Esperanto grammar and Dolphin (character): Difference between pages

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{{subarticleof|Esperanto}}

'''Dolphin''' is a [[fictional character]], a [[DC Comics]] [[superheroine]].

{{Superherobox| <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->

'''Abstract'''

image=[[Image:Dolphin_comics.jpg]]

|caption=Dolphin in her trademark outfit

|comic_color=background:#8080ff

|character_name=Dolphin

|real_name=Unknown

|publisher=[[DC Comics]]<BR>

|debut=Showcase #79

|creators=Jay Scott Pike

|alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0

|status=

|alliances=[[Tempest]]

|previous_alliances= Forgotten Heroes, [[Aquaman]]

|aliases=

|relatives=[[Tempest]], (husband) Cerdian (son)

|powers= artificially adapted for deep subaquatic life: underwater breathing, superhuman strength, resilience to deep water pressures

|}}

==[[Secret Origins]]==

Esperanto is a [[constructed language|constructed]] [[international auxiliary language|auxiliary language]] with an [[agglutinative language|agglutinative]] [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], no [[grammatical gender]], and simple [[grammatical conjugation|verbal]] and [[noun case|nominal inflections]]. Although it is billed as an international language, Esperanto [[syntax]], vocabulary, and [[semantics]] are thoroughly European. [[Verb]]s are [[Inflection#Inflection_vs._derivation|inflected]] for four [[Grammatical_mood|moods]], of which the [[Grammatical_mood#Indicative_mood|indicative]] has three [[grammatical tense|tense]]s, and are [[Inflection#Inflection_vs._derivation|derived]] for several [[Grammatical_aspect#Aspect_and_Aktionsart|aspects]], but do not agree with the [[grammatical person]] or [[grammatical number|number]] of their [[Subject (grammar)|subjects]]. [[Noun]]s and [[adjective]]s have two [[noun case|case]]s, [[nominative case|nominative]]/[[oblique case|oblique]] and [[accusative case|accusative]]/[[allative case|allative]], and two [[grammatical number|numbers]], [[singular]] and [[plural]], whereas personal and demonstrative [[pronoun]]s also have a [[genitive case]]. Adjectives generally [[agreement|agree]] with nouns in case and number. In addition to indicating [[direct object]]s, the accusative/allative case is used with nouns, adjectives and [[adverb]]s to show the destination of a motion, or to replace certain [[preposition]]s; the nominative/oblique is used in all other situations. The case system allows for a flexible [[word order]] that reflects [[information flow]] and other [[pragmatics|pragmatic]] concerns, as in [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Greek language|Greek]], and [[Latin]].

Dolphin (real name unknown) was a very young girl when she fell overboard from a cruise ship ([[Secret Origins]] #50) only to be saved from drowning when a mysterious [[alien]] race abducted her to use as an experimental prototype for a subaquatic humanoid race. In the course of these experiments, she acquired gills, webbed fingers, superhuman strength, resilence to deep water pressures, and a slowed aging process.

When the alien scientists suddenly abandoned the experiment, Dolphin escaped their underwater lab. Oblivious to her former humanity, the [[feral]] young Dolphin scavenged underwater for her livlihood, finding her trademark short blue-jeans and white shirt in a sunken ship. She grew into young womanhood living an isolated, lonely life, until the day the crew of an [[oceanology]] vessel saved her from a near lethal encounter with a [[dolphin]]-killing [[shark]].

The crew of the ship tried to educate and care for the girl they'd dubbed "Dolphin", but her utter lack of contact with either humans or Atlanteans had left her [[mute]]. Though she grew to understand spoken language fairly quickly, the act of speech itself remained beyond her. Then, a young female [[doctor]] on the crew had the bright idea to instruct her in [[American Sign Language|sign language]]. Finally able to communicate, Dolphin explained what she could of herself and her story, and expressed her desire to resume her undersea life. At some point, Dolphin finally mastered spoken language, (especially when she started having contact with the superheroic community) but never lost her shyness and reluctance to speak. She has since been a woman of few words.

These concepts are illustrated below.

==The Crisis Years==

A logical structure makes Esperanto easier to learn than most of the world's languages, even for non-Europeans, though particular features may be more or less advantageous to speakers of different language backgrounds. The grammar is very nearly regular, the [[part of speech|parts of speech]] have distinctive word endings (''-o'' for nouns, ''-a'' for adjectives, etc.), and the derivational [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] is so straight-forward that new words may be coined on the spot and readily understood, allowing speakers to make do with a much smaller vocabulary than in most other languages.

Dolphin has stayed mostly on the fringes of the superheroic community, although she was a member of the Forgotten Heroes until their dissolution, and fought alongside them during the ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]].''

{{Esperanto}}

==Script and pronunciation==

The script is modeled after the [[Czech alphabet]], but with circumflexes instead of ha&#269;eks on the letters ''&#265;, &#349;''; Westernized ''&#285;, &#309;'' in place of Slavic ''d&#382;, &#382;''; and ''&#293;'' rather than ''ch''. The letter ''&#468;'' was taken from the [[Belarusian_language|Belarusian]] [[Lacinka|&#321;acinka]] alphabet. These accented letters have simple ASCII conversions. (See [[Esperanto orthography]].)

