Question: continuous present passive vs. simple present passive
kelle poolt eikored85, 11. veebruar 2009
Postitused: 6
Keel: English
eikored85 (Näita profiili) 11. veebruar 2009 5:40.46
I have a question about how to distinguish between the continuous present passive and the simple present passive.
For example, how can the sentence "Esperanto estas parolata cxe la klubejo" be interpreted? Can it mean:
a) Esperanto is spoken at the clubhouse (as if this is normal, and is generally true at all times) OR
b) Esperanto is being spoken at the clubhouse (with the slight implication that people at the clubhouse are speaking Esperanto at this moment, but do not necessarily always speak it all the time)
I know that if I rewrite the sentence to mean sentence (a), I could just simply say "Oni parolas esperanton cxe la klubejo" and it would be clear what I meant. I suppose context can also clear things up in most cases. However, could someone please focus on just this construction and explain it to me a little bit?
Thanks!
Miland (Näita profiili) 11. veebruar 2009 9:01.21
(a) Esperanto estos parolata en la klubejo ĉi-vespere (for a special event)
(b) Esperanto-parolanta klubo (to indicate the normal state of affairs)
tommjames (Näita profiili) 11. veebruar 2009 11:50.35
eikored85:Hi all,I'd say it can be interpreted to mean either a) or b), equally well.
For example, how can the sentence "Esperanto estas parolata cxe la klubejo" be interpreted? Can it mean:
a) Esperanto is spoken at the clubhouse (as if this is normal, and is generally true at all times) OR
b) Esperanto is being spoken at the clubhouse (with the slight implication that people at the clubhouse are speaking Esperanto at this moment, but do not necessarily always speak it all the time)
In English we tend to indicate the habitual/time-to-time aspect of the present tense by using the simple present. As you've probably noticed this is not so in Esperanto, however in my experience context is almost always sufficient to infer to correct meaning.
In those cases where it isn't, I would do what Miland suggested and include additional time-sense words, such as "ĉinokte" or "nun" etc, if you want to explicitly show the action is happening right now as opposed to just generally.
jchthys (Näita profiili) 11. veebruar 2009 14:55.54
Rogir (Näita profiili) 11. veebruar 2009 15:21.39
paroliĝas - is spoken
estas parolata - is being spoken
although actually the translation may be reversed, I don't know.
eikored85 (Näita profiili) 11. veebruar 2009 17:32.20