The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Part 18

_Li iris tien, kiel ankau vi_ (_iris_) = He went there as well as you (went).

_Mi vidis lin tie, kiel ankau_ (_mi vidis_) _vin_ = I saw him there as well as (I saw) you.

_Mi neniam vidis tian hundon, kia_ (_estas_) _via_ = I never saw such a dog as yours.

105 (_a_). Elision.--The final _O_ of a noun may be omitted (par.

57, and Rule 16, par. 94).

106. Possession is (_a_) expressed by help of the preposition de.

Examples.--_La domo de la patro_ = The father's house, _or_, the house of the father. _La libro de mia patrino_ = My mother's book, _or_, the book of my mother. _La trancilo de Georgo_ = George's knife. _Tio estas la domo de miaj fratoj_ = That is my brothers'

house (the house of my brothers). (See par. 73.)

(_b_). Possession is also denoted by the correlative words ending in _ES_, viz.:--ies = _someone's_, _somebody's_, cies = _everyone's_, kies = _whose_, nenies = _n.o.body's_, ties = _that one's_, _of those_ (see par. 154).

Examples.--_Cies ideo estis diversa_ = Everyone's idea was different. _Kies domo estas tiu?_ = Whose house is that? _Gi estas nenies domo_ = It is n.o.body's house. _Cu ci tio estas ies trancilo?_ = Is this anyone's (someone's) knife? (see par. 154).

(_c_). An adjective is sometimes conveniently used when in English we employ an apostrophe.

Examples.--_Unutaga laboro_ (for, _la laboro de unu tago_) = One day's work. _La unuataga laboro_ (for, _la laboro de la unua tago_) = The first day's work. _Lia unuataga laboro estis en la gardeno, kaj poste li faris unutagan laboron en la domo_ = His first day's work was in the garden, and then (afterwards) he did one day's work in the house. _Mi atendis la kapitanan respondon_ = I awaited the captain's reply.

(_d_). In speaking of places, the English preposition "of" is not translated.

Examples.--_La urbo Londono_ = The City of London. _La Kolonio Natalo_ = The Colony of Natal (see par. 253 (_a_)).

For numeral nouns, see par. 118; for participial, pars. 208, 209; for predicative, par. 109; for compound nouns, par. 49; for form of accusative with proper names, par. 69 (_d_); for the infinitive used as a noun, par. 180.

THE ADJECTIVE (La Adjektivo).

107. The Adjective always ends in _-A_ in the singular. _J_ is added to _A_ to form the plural. The accusative case is formed by the addition of _N_ to the singular or plural termination.

Examples.--_Forta_ = Strong. _Saga_ = Wise. _Brava_ = Brave. _Forta h.o.m.o_ = A strong man. _Saga patro_ = A wise father. _Sagaj patroj_ = Wise fathers. _La brava filo_ = The brave son. _La bravaj filoj_ = The brave sons.

108. There are two kinds of adjectives, viz.:--(_a_) Qualifying or attributive (apudmet.i.ta = _put adjacent_), and (_b_) Predicative (predikateca).

(_a_). A qualifying adjective is one placed before or after its noun, with which it agrees both in number and case (par. 36).

Examples.--_Johano havas bonan panon_ = John has good bread.

_Vilhelmo akrigis la trancilojn malakrajn_ = William sharpened the blunt knives.

(_b_). A predicative adjective, usually placed after the verb, denotes what is said about the noun or p.r.o.noun to which it refers, or denotes their state, condition, appearance, etc. It agrees with them in number, but is never in the accusative case (par. 36).

