The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Part 31

200. In a dependent proposition the ending u is also used when the verb in the chief proposition, although not in the Imperative, implies order, entreaty, wish, etc., as mentioned in par. 197. And also after such verbs as, to advise, invite, write, etc., etc., when the idea to be conveyed is in the nature of an order, wish, etc.

(pars. 58 (_a_), 237 (_m_) (3)).

Examples.--_Mi ordonis al li, ke li donu al mi la libron_ = I ordered him to give me the book. _Mi petas, ke vi sendu al mi la hundon_ = I beg you to send me the dog. _Li ne postulis, ke mi fermu la fenestron_ = He did not require me to shut the window. _Mi volas, ke vi skribu al via frato_ = I wish you to write to your brother. _Estas necese, ke ni tien iru_ = It is necessary for us to go thither. _Vi meritas, ke oni pendigu vin_ = You deserve to be hanged (that they hang you). _Mi bezonas, ke li venu_ = I want him to come (I have need that he come). _Mi ne volis, ke li venu_ = I did not wish him to come (that he should come). _Si konsilis, ke mi ne sendu la leteron_ = She advised me not to send the letter (she advised "do not send the letter"). _Mi lin tien ci invitis, ke li klarigu la aferon_ = I invited him here to explain (that he might explain) the matter. _Ili skribis, ke mi ne venu hodiau_ = They wrote to me not to come to-day (They wrote that I should not come to-day, _or_, They wrote "do not come to-day").

201. The expression por ke = _in order that_, _to the end that_, _so that_, etc., is always followed by the Imperative, because this expression implies "order."

Examples.--_Por ke vi povu pagi tiun ci suldon, estas necese, ke vi kunportu sufice grandan sumon da mono_ = In order to be able to pay (in order that you may be able to pay) this debt it is necessary for you to bring (that you bring) a sufficient large sum of money.

_Por ke vi estu elektata, vi bezonas batali kun ekstrema energio_ = In order to be elected (that you may be elected), you need to fight with extreme energy. _Por ke oni rekompencu vin, konvenas, ke vi tion meritu_ = In order that they may reward you, it is fitting that you merit it. _Mi volas cion fari, por ke vi estu kontenta pri mi_ = I wish to do everything to satisfy you (so that you may be satisfied with me). _Respondu al mi antau morgau, por ke mi sciu, kion mi devos diri al li_ = Answer me before to-morrow, so that I may know what I must (shall have to) say to him. _Mi volas, ke li estu ordonata atendi mian alvenon_ = I wish that he may be ordered to await my arrival, _or_, I wish him to be ordered to await my arrival.

201 (_a_). The compound forms of the Imperative in the active voice are very rarely used, but they are occasionally useful to give exact.i.tude to an expression.

Examples.--_Mi deziras, ke li estu min atendanta en la stacidomo je la dua horo morgau posttagmeze_ = I desire that he be awaiting me in the station at 2 o'clock to-morrow afternoon. _Estas necese, ke li estu fininta sian laboron, je la tria horo_ = It is necessary that he have (for him to have) finished his work at 3 o'clock. _Mi ne volas, ke li estu fininta sian laboron, kiam mi alvenos, sed ke li estu finonta gin_ = I do not wish that he shall have finished his work when I (shall) come, but that he be about to finish it.

202. From the examples given of the use of the Imperative mood, we see that in Esperanto the verb in a dependent proposition is almost always preceded by the conjunction ke = _that_, and that the English rendering generally puts the verb in the Infinitive, the conjunction being omitted, or if it be retained, that the verb is in the Subjunctive mood. It is not generally advisable to translate this infinitive rendering literally into Esperanto, except when the _actor_ of the _first_ verb is also the _actor_ of the _second_.

Examples.--_Mi volas lin vidi morgau_ = I wish to see him to-morrow.

_La lernejestro deziris rekompenci la knabon_ = The schoolmaster desired to reward the boy. _Ni bezonos forte labori, se ni deziras fini la falcadon hodiau vespere_ = We shall need to work hard if we wish to finish the mowing this evening.

THE PARTICIPLES (Participoj).

There are three forms of the participle, viz.:--The adjectival in _-A_, the adverbial in _-E_, and the substantival in _-O_.

203. In the active voice the adjectival is formed by adding _-ANTA_, _-INTA_, _-ONTA_ to the root of the verb, as:--

Present, Skribanta = _Writing_ (lit., _being writing_).

Past, Skribinta = _Having written_.

Future, Skribonta = _About_ (_going_) _to write_.

204. In the pa.s.sive voice by adding _-ATA_, _-ITA_, _-OTA_, as:--

Present, Skribata = _Being written_.

Past, Skribita = _Written_, or, _having been written_.

Future, Skribota = _About_ (or, _going_) _to be written_.

205. The active participles, preceded by the auxiliary verb esti = _to be_, in its various moods and tenses, form the compound tenses of the active voice.

206. The pa.s.sive participles, with the verb esti, form all the moods and tenses in the pa.s.sive voice.

207. Participles, like adjectives, agree in number and case with the nouns or p.r.o.nouns to which they refer.

Examples. _Ni estas vidintaj la viron_ = We have seen the man. _Si vidis la virojn legantajn_ = She saw the men who were reading (the reading men). _Ni vidas la krimojn elfaratajn ciutage sur la stratoj_ = We see the crimes being perpetrated daily in the streets.

208. All the participles can be used as adjectives and also as nouns and adverbs, by subst.i.tuting _-O_ for _-A_ for a noun, and _-E_ for _-A_ for an adverb. The words still retain the signification of the tense of the participle. Participial adjectives and adverbs in the active voice govern the accusative.

