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Use of "post" in time expressions

de PrimeMinisterK, 29 de junio de 2022

Aportes: 15

Idioma: English

PrimeMinisterK (Mostrar perfil) 29 de junio de 2022 03:21:29

Could someone please clarify this use of "post" for me?

If someone were to to say, "La koncerto estos post du tagoj," does this mean that the concert is IN three days or AFTER three days? Like, if today is Monday, when is the concert?

Likewise, for "Post tri tagoj ni iros al Vaŝingtono."

If today is Monday, when are we going to Washington?

Metsis (Mostrar perfil) 29 de junio de 2022 06:41:43

Nur miaj du spesoj…

PMEG defines the temporal post with
PMEG:
Plej ofte post montras tempon pli malfruan ol alia tempo.
which I take to mean that it necessary that the given amount of time must have passed. Thereby

● La koncerto estos post du tagoj.

means that the concert will be on thursday(*) if today is monday. I might be wrong here and I bet not all count the same way.

*: Technically thursday is the earliest possible, so the concert might be anytime after that, next week or next month, but people do not speak that way, rather the closest one is meant. Cf. if you have 105 euros, you do not say "I have over 10 euros", but "I have over hundred euros".

Altebrilas (Mostrar perfil) 29 de junio de 2022 14:48:59

For me, post unu tago estas tomorrow, and "post neniu tago" may be today.

PrimeMinisterK (Mostrar perfil) 2 de julio de 2022 07:54:55

Metsis:Nur miaj du spesoj…

Etc. . .
In the example I provided, it seems that if we're going with the textbook definition of "post," then Thursday would be correct. However, I can't seem to find it right now, but somewhere in La Teorio Nakamura it uses an example which seems to use "post" in the way that we might use "in." For instance, "The concert is in two days," which would make the concert on Wednesday.

So this is confusing.

PrimeMinisterK (Mostrar perfil) 2 de julio de 2022 07:58:15

Altebrilas:For me, post unu tago estas tomorrow, and "post neniu tago" may be today.
So in the example "La koncerto estos post du tagoj," if today is Monday, would you understand the concert to be on Wednesday?

sudanglo (Mostrar perfil) 2 de julio de 2022 11:31:28

PMK. would it be helpful to consider what antaŭ 2 tagoj means. I suppose that strictly any time more than 2 days ago is also antaŭ du tagoj but I don't think that anybody would use it that way. So if today is Wednesday then li alvenis antaŭ du tago would mean that he arrived on Monday.

In the same way, if today is Wednesday, li alvenos post du tagoj would mean that is expected to arrive on Friday.

I found this in the bible in Hoŝea (old testament)
1 Ni iru, ni revenu al la Eternulo; ĉar Li disŝiris, sed Li ankaŭ resanigos nin, Li frapis, kaj Li ankaŭ bandaĝos niajn vundojn. 2 Li revivigos nin post du tagoj; en la tria tago Li restarigos nin, kaj ni vivos antaŭ Li.

You could check this in your English version but the implication is clear

Metsis (Mostrar perfil) 4 de julio de 2022 08:13:20

So, according to that Bible quote, post requires full two days to pass and only on the third something further can happen.

Altebrilas (Mostrar perfil) 4 de julio de 2022 12:27:30

And the problem is even less simple if you take into account expressions like:
Trinku tiun kuracilon, kaj antaux tri tagoj, vi resanigxos.

sudanglo (Mostrar perfil) 9 de julio de 2022 14:57:13

Trinku tiun kuracilon, kaj antaŭ tri tagoj, vi resaniĝos.

The meaning is clear. But I couldn't find any examples in the Tekstaro to support this usage.

All the examples there of antaŭ x tagoj seemed to be 'x days ago'.

On the other hand it is cumbersome to say antaŭ ol estos pasintaj tri tagoj or plie frue ol pasos tri tagoj

I found early usage of pli frue ol post

Altebrilas (Mostrar perfil) 9 de julio de 2022 23:19:45

You are right. I believed i have read it in "Metodo 11", but after checking I read "post tri tagoj". It seems that I translated it mentally from french "avant trois jours". (Antaux tri tagoj = il y a trois jours)

Btw, in "Zagreba Metodo", from which metodo 11 originates, the corresponding expression is "post unu semajno". Maybe the french doctors are more efficient than their croatian colleagues. ridulo.gif

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