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How about?

от 3rdblade, 25 юли 2011

Съобщения: 7

Език: English

3rdblade (Покажи профила) 25 юли 2011, 08:31:48

Is there a reasonably well-known way of saying 'how about..?' in Esperanto? It English it would be used like this:

How about we see a movie? (polite suggestion to do something)

How about a cup of tea? (which can be an offer or a request, but is usually the former)

How about this traffic? (filling up awkward silence when stuck in a traffic jam)

How about this spot? (when looking for a good spot for a picnic, for example, and asking for the others' opinion.)

darkweasel (Покажи профила) 25 юли 2011, 09:25:36

in at least some occasions: kio pri...

mnlg (Покажи профила) 25 юли 2011, 10:06:14

I have used "kio pri..." in the past but I always thought it was English influence. I guess that you can use a simple "ĉu" without being too impolite: "Ĉu ni rigardu filmon?" "Ĉu vi ŝatus teon?" and so forth.

sudanglo (Покажи профила) 25 юли 2011, 10:09:58

As far as I am aware 3rd blade there is no one formula in Esperanto for saying this, and a variety of expressions can be used.

As a general point, any suggestion can be softened/made more hesitant with 'ĉu'.

'How about we see a movie' - 'Ĉu ni iru al la kinejo/ spektu filmon'

'How about this spot' - 'Ĉu ĉi tie bonas'.

'How about a cup of tea' - 'ĉu ni trinku teon/ĉu plaĉus al vi trinki teon'

The comment on the traffic is perhaps one that could use 'kio(n) pri'. One could also try 'kia trafiko, ĉu ne?

Another tack could be to use 'se' (with the conditional). 'Kaj se ni haltus momente' - how about we stop for a minute'.

I've a vague feeling that the French do it this way except that for the first part of such conditonal sentences they use the imperfect - though I may have misremembered that.

Miland (Покажи профила) 25 юли 2011, 11:40:33

Ĉu sounds fine, as sudanglo has suggested, but if you want to express "Why not.." you might use Kial ne...

3rdblade (Покажи профила) 26 юли 2011, 01:38:02

Thanks, these are good replies. rideto.gif

UUano (Покажи профила) 01 август 2011, 00:47:08

sudanglo:Another tack could be to use 'se' (with the conditional). 'Kaj se ni haltus momente' - how about we stop for a minute'.

I've a vague feeling that the French do it this way except that for the first part of such conditonal sentences they use the imperfect - though I may have misremembered that.
You're absolutely correct. In French, you might render that phrase as "Si nous nous arrêtions un instant?"...which I might translate as "What if we were to stop for awhile?", but which sounds better in English as "How about we stop for a bit?"

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