209. Examples in the active voice.

(_a_). _Participial nouns_, as:--_La leganto_ = _The reader_ (_person now reading_). La leginto = _The reader_ (_person who has been reading_). La legonto = _The reader_ (_person about to read_).

Examples.--_La leganto havas bonan vocon, sed la leginto havis pli bonan; mi kredas, tamen, ke la legonto havos la plej bonan vocon el ciuj_ = The (present) reader has a good voice, but the (previous) reader had a better; I believe, however, that the (coming) reader will have the best voice of all. _Ci tiu_ (or, _tiu ci_) _ideo okupis la grandan pensanton gis la fino de lia vivo_ = This idea occupied the great thinker up to the end of his life.

(_b_). Participial adjectives agree with their nouns in number and case, but when predicative they agree in number only (see remarks on adjectives, pars. 36, 108, 110, also par. 87 (_d_)).

Examples.--_La mortanta viro vidis mortintan virinon sur la apuda lito_ = The dying man saw a dead woman in the next bed. _Si paligis kaj aspektis kiel virino mortonta_ = She grew pale and appeared like a woman about to die. In the above sentences participial nouns might be used when the translation in English would be word for word the same, as:--_La mortanto vidis mortintinon sur la apuda lito. Si paligis, kaj aspektis kiel mortontino._ This shows the wonderful flexibility of Esperanto!

(_c_). Participial adverbs are invariable.

Examples.--_Legante ni lernas_ = In reading we learn. _Fininte sian laboron, li iris hejmen_ = Having finished his work, he went home.

_Acetonte libron, li petas, ke mi pruntu al li tri silingojn_ = Being about to buy a book, he begs me to lend him (that I lend him) three shillings.

210. Examples in the pa.s.sive voice.

(_a_). Participial nouns, as:--La aludato = _The person being spoken of_, or, _the person in question_. La aludito = _The aforesaid_ (_person_). La aludoto = _The person about to be spoken of_.

Examples.--_La pendigotino nun aperis sur la esafodo_ = The woman about to be hanged now appeared on the scaffold. _La bat.i.to tute meritis la punon, kiun la batinto donis al li_ = The beaten one quite deserved the punishment that the beater gave him.

(_b_). Participial adjectives and adverbs. La konstruata domo = _The house under construction_. La konstruita domo = _The (actually) constructed house_. La konstruota domo = _The house (about) to be constructed_. Konstruota does not show obligation to construct, but simply that it is intended to build the house, and that it will be eventually built.

Examples.--_Li venis al mi tute ne atendite_ = He came to me quite unexpectedly. _Ne estas atendate ke li venos_ = It is not expected (being expected) that he will come. _La domo estas vendota morgau_ = The house is to be sold to-morrow.

N.B.--Note that when the subject is not expressed, the participle takes the adverbial form (see par. 245).

211. Relation of the participle to the subject.

(_a_). When a participle, relating to the subject of a sentence, but not qualifying it, expresses the circ.u.mstances, manner, time, occasion, etc., of an act, it takes the adverbial form. Zamenhof states that the "ablative absolute" does not exist in Esperanto, as its use would be against the spirit of the language.

Examples.--_Promenante sur la strato, mi falis_ = (While) walking in the street, I fell. _Trovinte pomon, mi gin mangis_ = Having found an apple, I ate it (see par. 245 (_a_)).

(_b_). If, however, the participle does _not_ relate to the _subject_ of the sentence, we must either change the construction so as to make the participial portion of the sentence relate to the subject, or else use another mood with a conjunction, adverb, etc.

For instance, we might say in English, "The enemy having run away, we crossed the bridge," but we cannot translate this literally into Esperanto, because "having run away" does not relate to those who crossed the bridge; therefore it would be wrong to say _La malamiko forkurinte, ni transiris la ponton_. So we must change the construction, thus:--"Having put to flight (made to run away) the enemy, we crossed the bridge" = _Forkuriginte la malamikon, ni transiris la ponton_. Or, another construction would be:--"After the enemy ran away, we crossed the bridge" = _Post kiam la malamiko forkuris, ni transiris la ponton_. In the sentence, "Swimming in the lake, the man saw a large swan," it is not clear whether the man or the swan was swimming, but in Esperanto there is no ambiguity. In the sentence, _Nagante sur la lago, la h.o.m.o vidis grandan cignon_, the participle, _nagante_, relates to the man, the subject of _vidis_.

If we wish it to relate to the swan, we make it agree with _cignon_, and say, _Nagantan sur la lago_, etc. But it would be better to alter the order, thus: _La h.o.m.o vidis grandan cignon nagantan (kiu nagis) sur la lago_.

212. Participial expressions with prepositions.

(_a_). Without can be rendered by the negative ne and an adverbial participle, or by sen followed by a noun.

Examples.--_Li alvenis, ne avertinte min_ (or, _sen averto al mi_) = He arrived without (not) having warned me. _Mi ne povos tion ci fari, ne estante subtenata_ (or, _ne subtenate_, or, _sen subteno_) = I shall not be able to do this without being supported. _Ni iru al la dangero, ne timante la morton_ (or, _sen timo pri la morto_) = Let us go to the danger without fearing death.

(_b_). For can be rendered by ke = _that_ (or, pro tio, ke or, tial, ke) and the indicative.

Examples.--_Mi estas al vi danka, ke vi avertis min_ = I am thankful to you for having (that you) warned me. _Pardonu al mi, ke mi tiel faras_ = Pardon me for so doing. _Pardonu al mi pro tio, ke mi tiel faris_ = Pardon me for having done so (that I so did).

(_c_). Of, by por and the infinitive.