Archive for May, 2009
The Less Common Pronoun Posted by Transparent Language on May 30, 2009
You might never encounter the pronoun “ci” in your adventures as an Esperantist, unless you happen to be reading some old-fashioned literature. “Ci” is much like the antequated English word “thou” (which would make “cia” the equivalent of “thine,” and the accusative “cin” something like “thee”). I have no idea how you could work that…
Having trouble with correlatives? Posted by Transparent Language on May 26, 2009
In my opinion, the most difficult part about learning Esperanto is tackling all the correlatives. They are quite logical in their construction (as is all of Esperanto!), and you could easily form them if you had a small, pocket-sized table on you. But, there are still a good number of them, and sometimes they can…
Don’t Fear the Suffix Posted by Transparent Language on May 21, 2009
A pretty useful suffix to remember in Esperanto is “fobio.” On its own, it simply means “phobia.” It’s a little bit different than “timo,” which means “fear” (or “timi,” to fear) in that it denotes a more severe frightened response to a particular thing, and usually connotes irrationality. The difference is somewhat difficult to express…
Aprilaj Dusxoj Alportas… Posted by Transparent Language on May 20, 2009
…Majajn florojn! I haven’t been able to think about anything but flowers today. My neighbors across the street have a beautiful gxardeno that they’ve worked hard to cultivate. The results are wonderful…They have so many different types of flowers, all colorful and healthy. Similar to last week’s entry on insektoj, there are plenty of Esperanto…
Ni Prokrastu! Posted by Transparent Language on May 18, 2009
Who says procrastination is a bad thing? It has the English prefix “pro-,” which usually connotes a good thing. We didn’t call it “concrastination” for a reason! In Esperanto, we have the English cognate verb “prokrasti,” which means “to procrastinate.” (Don’t bother trying to break “prokrasti” into various parts – there is no word “krasti”…
La Printempaj Insektoj Posted by Transparent Language on May 16, 2009
The seasons where I live have been confusing as possible these past two months. My winter was about five months long, and only in mid-April did the last snows go away. In my mind, it’s more spring than summer. And it’s only reinforced by all the springtime insektoj! You can call most any bug on…
Household Chores Gone Overboard Posted by Transparent Language on May 13, 2009
Today my roommate, about to clean the carpet, said to me: “Donu a mi la vakuon.” I think he must have been using an Internet translation, but wasn’t as explicit as he ought to have been. You see, “vakuo” in Esperanto means “vacuum.” In English, sometimes we associate the word “vacuum” with “vacuum cleaner,” the…