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Questions about -u ending

de s.hofius, 2007-marto-02

Mesaĝoj: 6

Lingvo: English

s.hofius (Montri la profilon) 2007-marto-02 20:07:36

can someone help me understand what the -u ending is? looking through some of the stuff on this site i found the it's used when demanding something. i'm having a hard time grasping how this would be used in a sentence and the only examples i've found are just one word sentances (skribu = Write!)

prior to about 5 minutes ago when i was looking this up, i had in my mind that -u was some sort of infinite ending or something... like:

lernu = learn
lerni = to learn
lernas = learning
lernis = did learn
lernos = will learn

now i've got myself all confused ;]
any help?

dankon

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2007-marto-02 20:15:36

s.hofius:can someone help me understand what the -u ending is? looking through some of the stuff on this site i found the it's used when demanding something. i'm having a hard time grasping how this would be used in a sentence and the only examples i've found are just one word sentances (skribu = Write!)
It has a couple uses.

One use is like a command - that's "Write!". "Skribu!". You are commanding someone to write. That's pretty much always what -u means in these "single-word" sentences.

Or, for example, "Estu bona!" - you are commanding someone to be good.

The other use roughly matches with the English use of "should". Usually it is combined with a pronoun or a noun.

"Vi skribu." = "You should write."

"Cxio estu bona" = "Everything should be good"

"Diru al mi, kial mi venu" - "Tell me why I should come"

The first use is the "command" form, the second use is the "should" form. (grammatically, it's called the "subjunctive mood"; you can Google "subjunctive" and learn how these work in English grammar, because we actually have forms like this too)

It's a "mood" rather than a tense because (as you rightly noticed) it doesn't have to do with time.

s.hofius (Montri la profilon) 2007-marto-02 20:23:39

wow, thanks... i think they should probably re-write that part of lernu, i can't remember what i was looking at now, i think it was under the grammar section maybe... the way you put it made it quite clear to me... it's also possible that i just didn't pay attention enough when i was reading that section

i understand english really well, but it's mostly because i have an interest in it, not because i learned it in school (i dropped out in 6th grade, but my reading comprehension has always tested way higher than average)... because of the fact that i dropped out of school so early and really had no structured learning, i've taught myself most of what i know by reading stuff on the internet or just analyzing things... it could also help that my dad has some sort of degree in english and is pretty damn good with language... i'm starting to get off topic now but i think all of this is the reason that i have a hard time grasping certain things when they're explained/taught formally

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2007-marto-02 20:36:04

s.hofius:wow, thanks... i think they should probably re-write that part of lernu, i can't remember what i was looking at now, i think it was under the grammar section maybe... the way you put it made it quite clear to me... it's also possible that i just didn't pay attention enough when i was reading that section
The problem is that the grammar section is written in Esperanto, then translated into other languages. The explanations, therefore, will not be very English-specific. Send me the page that was confusing to you, though, and I can update the English translation to include more explanation.
i understand english really well, but it's mostly because i have an interest in it, not because i learned it in school (i dropped out
I doubt you missed much in this regard. The last formal grammar training that I can remember, of any kind, was in 7th grade. And even that was not really grammar, it was more good writing style and proper punctuation. My undergraduate technical writing course may have had a little more grammar but I doubt it, since my professor spent a lot of time putting down "grammarians" (said in a nasty, mocking tone of voice) and telling us how "semanticists" (said in a nicer, much more respectful tone) know what is really going on. demando.gif

The difficulty with English is that we use the same verb forms for many different functions. The distinctions between different grammatical forms are clearer in languages where the forms actually *look* different.

s.hofius (Montri la profilon) 2007-marto-02 21:14:16

the page i was reading was http://en.lernu.net/lernado/gramatiko/konciza/ve...

i went back and looked again after you cleared it up for me and now i'm thinking maybe there is a page that explains this in more detail... if this is the only (or best) page with this info, perhaps it should have it's own page?

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2007-marto-02 22:05:08

s.hofius:the page i was reading was http://en.lernu.net/lernado/gramatiko/konciza/ve...

i went back and looked again after you cleared it up for me and now i'm thinking maybe there is a page that explains this in more detail... if this is the only (or best) page with this info, perhaps it should have it's own page?
This page also has a lot of examples, perhaps the verb page should link to it?

The language is fairly technical but I think you can sort of skip over the explanations and just look at the Esperanto examples with the English translations to get an idea of what the grammatical terminology is trying to say.

http://en.lernu.net/lernado/gramatiko/demandoj/u.p...

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