==Meeting Aquaman==

The consonantal [[phoneme]]s are similar to those of Polish or especially Belarusian, except for [[palatalization]]; and the vocalic phonemes are also those of Belarusian, minus the less easily distinguished diphthongs such as ''o&#468;''. (See [[Esperanto phonology]].)

During the [[Zero Hour (comics)|Zero Hour]] events, she met [[Aquaman]], and took part in the battle against [[Charybdis (DC Comics)|Charybdis]], a villain interested in the aquatic powers of the two heroes. When Charybdis, after robbing Aquaman of his [[telepathic]] powers, stuck Aquaman's hand in a pool of water teeming with [[piranha|piranhas]], the normally passive Dolphin was forced to shoot the madman. She then escorted Aquaman and a wounded [[Aqualad]] back to Atlantis for medical attention.

Afterwards, she became a supporting character in the Aquaman comic book, and soon won the affections of an Aquaman embittered by the loss of his hand. Over time, she came out of her shell, and displayed a more energetic and bubbly, though naive, personality.

The [[Italian language]] is suggested as the model for [[Esperanto pronunciation]].

In issue #25 of Aquaman volume 3 it was revealed that [[Kordax]], an evil [[merman]] ancestor of Aquaman's, had secretly set Dolphin free from the lab, and used mind control to prompt her to infiltrate the royal court and kill Aquaman as the agent of his revenge on the royal house of Atlantis. The strong-willed Dolphin broke free of his control, and her romantic involvment with the king of Atlantis grew into love.

Dolphin remained Aquaman's lover until [[Mera]], Aquaman's wife, returned from her exile in another dimension called the Netherworld. In the same period, Aqualad, now calling himself [[Aqualad|Tempest]], returned from several years of extradimensional [[magic]] studies with increased powers and confidence, winning Dolphin's heart with a kiss. Though initially taken aback, Aquaman blessed the relationship. Eventually, Dolphin became pregnant by Tempest, and the two were married in an Atlantean ceremony attended by Tempest's second family, the [[Titans (comics)|Titans]].

==The article==

==Starting a family life==

Esperanto has a single [[definite article]], ''la'', which is invariable. It is similar to English ''the''.

Dolphin gave birth to a son, whom Aquaman named Cerdian (after Cerdia, a surface nation annexed by Atlantis). The weight of new familial responsibilities initially strained the relationship between Dolphin and Tempest. These tensions came to a head when Dolphin demanded Tempest choose between his duties as a hero and his duties as a father and husband. Tempest complied, and quit the Titans. When Aquaman was exiled for his role in the sinking of Atlantis, the family fell under suspicion as friends of the deposed king. The new sorcerous rulers deemed Dolphin and her family "collaborationists" and put them under house arrest. As of recent issues, this goverment has been overthrown, and Dolphin and her family live happily in a free Atlantis.

[[Category:DC Comics superheroes]]

''La'' is used:

{{DC-Comics-stub}}

:For identifiable, countable objects,

::''mi trovis botelon kaj deprenis la fermilon'' (I found a bottle and took off the lid).

:For representative individuals,

::''la gepardo estas la plej rapida de la bestoj'' (The cheetah is the fastest of the beasts)

::''la abeloj havas felon, sed ili ne ta&#365;gas por karesi'' (Bees have fur, but are not good for petting).

:For adjectives used as nouns, such as ethnic adjectives used as the names of languages,

::''la blua'' (the blue one)

::''la angla'' (English: lit., "the English [language]").

:For [[Possessive_pronoun#Independent_possessive_pronouns|independent possessive pronouns]],

::''la mia bluas, la via ru&#285;as'' (mine is blue, yours is red).

The article is also used for [[inalienable possession]] of body parts and kin terms, where English would use a [[possessive pronoun]],

:''ili tran&#265;is la manon'' (they cut their hands [one hand each])

The article ''la'', like the [[demonstrative adjective]] ''tiu'' (this, that), nearly always occurs at the beginning of the [[noun phrase]], but this is not required by the grammar, and exceptions occur in poetry.

There is no grammatically required [[indefinite article]]: ''homo'' means either ''human being'' or ''a human being'', depending on the context, and similarly the plural ''homoj'' means ''human beings'' or ''some human beings''. The words ''iu'' and ''unu'' (or their plurals ''iuj'' and ''unuj'') may be used somewhat like indefinite articles, but they're closer in meaning to "some" and "a certain" than to English "a".

==Parts of speech and their word endings==

The grammatical [[suffix]]es ''-o'', ''-a'', ''-e'', and ''-i'' indicate that a word is a [[noun]], [[adjective]], [[adverb]], and [[infinitive]] [[verb]], respectively. Many new words can be derived simply by changing these suffixes, just as ''-ly'' derives adverbs from adjectives in English: From ''vidi'' (to see), we get ''vida'' (visual), ''vide'' (visually), and ''vido'' (sight).

