantas".
Dear Martin,

'Martin laborantas.' is in fact correct. It means the same as 'Martin estas laboranta.'.

Mart1986 (Arată profil) 7 septembrie 2008, 14:49:51

Oh!

Well, now I am lost for choice ridulo.gif

I will stick to the simple form, but it's good to know that if I wanted to explicitly express the continuous form I could do so in both ways.

Thanks for clearing this up in my own mind.

Regards,

Martin.

RiotNrrd (Arată profil) 7 septembrie 2008, 16:21:20

Mart1986:I was confused because "laboranta" ends with 'a' and it seems to mean that it is an adjective. But I thought "working" is an action and should have a verb ending.
"Laboranta" IS an adjective. But it is an active one (which is probably where your confusion came in).

Pretty much anything after "estas" is going to be an adjective (or a noun, but that's not relevant here), because it is describing a quality of the subject.

Mi estas ruĝa. (I am red.)
Ŝi estas malsana. (She is sick.)
Ili estas dikaj. (They are fat).

The adjectives which end in -anta describe a quality of being actively engaged (at the present time) in whatever the root is about.

Mi estas laboranta. (I am working.)
Ŝi estas falanta. (She is falling.)
Ili estas kurantaj. (They are running.)

This form is, however, more common in English than it is in Esperanto. The advice I've gotten is to use the simpler, verbal, forms whenever possible, as they are generally easier to understand and for the most part convey the same meaning.

Mi laboras. (I work.)
Ŝi falas. (She falls.)
Ili kuras. (They run.)

davidwelsh (Arată profil) 7 septembrie 2008, 17:12:32

As an English speaker, you're used to thinking in terms of a quite complex tense system. The fact that the tense system in Esperanto is so simple can therefore be confusing at first!

Basically, if it's:
something that happened in the past, use "-is";
something in the present or a general truth, use "-as";
something in the future, use "-os";
something hypothetical, use "-us".

Forms like "estas laboranta" or "laborantas" are very unusual in Esperanto. As an English speaker, I would simply avoid using them completely until you have a good grasp of the language.

galvis (Arată profil) 7 septembrie 2008, 17:48:57

---According to Rohan's explanation, are the following phrases correct ?

Li estas laboranta = li laborantas

ŝi estis laboranta = ŝi laborantis

ni estos laborantaj = ni laborantos

ili estus laborantaj = ili laborantus.

Miland (Arată profil) 7 septembrie 2008, 17:51:34

galvis:---According to Rohan's explanation, are the following phrases correct ?
Li estas laboranta = li laborantas...
Yes.

Mart1986 (Arată profil) 7 septembrie 2008, 18:12:56

Big thanks to everyone who helped explain that. I now feel confident in my use of as/is/os/us being correct.

I had previously wondered whether I was saying it wrong and should use the other form.

Cheers guys,

Martin.

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