Read aloud the following sentences. If you don't understand all but the last, go back and review previous lessons as required.
La ideo, al kies efektivigo mi dediĉis mian tutan vivon, aperis ĉe mi en la plej frua infaneco kaj neniam min forlasadis.
Mi naskiĝis en Bjelostoko.
En Bjelostoko la loĝantaro konsistas el kvar diversaj elementoj: rusoj, poloj, germanoj kaj hebreoj. Ĉiu el tiuj ĉi elementoj parolas apartan lingvon, kaj neamike rilatas la aliajn elementojn.
The last sentence should be easy enough to pronounce, since we have no new letters/sounds in this lesson (and only five left that haven't appeared so far). Just in case, though, here's an idea of how you might want to pronounce it:
CHEE-oo ehl TEE-ooy CHEE eh-leh-MEHN-tohy pah-ROH-lahs ah-PAHR-tahn LEENG-vohn, kahy neh-ah-MEE-keh ree-LAH-tahs lah ah-LEE-ahyn eh-leh-MEHN-tohyn
Okay, this lesson's sentence is:
Ĉiu el tiuj ĉi elementoj parolas apartan lingvon, kaj neamike rilatas la aliajn elementojn.
Here we get our first look at what happens when we show that a word shows not only more than one object (plural) but also that it is the direct object of a sentence (not what's doing the action, but what the action is being done to). You remember that the first is shown by the ending -J and that the second is shown by the ending -N. So we have elemento = an element -> elementoj = elements (more than one) -> elementojn = elements that are having something done to them. Note also (as was pointed out a couple of lessons ago) that alia elemento = another element does not become *alia elementojn when you add these endings, but aliajn elementojn, since in Esperanto a word that describes something takes the same endings as the name of what it describes. (The little asterisk at one point is a marker to show that this example is wrong.)
We also have a totally new grammatical ending: -E. Just like the -A-words (adjectives) describe things (nouns), the -E-words describe the conditions or situations in which actions or descriptions take place.
What does this mean, exactly? Let's look at a couple of examples:
tute infana = completely childish. Basically this answers the question How is (whatever it is) childish?
frue aperas = appears early. This, in turn, answers the question When does (whatever it is) appear?
The -E-words are those that answer questions like when, where, how ― the questions that want to know what is the situation in which something can happen? This is unlike the -A-words, which answer questions of the sort what kind? what is it like?.
There's another big difference in how you use these words. Remember (we pointed it out above) that the -A-words take the same endings as the -O-words with which they're associated. What this means is that these words really have four different endings, and if several of them appear in the same sentence, there's not much chance of confusing yourself about where they belong. So, in fact, they can come before the -O-words they're associated with (as in English), or after them (as in French), or even moved away from them completely (though this is not necessarily recommended anywhere except in really bad poetry), without causing problems. On the other hand, the -E words don't have any additional endings, and, since they can describe conditions or situations for verbs (the -AS and -IS-words), -A-words and other -E-words, of which there will often be a few in any given sentence, it's generally best to put the -E-word directly before the word with which it's associated. This is not always necessary ― if you only have one associatable word in a sentence (as in, for example, Ĝi aperas), you can put the -E-word anywhere you please, since there's not any danger of confusion (Frue ĝi aperas, Ĝi frue aperas, Ĝi aperas frue). But for the most part, it's best to place the -E-word right before its associated word (Ĝi frue aperas).
If you see a -LY or a -WISE on the end of an English word, more often than not this will correspond to the Esperanto -E But, warning, not always!!!
We have six new word roots in this sentence.
ali'. This actually has two common meanings: another, a different individual or another kind of. How would you say in Espernato another Russian? another kind of element?
amik' = a person who has a close personal relationship with someone else, a friend. Try saying, in Esperanto, various friends, a friendly child. (Warning: remember that -LY isn't always the same as -E, and this is a very common one of those situations!)
apart'. This doesn't mean quite the same thing that apart does in English; it is, perhaps, closer to different, something that stands outside the group, though usually on the same level. It can also serve as a translation of particular or special, when by these we are not trying to set it above or below the things it's being compared to. How would you say, in Esperanto, a special friend?
lingv' = language, when used to show a particular set of rules and words that are different from any other set of rules and words. (In English, the term language is often used to show particular usage that differs from that of the norm within a certain language ― e.g. in "Watch your language!" Esperanto does not do this.) How would you say a childish language (of children)? How would you say linguistically different?
parol' = a general term for uttering sequences of sounds that have meaning: to speak. How would you say The German speaks (is speaking)? Take a guess at a spoken language.
