訊息: 25
語言: English
k1attack (顯示個人資料) 2010年3月3日上午10:29:24
"Kio estas tio?"
"Kio tio estas?"
"Tio estas kio?"
"Tio kio estas?"
"Estas tio kio?" or
"Estas kio tio?"
I don't know which one to choose. Do questions involving the word "estas" put "estas" in the middle (like in English) or at the end e.g. "Where are you?", "How big is that?" Is it ok to switch the subject and the verb in the question, and where does one usually put the question word?
ceigered (顯示個人資料) 2010年3月3日下午1:15:55
) goes first. You could say "tio estas kio" but that'd be emphasising the "tio" part, as in "that is... what is that??".Word order, well, all are right, but I'd recommend only the first two in your standard "what is that?" question. The rest are perfectly fine but may carry various insinuations. So, "kio estas tio / kio tio estas" makes things simple.
You can switch subjects and verbs around as much as you like provided people can tell that the "ki-" word addresses the right element of the sentence.
For example, "Kiel estas la kuniklo blua?" (How is the rabbit blue) is asking, in a way, "In what way does the rabbits existence make it blue" ("How is the rabbit blue? What caused the rabbit to be blue?" etc). However, "Kiel blua estas la kuniklo?" is the equivalent of saying "How blue is the rabbit?" (To what extent, or level of a quality of blue is the rabbit?).
"Kia kuniklo estas la viro?" is the same as saying "what kind of rabbit is the male?", where as "Kia viro estas la kuniklo" is the same as saying "what kind of male is the rabbit?"
Hope this helps k1attack!
darkweasel (顯示個人資料) 2010年3月3日下午3:01:26
Rogir:As far as I know, the question word must be first in the sentence (except when it is preceded by a preposition, as in 'pri kio...'). I have never seen it otherwise and I believe that it is wrong.It's not directly wrong, just uncommon. Just as in English, an Esperanto dialog could go like:
A: Hieraŭ mi iris al la urbo.
B: Vi iris kien? (with a really strong accent on the kien)
This use is also registered in PMEG: KI-demandoj
k1attack (顯示個人資料) 2010年3月3日下午3:29:35
But is it ok to say "Kiel blua la kuniklo estas?" with "estas" at the end?
And if one doesn't know the answer, then should one say:
"Mi ne scias, kiel blua la kuniklo estas." or
"Mi ne scias, kiel blua estas la kuniklo."
ceigered (顯示個人資料) 2010年3月3日下午3:51:52
k1attack:Which one's right: “Mi scias, kio Esperanto estas.” or “Mi scias, kio estas Esperanto.”Both are perfect. Unless you were asked "Kio estas Esperanto? Lingvo, ismo aux verda azeno?", in which case one might say "Mi scias, kiu Esperanto estas - gxi estas lingvon".
And yeah, "Kiel blua la kuniklo estas?" should be perfectly fine. "Kiel blua kuniklo estas?" might get a bit confusing, but is still understandable. As you might be able to tell though, you can order it fairly flexibly so if you think it could be confusing you can always shuffle things around, add in some 'la's (like in the first version of that sentence) or put the verb in between things et cetera.
When replying, you could say either one of the examples you gave. Both made perfect sense
Or you could always reply "Idioto! La kuniklo KLARE estas purpura kun flavaj punktoj!"
ceigered (顯示個人資料) 2010年3月3日下午3:57:23
jan aleksan (顯示個人資料) 2010年3月3日下午4:01:50
k1attack:How do you (usually) say "What is that?" in Esperanto?In my opinion, all of them are correct, though there is no accusative mark.
"Kio estas tio?"
"Kio tio estas?"
"Tio estas kio?"
"Tio kio estas?"
"Estas tio kio?" or
"Estas kio tio?"
Estas (is) is like "=" . tio estas kio? > tio = kio? > kio? = tio >... Accusative is not required
It's in fact the same in english: What is that? > what that is? > that is what?
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