The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Part 17

Examples.--_En la mezo de la korto mi vidis du infanojn el la apuda vilago_ = In the middle of the yard I saw two children of the neighbouring village. In this sentence the yard and village are each defined by the article _la_, as they are also in English by "the."

But if we omit the article the sentence runs:--_En la mezo de korto mi vidis du infanojn el apuda vilago_ = In the middle of a yard I saw two children of a neighbouring village. In this case the children might have been in _any_ yard, and have belonged to _any_ village in the neighbourhood of the speaker.

99. There are, however, cases in which the article is often used in Esperanto, though omitted in English, and also _vice versa_.

(_a_). It is usually used before nouns denoting the _totality_ of persons or things.

Examples.--_La h.o.m.o estas mortema_ = Man is mortal. _La h.o.m.oj estas mortemaj_ = Men are mortal. _La medicino estas scienco kaj la pentrado arto_ = Medicine is a science and painting an art. _Kelkaj kuracistoj pretendas, ke la vino estas malutila al la sano_ = Some doctors maintain that wine is hurtful to health. _Sen la akvo nia terglobo rapide farigus dezerto_ = Without water our earth would rapidly become a desert. _La nokto estis tiel nigra, kiel la peco_ = The night was as dark as pitch. _La azenoj amas la kardojn_ = Donkeys love thistles. _La vento kauzas ofte teruran detruon en kelkaj landoj_ = Wind often causes terrible ruin in some countries. (In this case _la vento_ means wind in general, spoken of as a whole, but "To-day we shall have wind" (meaning some wind) would be: _Hodiau ni havos venton_.) _Hajlo falas_ = Hail is falling (viz., some hail), but _La hajlo estas tre malutila al la vinbero_ = Hail is very injurious to grapes (to the grape), means hail in general.

(_b_). It is not used before proper names, for the simple reason that they cannot be more definite than they are in themselves. In English it is sometimes used and sometimes not.[13]

Examples.--_Danubo_ = The Danube. _Tibro_ = The Tiber. _Mediteraneo_ = The Mediterranean. _Alpoj_ = The Alps. _Unuigintaj Statoj Amerikaj_ (or, _Usono_) = The United States of America.

Footnote:

[13] This is too strict. In practice the definite article is often used before proper names, and one can say (e.g.) _la Alpoj_, _la Mediteraneo_, etc.

(_c_). If, however, a proper name is preceded by a qualifying word, the article is used.

Examples. _La glora poeto, Dante_ = The famous poet, Dante. _La imperiestro de j.a.panujo_ = The Emperor of j.a.pan. _La bona regino Viktorio_ = The good Queen Victoria.

100. The article may be used sometimes where, in English, we use a possessive p.r.o.noun.

Examples.--_Li havas doloron en la kapo_ = He has a pain in his (the) head. _Si prezentis al mi la manon_ = She offered me her hand. _Mi malkovris la okulojn_ = I uncovered my eyes (see also par. 134(_a_)).

(_a_). It is also frequently used instead of a possessive p.r.o.noun in speaking of one's own relatives, or when there is no doubt as to the person to whom the article la refers.

Examples.--_Mi amas la patron_ = I love my (the) father. _Iru al la patrino_ = Go to your (the) mother. _Kie estas la kuzo?_ = Where is your (the) cousin? _La patro staras apud la filo_ = The father stands by (at the side of) his (the) son.

101. The article is almost always used before numeral adjectives showing the day, hour, month, etc., when these nouns are understood.

Example.--_Hodiau estas la dudek-sepa (tago) de Marto_ = To-day is the 27th of March.

(_a_). Its use is optional before the names of the seasons, and also before each separate noun or adjective.

Examples.--_En la vintro_, or, _En vintro_ = In the winter. _En la somero_, or, _En somero_ = In the summer. _La arboj, la floroj kaj la kreskajoj de la gardeno_ (or, _La arboj, floroj kaj kreskajoj_) = The trees, (the) flowers and (the) plants of the garden.

(_b_). It is not generally used after ciuj = _all_, or, _all the_.

Example.--_Mi ne vidis ciujn arbojn en la gardeno_ = I did not see all the trees in the garden.

(_c_). It is not used after da (see par. 259).

