The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Part 33

228. The future denotes an action yet to take place.

Examples.--_La patro venos post du tagoj_ = Father will come in two days. _Cu vi pruntos al mi la libron?_ = Will you lend me the book?

_Kiam li alvenos?_ = When will he arrive? _Li venos la lundon proksiman_ = He will come next Monday.

229. If we wish to mark a near future, we can use with the verb the adverbs tuj = _immediately_, baldau = _soon_, tre baldau = _very soon_.

Examples.--_Li tuj alvenos_ = He will arrive immediately. _Li tre baldau estos tie ci_ = He will very soon be here.

230. The future compound with the present participle is used when we wish to mark that an action will be _going on_ at some particular time in the future.

Example.--_Je la deka morgau matene mi estos veturanta Parizon_ = At 10 o'clock to-morrow morning I shall be travelling to Paris.

231. The future compound with the past participle is used when we wish to mark that an action will be _finished_ at some particular time in the future (see par. 226 (_a_)).

Example.--_Mi estos fininta mian laboron je la sesa horo morgau vespere_ = I shall have finished my work at six o'clock to-morrow evening.

232. The future for the present indicative or subjunctive.--Be careful not to imitate English in using the present or subjunctive for the future.

Examples.--_Se pluvos, li ne venos_ = If it rains, he will not come.

_Kion vi faros, kiam mi estos en la tombo?_ = What will you do when I am in the grave? _Mi skribos la leteron dum vi ripozos_ = I shall write the letter whilst you are resting. _Si skribis al ni, ke si estos tie ci morgau_ = She wrote to us that she would (will) be here to-morrow (she wrote what? not "that she _would_," but "that she will," so the future is the correct tense).

The Tenses, Pa.s.sive Voice.

233. The tenses of the pa.s.sive voice are formed by the simple tenses of the auxiliary verb esti and the pa.s.sive participles, _-ATA_, _-ITA_, _-OTA_. All the tenses are therefore compound. As with the active participles, _J_ is added to the three persons of the plural in all the tenses.

234. The signification of the tenses is the same as in the active voice, except, of course, that the subject of a pa.s.sive verb is acted upon. Since esti is the only auxiliary verb used in Esperanto, it represents the two English auxiliaries, "to be" and "to have"; we must, therefore, translate it accordingly.

235. Care must be taken in the use of these participles. For instance, the participles of skribi = _to write_ used alone mean--

Present, Skribata = _Written_, or, _being written_ (action going on).

Past, Skribita = _Written_, or, _been written_ (lit., _having been written_) (action completed).

Future, Skribota = _About to be_, or, _going to be_, _written_ (action about to occur).

236. The various tenses of the verb esti show the _time_ of the action, and the three participles the state of the subject at that time. Note carefully the various shades of meaning in the following examples:--

_La pordego estas fermata, car la ludo estas ludota_ = The gate is being shut, for the game is about to be played.

_La pordego estas fermita, car la ludo estas ludata_ = The gate is (_or_, has been) shut, for the game is being played.

_La pordego estis fermita, dum la ludo estis ludata_ = The gate was (_or_, had been) shut whilst the game was being played.

_Kiam estos pendigata la h.o.m.o?_ = When will the man be (being) hanged?

_Li estis pendigota morgau, sed oni diras, ke li ne estos pendigata gis mardo_ = He was to have been (was about to be) hanged to-morrow, but they say he will not be hanged till Tuesday.

_Kaj kiam li estos pendigita, kie li estos enterigota?_ = And when he is (has been) hanged, where is he to be buried? (lit., and when he shall have been hanged, where will he be about to be buried?). Note that after the interrogative _kiam_ the English present tense is often future in Esperanto, as:--_Kiam li venos?_ When is he coming?

_or_, When will he come?

_Pasero estis kapt.i.ta kaj enmet.i.ta en kagon, sed kiam la pordeto de la kago estis malfermata, gi forflugis_ = A sparrow was (_or_, had been) caught and put into a cage, but when the door of the cage was being opened it flew away.