Examples.--_La pomo estas bona_ = The apple is good. _Vilhelmo trovis la trancilojn malakraj_ = William found the knives blunt. If the adjective were in this sentence in the accusative, the meaning would be quite altered, for, _Vilhelmo trovis la trancilojn malakrajn_ would mean, "William found the blunt knives," that is to say, he was looking for blunt knives, and he found them. A predicative adjective shows that ellipsis has taken place, and the omitted verb is generally _esti_. For instance, the ellipsis in the above sentence might be as follows:--William found (that) the knives (are) blunt--_Vilhelmo trovis, ke la tranciloj estas malakraj_. If we elide _ke_ and _estas_, the substantive takes the accusative (_trancilojn_) and the adjective (_malakraj_) remains in the nominative. Other examples are:--_La kutimo faris lin_ (_ke li estu_) _indiferenta por tio ci_ (Hamleto V., 1) = Habit made him (to be, lit., that he be) indifferent to this. _Kion vi intencas nun fari, por vin montri_ (_ke vi estas_) _inda filo de via kara patro?_ (Hamleto IV.,7) = What do you now intend to do to show yourself (that you are) a worthy son of your dear father? (see par. 105 on ellipsis).

109. Predicative Noun.--A noun also can be predicative (see par. 35).

Examples.--_La patro nomis sian filon Johano_ = The father named his son John. Now in English it is not clear whether the father gave the name of "John" to his son, or whether he made mention of his son whose name was John. In Esperanto it is quite clear that he gave the name, for otherwise "John" would be in the accusative (_Johanon_, so:--_La patro nomis sian filon Johanon_ = The father named (made mention of) his son John. _Ili nomis lin Adolfo_ = They called him (gave him the name of) Adolphus.

110. Nominative or Accusative.--The rule, therefore, for qualifying and predicative adjectives or nouns is:--

(_a_). The word will be in the accusative if the object already possesses the quality in question.

(_b_). The word will be in the nominative if that quality, which it did not before possess, or was not known to possess, is being given to the object.

111. Participial Adjectives.--Participles are often used in Esperanto to qualify nouns and p.r.o.nouns, and they are then in reality true adjectives. To distinguish them from other adjectives they are called "Participial Adjectives" (Partic.i.p.aj adjektivoj).

Examples.--_Johano kaj Georgo estis perditaj_ = John and George were lost. _Ni trovis ilin mortantajn_ = We found them (who were) dying.

_Ni estis finintaj, kiam vi alvenis_ = We had finished when you arrived (see par. 209 (_b_)).

112. Comparison of Adjectives.

(_a_). The comparative of equality is tiel ... kiel = _as_, _so_ ... _as_.

Johano estas tiel forta, kiel Georgo = _John is as strong as George._

(_b_). The comparative of superiority is pli ... ol = _more_ ... _than_.

Johano estas pli forta, ol Georgo = _John is stronger than George._

(_c_). The comparative of inferiority is malpli ... ol = _less_ ... _than_.

Johano estas malpli forta, ol Georgo = _John is less strong (weaker) than George._

(_d_). The other modes of expressing comparison are:--

tia ... kia = _such_, _such a_, _such kind_ ... _as_.

sama ... kia = _the same_ ... _as_.

same ... kiel = _the same_ ... _as_.

Ju pli ... des pli = _the more_ ... _the more_.

Ju malpli ... des malpli = _the less_ ... _the less_.

Ju pli ... des malpli = _the more_ ... _the less_.

Ju malpli ... des pli = _the less_ ... _the more_.

Examples.--_Tia domo, kia tiu, estas malofte vidata_ = Such a house as that is rarely seen. _Mia bastono estas tia sama, kia via_, or, _Mia bastono estas same, kiel via_ = My stick is the same as yours.

_Ju pli mi lin konas, des pli mi lin estimas_ = The more I know him, the more I esteem him. _Ju malpli mi dormas, des malpli mi sentas la bezonon dormi_ = The less I sleep, the less I feel the want (need) to sleep. _Ju pli mi lin vidas, des malpli li placas al mi_ = The more I see him, the less he pleases me. _Ju malpli mi mangas, des pli mi trinkas_ = The less I eat, the more I drink.

_Be careful to note_ that the second term in a comparison is in the nominative or accusative, according as it is the subject or complement, e.g., Mi amas mian fraton pli, ol mia fratino = _I love my brother more than my sister (loves him)_. Mia fratino is in the nominative, amas lin being understood. But Mi amas mian fraton pli, ol mian fratinon = _I love my brother more than my sister_.

Here fratinon is in the accusative, and the meaning is perfectly clear. In English we should have to add "does" to the first example to make the phrase clear: "I love my brother more than my sister does" (see par. 105).