N.B.--From the foregoing remarks it will be seen that the English student will have no difficulty in the use of the article, if he be careful to use it with words defining a _cla.s.s_ or the _totality_ of persons or things. He will get a good idea of its use if he will carefully study the first few exercises in the "Ekzercaro," or Exercises 1 to 4 in Part III.

In case of doubt whether the article should be used or not, it is better to omit it.

102. Elision.--The final _A_ of the article may be omitted in certain cases (see par. 56 and Rule 16, par. 94).

THE NOUN (La Substantivo).

103. A noun (in the singular number) in all its cases, except the accusative, ends in _-O_. The accusative is formed by the addition of _N_. In the plural it ends in _-OJ_, and the accusative plural is formed by adding _N_ to these letters. Thus the root arb- is made into a noun with its numbers and cases as follows:--

Arb-o = _a tree_ (nominative, singular).

Arb-on = _a tree_ (accusative, singular).

Arb-oj = _trees_ (nominative, plural).

Arb-ojn = _trees_ (accusative, plural).

Examples.--_Domo_ = A house. _La domo_ = The house. _La domoj_ = The houses. _Rigardu la domojn_ = Look at the houses. _Knabo_ = A boy.

_La knabo_ = The boy. _Mi vidis la knabon_ = I saw the boy. _Knabino_ = A girl. _La knabino_ = The girl.

Declension of Nouns, Adjectives, and p.r.o.nouns.

104. There are but two cases in Esperanto (Rule 2, par. 94), viz., the nominative and the accusative (or objective); the latter is obtained from the nominative by adding _N_ to the singular or plural.

Other cases are expressed by the aid of prepositions, as:--

Nominative Mia bona patro = _My good father_.

Accusative Mian bonan patron = _My good father_.

Genitive or} {_Of my good_ Possessive } De mia bona patro = {_father, or, My_ } {_good father's_.

Dative Al mia bona patro = _To my good father_.

{ De mia bona patro = _From_ (_by_, see par. 259 (9)) { _my good father_.

Ablative { Kun mia bona patro = _With my good { father._ { Per bona glavo = _With (by means { of) a good sword._

Note that per = _by_ is the instrumental ablative, meaning "by means, or aid, or use, of," and that kun = _with_ means "in company with," but not in an instrumental sense, as it is sometimes in English, e.g., _I held him with both hands_ = Mi lin tenis per ambau manoj, not _kun_ ambau manoj (see par. 259 (22)).

Plural.

(_a_). In the plural the declension is the same, with the addition of the plural termination _J_, as:--

Genitive De miaj bonaj filoj = _Of my good sons._ Accusative Miajn bonajn filojn = _My good sons._

Examples.--_La frato skribas, kaj la fratino legas_ = The brother is writing and the sister reading. _La patro donis la libron al sia filo_ = The father gave the book to his son. _Tiu ci kaucuka ringo_ (or, _ringo el kaucuko_) _estas por la infaneto_ = This india-rubber ring is for the baby. _Mi vidis Jozefon kun lia kuzo_ = I saw Joseph with his cousin. _Venu, ni atendas Vin (Cin), Savinto de la mondo_ = Come, we await You (Thee), O Saviour of the world. _Mi lin salutis per la mano_ = I saluted him by the hand. _La domo estas kovrita per ardezoj_ = The house is covered with slates. _Mi vidis vian patron kun liaj du filoj_ = I saw your father with his two sons.

_Kie estas la domo de via patro?_ = Where is your father's house?

105. Ellipsis.--The case (nominative or accusative) of words in Esperanto often depends upon the verb omitted when ellipsis occurs in a phrase, and unless we write the sentence in full, or think what the ellipsis is, we may not at first know what case to use to express our meaning. A glance at the following examples will show how easy it is to determine the case. The words in brackets show the ellipsis:--

_Mi konas lin pli bone, ol vi_ (_konas lin_) = I know him better than you (do, _or_ know him).

_Mi konas lin pli bone, ol vin_ (_ol mi konas vin_) = I know him better than you (than I know you).

_Petro amas Paulon tiom, kiom_ (_li amas_) _Johanon_ = Peter loves Paul as much as (he loves) John.

_Petro amas Paulon tiom, kiom Johano_ (_amas lin_) = Peter loves Paul as much as John (loves him).

N.B.--In the above sentences we cannot, in English, tell the meaning until the ellipsis is supplied, whereas, in Esperanto, the meaning is at once clear from the case of the noun or p.r.o.noun (par. 112).