The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Part 5

20. Syntax (sintakso) treats of the connection, dependence, and arrangement of words to form intelligible speech.

21. Speech (parolo) consists of propositions.

22. A Proposition (propozicio) is a collection of words by which we a.s.sert, or question, the act, state, or quality of some person or thing. A complete proposition consists of two chief parts, viz., the Subject and Predicate.

23. The Subject (subjekto) is the name of the person or thing spoken of.

24. The Predicate (predikato) is what is said about the subject.

25. The Subject of a proposition is always:--

(_a_). One or more nouns.

(_b_). Some word used as a noun, e.g., (1), a p.r.o.noun, mi = _I_; (2), an adjective, mia kara estas bona filino = _my dear (one) is a good daughter_; (3), an infinitive, mensogi estas honte = _to lie_ (or, _lying_) _is shameful_; (4), a phrase. Estas agrable por (or, al) mi, ke vi acetis tiun domon (here "ke vi acetis" is the subject) = _I am glad (it is agreeable to me) that you bought that house._

26. The subject is always in the nominative case. When the subject is a noun, it must, therefore, always end in -O, if the noun is singular, or in -OJ, if the noun is in the plural. The subject of any verb can always be determined by putting the word "who?" or "what?"

before the verb, and the word giving the reply is the subject, as:--La riculo havas multe da mono = _The rich man has much (of) money_. (Who has much money? _The rich man_ = la riculo is the subject.) La papero estas blanka = _The paper is white._ (What is white? _The paper_ = la papero is the subject.) De timo paligis Antono = _Antony grew pale from fear._ (Who grew pale? _Antony_ = Antono is the subject.) Miaj fratoj batis min = _My brothers beat me._ (Who beat me? _My brothers_ = miaj fratoj is the subject.)

27. Subject omitted.--Sometimes the subject is omitted, as:--Pluvas = _it rains_. Fulmis = _It lightened_. (See remarks on impersonal verbs, par. 164.)

28. The Object is the person or thing acted upon by the subject, hence the term objective (or accusative) case, as:--Johano batas la knabon = _John beats the boy._ Knabon = _the boy_ is acted upon by Johano, the subject, therefore knabon is the object, and has the accusative termination N.

29. The Direct Complement (rekta komplemento).--The noun or p.r.o.noun (not governed by a preposition), which is the direct complement of a transitive verb, must have the accusative form -N in the singular, or -JN in the plural. The direct complement of a verb can be determined by asking the question "whom?" or "what?" after such verb, and the word giving the reply is the direct complement, as:--Diru al mi vian nomon = _Tell me your name_. (Tell what? _Your name_ = vian nomon is the direct complement.) Johano min amas = _John loves me_. (Loves whom? _Me_ = min is the direct complement.)

30. The direct complement of an active verb becomes the subject if the verb is put in the pa.s.sive voice, as:--Mia patro amas min = _My father loves me_. Here min = _me_ is the direct complement; but Mi estas amata de mia patro = _I am loved by my father_. Here mi = _I_ is the subject of the verb. Note, that intransitive verbs cannot have a direct complement, for they have no pa.s.sive voice (par. 162).

31. The Indirect Complement (nerekta komplemento) is formed with a preposition and a noun or p.r.o.noun in the nominative, as:--Donu al la birdoj akvon = _Give (to) the birds water_, or _Give water to the birds_. (Here "akvon" is the direct, and la birdoj the indirect, complement.) Venu kune kun la patro = _Come together with (the) father_. But if direction towards something be implied, and the preposition of itself does not denote movement, the noun, or p.r.o.noun, will then be in the accusative case (see pars. 67, 256), as:--Li eniris en la domon = _He went into the house_.

32. The Circ.u.mstantial Complement.--A word or phrase is termed a circ.u.mstantial complement (_cirkonstanca komplemento_) when it marks the time, place, manner, cause, etc., of an action, as:--En printempo floroj aperas, or Printempe floroj aperas = _In Spring flowers appear_. Li agas pro jaluzo = _He acts from (owing to) jealousy_.

The Predicate (Predikato).

33. The Predicate is what is said about the subject.

(_a_). A predicative verb is one which, of itself, shows in a definite manner some act, state, or quality, as:--Arbo kreskas = _A tree grows_. La arbo verdigis = _The tree became green_.

(_b_) A non-predicative verb is one which does not, of itself, show an act, but is accompanied by some adjective, participle or predicative noun, defining and describing the subject, as:--La urbo estas belega = _The city is magnificent_. Kolombo estas birdo = _A pigeon is a bird_. This is called a "Disjoined predicate" (disigita predikato).

34. The Predicate can furthermore be precisely defined by an adverb or a noun (or a word used as a noun) governed by a preposition. This serves to show the object of the act and circ.u.mstances surrounding it, as:--Arturo batis Georgon per sia pugno = _Arthur struck George with his fist_.

35. A noun can be more precisely defined by the addition of another noun or word used as a noun, as:--Eduardo, rego de Anglujo = _Edward, King of England_. This is called "apposition" (_apozicio_).

