Hi all,

In Lession 22 here:
http://en.lernu.net/kursoj/puzlo/chefa.php

Demos 9 and 10 offer two translations which seem pretty specific.

Mi amas lin kiel amiko.
and
Mi amas lin kiel amikon.

Can someone describe to me the intricacies of this? Thanks,

-- Stefano Esperantisto
http://seblogo.blogspot.com

The difference is in the first sentence, you yourself are being like a friend. In the second one you're saying that you love him as if -he- were a friend, as if to emphasize that you don't love him in a romantic way.

This is explained in The Sixteen Rules of Esperanto Grammar as follows:

Desambiguation with -N

The ability to distinguish between subject and object via the -N ending not only allows greater freedom of word order, but also allows us, in some cases, to remove potential ambiguities when a coordinated noun's relationship to the original noun is either tacit or indeterminable. A good example of what this means is the sentence

He treated me like a prince

What does this mean? That he wined me and dined me? Or that he ordered my head lopped off? Well, all us native English-speakers know that the first is correct -- because the entire expression is basically an idiom, its meaning more or less free of the meanings of the words contained. Unfortunately, the meaning may be less clear to the non-native speaker.

In Esperanto, this sort of sentence is easily handled. In the first case

Li traktis min kiel princon

where the -N on the end shows that the noun coordinates with "min". On the other hand, if we should (for some reason) wish to express the second case, we can use

Li traktis min kiel princo

where the lack of a final -N shows that the noun coordinates with "li".

Although since friendship is usually reciprocal, this distinction is quite specific.

The prince example is much easier to understand. Thanks!

tommjames:The difference is in the first sentence, you yourself are being like a friend. In the second one you're saying that you love him as if -he- were a friend, as if to emphasize that you don't love him in a romantic way.

This is explained in The Sixteen Rules of Esperanto Grammar as follows:

Desambiguation with -N

The ability to distinguish between subject and object via the -N ending not only allows greater freedom of word order, but also allows us, in some cases, to remove potential ambiguities when a coordinated noun's relationship to the original noun is either tacit or indeterminable. A good example of what this means is the sentence

He treated me like a prince

What does this mean? That he wined me and dined me? Or that he ordered my head lopped off? Well, all us native English-speakers know that the first is correct -- because the entire expression is basically an idiom, its meaning more or less free of the meanings of the words contained. Unfortunately, the meaning may be less clear to the non-native speaker.

In Esperanto, this sort of sentence is easily handled. In the first case

Li traktis min kiel princon

where the -N on the end shows that the noun coordinates with "min". On the other hand, if we should (for some reason) wish to express the second case, we can use

Li traktis min kiel princo

where the lack of a final -N shows that the noun coordinates with "li".