over<\/em> spilled milk, but we’re not really in, on, to, for, or over anything. All these ideas express the topic of our action. (That is, the topic of our interest, work, oath, yearning, or crying.)<\/p>\nSo in Esperanto, where each preposition has a “definite and permanent meaning”, all these could be expressed with the same preposition – in this case pri<\/em>. (Pri<\/em> shows the topic and is often glossed as “about.”)<\/p>\n\n- Mi interesi\u011das pri scienco – I am interested in science.<\/li>\n
- La\u00a0a\u016dtoro laboras pri nova romano – The author is working on a new novel.<\/li>\n
- \u0108u vi \u0135uras pri tio? – Do you swear to that?<\/li>\n
- Kiom da fojoj mi sopiris pri la fina kaj eterna ripozo. – How many times I have yearned for the final and eternal rest.<\/li>\n
- Ne ploru pri\u00a0misver\u015dita lakto. Don’t cry over spilled milk. (Ne faru al vi zorgojn pri ne\u015dan\u011deblaj aferoj.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What is “je” for?<\/h2>\n
To avoid problems like this (which complicate the national languages), Esperanto tries to stick with the fixed meanings as much as possible. Note that “fixed meaning” doesn’t mean “literal.” If something happens inside of a certain time period, we can still say metaphorically that it happened en<\/strong> tiu tago<\/em> (on that day – literally in<\/strong> that day.) What we mean is that we try to avoid using just any old preposition without justification. The trouble is that there are some expressions that don’t quite fit. It’s that situation that je<\/em> was invented for.<\/p>\nFor example, if we catch someone “by the hand”, which preposition would we use? We’re not “on” their hand, or for their hand, or in their hand. When I’ve asked this question of my students, someone will sugest per<\/em> (by means of), but that means we’re using our hand to catch them. This is a situation where we can use je<\/em>.<\/p>\nExamples<\/h2>\n
For the most part, you’ll only use je<\/em> in a few set expressions. In addition to je la mano<\/em> above, here are some examples.<\/p>\nTo express when something happens.<\/p>\n
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