Difference between esti and estu
de legioncrown, 26 decembrie 2021
Contribuții/Mesaje: 3
Limbă: English
legioncrown (Arată profil) 26 decembrie 2021, 18:51:06
Mi volas estu feliĉa
Mi volas esti feliĉa
nornen (Arată profil) 26 decembrie 2021, 22:11:39
"Mi volas esti feliĉa" is more or less the same as "mi volas, ke mi estu feliĉa".
"Esti" is the infinitive, while "estu" is the optative and imperative.
In your example, you can use the infinitive only, when the person wishing is the same person being happy. Otherwise you need a subordinate clause.
Mi volas esti feliĉa = Mi volas, ke mi estu feliĉa.
Mi volas, ke vi estu feliĉa. (Not possible with infinitive)
Metsis (Arată profil) 26 decembrie 2021, 23:52:27
The verb volas also works the same way, so you say Mi volas esti feliĉa, I want to be happy. In English you can command yourself or express a wish, "I want me to be happy" which is equivalent to "I want that I am happy" except in English the first way is the preferred way. This latter cannot be expressed in Esperanto by Mi volas, ke mi estas feliĉa, because the as-ending shows a real action, something that actually happens, but here we have a wish. To express that wish Esperanto uses something called volative, volitivo. With that volative you can say Mi volas, ke mi estu feliĉa, I want me to be happy.
See the grammar for the volative here in Lernu.