Esperanto/Lesson 2
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[edit] Vojaĝado (Traveling)
Buying a plane ticket / Aĉeti veturo-bileton
Ludoviko: Saluton, mi volas aĉeti veturo-bileton.
Vendisto: Al kiu urbo?
Ludoviko: Al Parizo.
Vendisto: Bone, la aviadilo ekflugos el Berlino al Parizo post 20 minutoj.
Ludoviko: Dankon.
Vocabulary / Vortlisto
Esperanto English
aĉeti to buy veturo journey bileto ticket voli to want kiu which urbo city, town Parizo Paris bone okay, well aviadilo airplane ekflugi to take off el from Berlino Berlin al to post after dudek twenty minuto minute dankon thank you, thanks iri (al) go (to)
[edit] Translation
Ludwig: Hello, I want to buy a ticket.
Seller: To which city?
Ludwig: To Paris.
Seller: Okay, the plane will take off from Berlin to Paris in 20 minutes.
Ludwig: Thanks.
Note that, unlike in English, the object of the preposition is written in the nominative and not in the accusative.
For instance, in English we say "to me" instead of "to I", or "around her" instead of "around she". In Esperanto we say "el Berlino" instead of "el Berlinon", "al Parizo" instead of "al Parizon", and "en 20 minutoj" instead of "en 20 minutojn."
[edit] Asking and Answering Questions
Asking questions in Esperanto is very easy to accomplish with the help of a few question words.
[edit] Yes/No Questions
[edit] Asking Yes/No Questions
In Esperanto, all questions that require a yes or a no as an answer begin in "Ĉu", which roughly translates to mean "Is it true?". However, it is used in place of the English "do" and other words used to ask questions. To change a standard sentence into a yes/no question, just put the word "Ĉu" in front of it. For example, "Do you eat?" would be said "Ĉu vi manĝas?" which literally means "Is it true that you are eating?" Another pitfall in this area to watch out for is reversing the order of objects to form a question. For example, in English one could say "Is it a dog?" In Esperanto, one must say "Ĉu ĝi estas hundo?" which is closer to "Is it true that it is a dog?"
[edit] Answering Yes/No Questions
Answering Yes/No questions is very easy:
Vocabulary / Vortlisto
Esperanto English
jes yes ne no
[edit] Other Types of Questions
Here is a list of several basic question words:
Esperanto English
Kiu? Which?/Who? (Which person?) Kio? What? Kiam? When? Kie? Where? Kial? Why? (For what reason?) Kiel? How? Kiom? How many?
These words may be useful in answering questions that use the above words:
Esperanto English
Tiu That/That person Tio That (thing) Tiam Then Tie There Tial For that reason Tiel Thus/In that way Tiom That many
Notice how all these words are linked to the question word that has same ending. This system of words, called the correlatives, will be dealt with in a later chapter.
Esperanto English
Ĉar Because Per Through means of Pro On account of
Examples:
Kio estas tio? What is that? Tio estas hundo. That is a dog.
Kiu estas tiu? Who is that? Tiu estas mia amiko. That is my friend.
Kiam vi venos? When will you come? Mi venos baldaŭ. I will come soon.
Kie vi estas? Where are you? Mi estas en Usono. I am in the USA.
Kial vi estas en Usono? Why are you in the USA? Ĉar mi loĝas en Usono! Because I live in the USA!
Kiel vi venos al Eŭropo? How will you come to Europe? Mi venos per aviadilo. I will come by aeroplane.
[edit] Exercise: Translation
[edit] What You Need to Know
- To change a standard sentence into a question, place the word "ĉu" in front of it.
- Several important words are useful for asking and answering questions.