Finally, rilat' = relates (to). This generally has to do with non-familial relationships. How would you say, do you think, a friendly relationship? How about the Russians have a relationship with the Poles? (Notice how this works in our lesson sentence.)
Here's our sentence again. With a very few exceptions, you should mostly understand it now:
Ĉiu el tiuj ĉi elementoj parolas apartan lingvon, kaj neamike rilatas la aliajn elementojn.
This sentence contains an unconscionable number of particles and correlatives. As quickly as possible:
ne = no (when used by itself) or not (when part of a sentence).
Mi dediĉis mian vivon = I dedicated my life
Mi ne dediĉis mian vivon = I did not dedicate my life
ne is one of half a dozen words which, in English, we call adverbs, but which are actually even more versatile than adverbs: they can describe not only conditions or situations, but also they can select nouns or pronouns. Consider the following set of sentences:
Mi ne dediĉis mian vivon = I did not dedicate my life (I did something else)
Ne mi dediĉis mian vivon = It was not I who dedicated his life (somebody else did)
Mi dediĉis ne vivon mian = It was not my life that I dedicated (it was something else)
Mi dediĉis vivon ne mian = It was not my life that I dedicated (it was somebody else's)
Notice how we put ne immediately before the word to which it applies. For -E-words in general, we recommend this. With ne ― and three or four other little particles of the same type ― you must do this to make sure that you are not misrepresenting yourself.
In this lesson, we also use ne as a prefix. This is very common with many of the particles, and you should get used to seeing them attached to other words. Here, ne has been attached to amike = in a friendly way to mean in a not friendly way. This means a cold shoulder, but not outright enmity ― there's another word for that, much stronger, which we'll encounter in the next lesson.
At this point, I'd really like to talk about the little particle (sometimes used as a prefix) ĉi. But I won't. It was originally intended to be used only with certain correlatives (as it is in this sentence), but its usage has expanded over the years. However, let's do the correlatives first.
Remember how neni- in the beginning of a correlative meant none or not at all? And how ki- meant which or what? Well, now we have two more. Ĉi- in the beginning of such a word indicates that this is a universal ― it means every or all. And ti- in the beginning means that, that particular one that I'm pointing to. So if you attach the two endings we have already (-am = time, -es = belonging to), you can get ĉiam = every or all time, always, and ties = belonging to that one, that person's.
Quick exercise: How would you express everybody's in Esperanto? How about then (at that time)?
As you can see in our sentence, we have here the correlative ending -u, which means basically one out of a set. Putting this together with our two new beginnings, we get ĉiu = each, every, and tiu = that particular one, that.
Quick exercise: What are the Esperanto words for which and none, not any?
Two points of interest here:
(1) The words ending in -u generally go with a name: kiu lingvo = which language. If no name is associated with the word, it is understood that the word refers to a person: kiu? = who? (which person?).
(2) You'll notice in our sentence that we don't use tiu here but tiuj. The words ending in -u take exactly the same endings as the naming words (nouns) and descriptive words (adjectives). So ĉiuj = all, as opposed to ĉiu = each, every.
And now for that little particle ĉi, which is not the same as the correlative beginning. This little particle simply means: over here, near to the speaker; it serves to show that the word associated with it (which it can precede or follow) is something close by. It's usually used with the ti- correlatives: tiu = that, ĉi tiu or tiu ĉi = this.
Does the sentence make sence now? Read it aloud again and make sure that you understand it.
Ĉiu el tiuj ĉi elementoj parolas apartan lingvon, kaj neamike rilatas la aliajn elementojn.
Next lesson: a long sentence, three of our last five sounds, our last correlative beginning, three affixes, and a whole bunch of word roots. Screw up your courage.