N.B.--In the above sentence we see that the sparrow _was_ (estis) first in the state of _having been caught_ (kapt.i.ta); then in the state of _having been put_ (enmet.i.ta) into a cage; then that the door was in the state of _being opened_ (malfermata), and that during this action the bird _flew away_ (forflugis).

(For examples of the pa.s.sive conditional mood see par. 193.)

(For examples of the rare use of the pa.s.sive imperative mood see par. 201.)

THE USE OF CERTAIN VERBS.

Devi.

237 (_a_). Devi = _to be obliged to, to have to_, means to be physically or morally obliged to do something, as:--Vi devas fari tion = _You must (have to, are to) do that_. Vi ne devas fari tion = _You are not obliged to do that_. If, however, the action is not immediate, the future tense is used for "must," as:--Vi devos fari tion morgau = _You must (will have to) do that to-morrow._ In its Conditional form devi may be used, like other verbs, to soften an expression, and then it can be translated by "ought," as:--Vi devus ne fari tion = _You ought not to (should not) do that._ Here devus is used instead of the more peremptory form, devas; Vi devas ne fari tion would mean _You must not (are not to) do that_ (see par. 194, also pars. 237 (_o_), (_p_), on "should," "must," "ought," and par.

59 (_a_)).

Examples.--_Mi devas vin forlasi, car oni atendas min_ = I must (have to) leave you, for they are waiting for me. _Cu mi devas fari tion tuj?_ = Must I (am I to) do that at once? _Cu mi devos veni morgau_ = Must I (shall I have to, am I to) come to-morrow? _Mi devis skribi leteron_ = I had (have had) to write a letter. _Li devis min vidi hodiau, sed li ne povas veni_ = He was to see me to-day, but he cannot come. _Ili devis vidi min hierau, sed ili ne povis veni_ = They were to have seen me yesterday, but they could not come.

_Li estis kolera hierau, car li devis iri lernejon_ = He was angry yesterday, because he was obliged to (had to) go to school. _Sed por tio ci mi devos atendi iom da tempo_ = But for this I shall have to (I must) wait some time. _Se mi lin vidus, mi devus paroli kun li_ = If I saw him, I should have to speak to him. _Se mi lin vidus, mi estus devinta paroli kun li_ = If I had seen (saw) him, I should have been obliged (have had) to speak to him. _La celo de ciu estas, au devus esti, bonfaradi_ = The aim of everyone is, or ought to (should) be, to do good. _Li devus kolekti kaj arangi siajn faktojn_ = He ought to (should) collect and arrange his facts. _Kiam vi estas tie, vi devus vidi la kastelon_ = When you are there, you ought to see the castle. _Kiam vi estis tie, vi devus vidi_ (or, _vi devus esti vidinta_) _la kastelon_ = When you were there, you ought to have seen the castle. _Mi devus tute ne auskulti sin_ = I ought not to listen to her at all.

From these examples we see that the following is the meaning of devi in its moods and tenses. The compound forms should not be used unless absolutely necessary to render the meaning clear.

Present.

_Vi devas (paroli)_ = You must, have to, are to (speak).

_Past._

_Mi devis (paroli)_ = I had to (speak); _or_, I was to (speak, or, have spoken).

_Mi estas devinta (paroli)_ = I have been obliged, _or_, I have had to (speak).

_Mi estis devinta (paroli)_ = I had been obliged to (speak).

_Future._

_Mi devos (paroli)_ = I shall have to, I am to, I must (speak).

_Conditional._

_Mi devus (paroli), se ..._ = I should have to, or, be obliged to (speak), if ...

_Mi estus devinta (paroli), se ..._ = I should have had to, _or_, have been obliged to (speak), if ...

_Conditional (softened sense)._

_Vi devus (paroli)_ = You ought to, or, you should (speak, or, have spoken).

_Vi devus (esti parolinta)_ = You ought to have, or, you should have (spoken).