36. To every noun can be added adjectives or participles, which also can be defined by other nouns, as:--h.o.m.o mortiginta sian patrinon estas granda krimulo = _A man who has murdered (having murdered) his mother is a great criminal_. An adjective added, without any intervening word, to a noun is termed "qualifying," in order to distinguish it from an adjective (called a "predicative" adjective) having the verb esti (expressed or understood) between it and the noun, as:--h.o.m.o bona = _A good man_ (qualifying). La h.o.m.o estas bona = _The man is good_ (predicative). (See remarks on adjectives, par. 108.)

DEFINITIONS (Difinoj).

37. A word consists of one or more syllables or distinct sounds, and has a definite meaning.

38. A root is an incomplete word conveying only an idea. It may consist of one or more syllables, but requires one or more letters to form it into a word.

39. Words in Esperanto may be divided into four cla.s.ses: Primary, Simple, Compound, and Foreign.

(_a_). A Primary word is one which requires no additional letters to give it a distinct meaning (see list of Primary Words, Part V).

(_b_). A Simple word is one formed by adding a grammatical termination to a single root, or to a primary word (which then becomes a root), with or without suffixes or prefixes.

Examples.--_Bon-a_ = Good. _Cirkau-i_ = To surround. _Antau-ul-o_ = A predecessor. _Dis-sem-i_ = To scatter. _Mal-san-ul-ejo_ = An infirmary.

(_c_). A Compound word is one formed by adding a grammatical termination to two or more roots, or to a primary word and a root, with or without suffixes or prefixes. Any of the component parts may be complete words, if euphony requires it.

Examples.--_Bon-intenc-a_ = Well-meaning. _Super-natur-a_ = Supernatural. _Antau-vid-i_ = To foresee. _Cas-o-stel-ist-o_ = A poacher. _Cas-gard-ist-o_ = A gamekeeper. _Vapor-sipo_ = A steamship. _Griz-har-a_ = Grey-haired. _Super-akv-eg-o_ = A deluge.

(_d_). A Foreign word is one common to most languages, being derived from the same root.

Examples.--_Teatr-o_ = Theatre. _Teatr-a_ = Theatrical. _Geologi-o_ = Geology. _Geologi-a_ = Geological.

FORMATION OF WORDS (Vortfarado).

40. To show the manner in which words are formed in Esperanto, it will perhaps be better first to do so in Dr. Zamenhof's own words, as given on page 248 of his "Fundamenta Krestomatio." He says:--

"I arranged a complete dismemberment of ideas into independent words, so that the whole language, _instead of_ being words in various grammatical forms, consists solely of _unchangeable_ words.

If you will take a work written in my language, you will find that each word is always in one constant form, namely, in that form in which it is printed in the dictionary, and that the various grammatical forms, reciprocal relation between words, etc., etc., are expressed by the union of unchanging words. But, because such a construction of language is quite strange to Europeans, I adapted this dismemberment of the language to the spirit of the European languages, so that anyone learning mine from a manual would not suppose that it differed in construction from his own. Take, for example, the word fratino, which in reality consists of three words, frat, in, o. Frat gives the idea of the offspring[9] of one's parents, in the idea of the female s.e.x, and o the idea of existence (person or thing), hence a noun. These three ideas combined, in Esperanto, make fratino = _a sister_. The first and last make frato = _a brother_. The instruction book shows this in the following manner:--Brother = frat-, but because every substantive in the nominative ends in o, therefore frato = _brother_. For the formation of the feminine, the little word -in- is inserted, therefore fratino = _sister_. In this way, the dismemberment of the language in no way embarra.s.ses the learner; he does not even suspect that that which he calls a prefix, or suffix, or termination, is really an _independent word_, which always preserves its meaning, no matter whether it be used at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, or independently, and that every word, with equal right, can be used as a root word or grammatical particle."

Footnote:

[9] It must be remembered that all roots or root-words in Esperanto are either s.e.xless, or have only the s.e.x _naturally_ belonging to the root, unless the feminine suffix--IN--be added. For instance, vir- gives the idea of "man" (male), therefore viro = a man; and we always speak of viro as li = _he_, because we are sure the noun refers to the male s.e.x. But the root infan- gives only the idea of a "child" (neuter), so, unless we actually know the child is a male, we speak of infano = _child_ as gi = _it_, just as we do in English. When a suffix denoting a person, such as -estr-, -ist-, -ul-, is added to a root, the noun is s.e.xless, or may be presumed to be masculine, unless the feminine -in- be also added.

41. With reference to the above, it will be observed that Dr.

Zamenhof calls all combinations of letters,[10] which convey an idea, a "word," as for instance frat, in, o, but in practice the student may find it helpful to use the terms which are defined in pars. 37-39, and (with the exception of the primary words in the list, Part V.) to call no combination a "word" until it receives a grammatical termination.

Footnote:

[10] Not only combinations of letters, but each vowel (as already shown in the case of O), conveys an idea, and is therefore, technically speaking, a word; for instance--

A conveys the idea of _quality_ and marks the _Adjective_.

E conveys the idea of _modification_ and marks the _Adverb_.

I conveys the idea of _indefiniteness_ and marks the _Infinitive mood_.

O conveys the idea of _existence_, _ent.i.ty_ and marks the _Noun_.

U conveys the idea of _order_ and marks the _Imperative mood_.

In the table of Correlative Words, Dr. Zamenhof carries out the idea of indefiniteness in the _I_ series, ia, ial, iam, etc.; all, however, be it noted, independent indivisible _roots_ (see par.