Meddelanden: 5
Språk: English
patrik (Visa profilen) 28 november 2008 16:46:59
Fourth person inflectionSo, I thought, could Esperanto render the Inuit fourth person? So, I read the article on Esperanto grammar and I saw these examples:
In English, the sentence "He is leaving because he is tired" is ambiguous unless you know whether or not the two "he"'s refer to different people.In Inuktitut, in contrast, this situation is clearly marked:
Aullaqtuq taqagama.
aullaq- + -tuq taqa- + -gama
to leave + 3rd pers. sg. non-specific to be tired + 3rd pers. sg. non-specific causative
He(1) is leaving because he(1) is tired
Aullaqtuq taqangmat.
aullaq- + -tuq taqa- + -ngmat
to leave + 3rd pers. sg. non-specific to be tired + 4th pers. sg. non-specific causative
He(1) is leaving because he(2) is tired
Li manĝis sian panon. "He ate his bread" (his own bread)And I made these translations:
Li manĝis lian panon. "He ate his bread" (someone else's bread).
1. "He(1) is leaving because he(1) is tired." - Li estas foriranta ĉar si estas laca.
2. "He(1) is leaving because he(2) is tired." - Li estas foriranta ĉar li estas laca.
Do these examples violate any rules of Esperanto grammar? I read in the PMEG that the pronoun Si ne povas esti subjekto. but could this be an exception?
mnlg (Visa profilen) 28 november 2008 16:51:44
jan aleksan (Visa profilen) 28 november 2008 17:56:20
li estas foriranta pro laceco.
patrik (Visa profilen) 30 november 2008 14:15:10
So, I settle with these:
1) Li forirantas pro sia laceco.
2) Li forirantas pro lia laceco.
Dankon~!
erinja (Visa profilen) 30 november 2008 15:00:13
patrik:Thanks to jan aleksan and mnlg for the response. So, I really can't do it.I would not put "forirantas" if I were you, but simply "foriras".
So, I settle with these:
1) Li forirantas pro sia laceco.
2) Li forirantas pro lia laceco.
Dankon~!
In English, we distinguish between "he goes" and "he is going". But in Esperanto, normally we aren't so precise. Unless it is considered very important for some reason, to have the listener know the exact time when something happened, in Esperanto we use just the plain -is, -as, or -os endings. Therefore, "li foriras" could mean either "he goes" or "he is going" or "he has been going" or "he usually goes".
If greater precision is necessary, that is usually achieved through adding more words ("li kutime iras", "li iras jam dum tri jaroj", "li iras nun", etc).
I would not generally recommend making very much use of that -ant- ending with a verb. It is seen as bad style. The grammar is fine, it's just not very elegant, and Esperanto values saying things in an elegant way.