The nominal suffix ''-o'' with a nominal root is redundant, but with an adjectival or verbal root it indicates an abstraction: ''parolo'' (an act of speech, one's word) from ''paroli'' (to speak); ''belo'' (beauty) from ''bela'' (beautiful). Likewise, the adjectival suffix ''-a'' is redundant with adjectives, but not with nominal or verbal roots: ''reĝa'' (royal), from ''reĝo'' (a king); ''parola'' (spoken). The various verbal endings mean ''to be'' with an adjectival root: ''beli'' (to be beautiful); and with a nominal root mean ''to act as'' the noun, ''to use'' the noun, ''etc.'', depending on the semantics of the root: ''reĝi'' (to reign). There are relatively few inherently adverbial roots, so most words ending in ''-e'' are derived. Often with a nominal or verbal root, the English equivalent is a [[prepositional phrase]]: ''parole'' (by speech, orally); ''reĝe'' (as a king, royally); ''bele'' (beautifully).

A suffix ''-j'' following the noun or adjective suffixes (forming a [[diphthong]]) makes the word plural. Without the plural suffix, a [[countable noun]] is understood to be singular. [[Direct object]]s take an [[accusative case]] suffix ''-n'', which goes after any plural suffix. (The resulting ''-ojn'' rhymes with English ''coin'', and ''-ajn'' rhymes with ''fine''.)

Adjectives [[agreement|agree]] with nouns. That is, they are plural if the nouns they [[Grammatical modifier|modify]] (describe) are plural, and accusative if the nouns they modify are accusative. Compare ''bonajn tagojn'' ([I wish you] good days) with incorrect ^*''bona tagojn''. Zamenhof later regretted making this requirement, but it allows for the free word order of adjective-noun and noun-adjective, even when two noun phrases are adjacent in subject-object-verb or verb-subject-object, ''etc.'' clauses,

:''la knabino feliĉa'''n''' knabo'''n''' kisis'' (the girl kissed a happy boy)

:''la knabino feliĉa knabo'''n''' kisis'' (the happy girl kissed a boy).

Agreement clarifies the [[syntax]] in other ways as well. Adjectives take the plural suffix when they modify more than one noun, even if those nouns are all singular,

:''ruĝa'' domo kaj aǔto'' (a red house and [a red] car)

:''ruĝa domo kaj aǔto'' (a red house and a car).

A [[predicative]] adjective does not take the accusative case suffix even when the noun it modifies does,

:''mi farbis la pordo'''n''' ruĝa'''n''''' (I painted the red door)

:''mi farbis la pordo'''n''' ruĝa'' (I painted the door red).

Esperanto roots have an inherent part of speech, which needs to be kept in mind. For example, ''brosi'' (to brush) is based on a nominal root, whereas ''kombi'' (to comb) is based on a verbal root. Change the grammatical suffix to ''-o'', and their superficially similar meanings diverge: ''broso'' (a brush, the name of an instrument) vs. ''kombo'' (a combing, the name of an action). Dictionaries help here by listing the roots as ''bros'''o''''' and ''komb'''i'''''. Changing verbal ''kombi'' (to comb) to a noun simply creates the name for the action, ''kombo'' (a combing). For the name of the tool, the suffix ''-ilo'' is used, which derives words for instruments from verbal roots: ''kombilo'' (a comb). On the other hand, changing the nominal root ''broso'' (a brush) to a verb gives the action associated with that noun, ''brosi'' (to brush). For the name of the action, the suffix ''-ado'' will change a derived verb back to a noun: ''brosado'' (a brushing). Similarly, an abstraction of a nominal root (changing it to an adjective and then back to a noun) requires the suffix ''-eco'', as in ''infaneco'' (childhood), but an abstraction of an adjectival or verbal root merely requires the nominal ''-o'': ''belo'' (beauty). However, the seemingly redundant form ''beleco'' is also acceptable and widely used.

Additionally, most verbs are inherently [[transitive]] or [[intransitive]]. Transitivity is changed with the suffixes ''-igi'' (the transitivizer/causative) and ''-i&#285;i'' (the intransitivizer/middle voice):

:''akvo bolas je cent gradoj'' (water boils at 100 degrees)

:''ni bol'''ig'''as la akvo'''n''''' (we boil the water).

Transitivity is covert in Esperanto. That is, it is not apparent from the shape of the verb, and must simply be memorized.

A limited number of basic adverbs do not end with ''-e'', but with an indefinite part-of-speech ending ''-aǔ''. Most of these words are used as another part of speech in addition to being adverbs, such as ''hodiaǔ'' "today" [noun or adverb] or ''ankoraǔ'' "yet, still" [conjunction or adverb], and people would find it difficult to use an adverbial suffix consistently. Other adverbs are bare roots, such as ''nun'' "now", ''tro'' "too [much]", and many of the [[Esperanto_grammar#Correlatives|correlatives]]. (See [[special Esperanto adverbs]]).

The other parts of speech occur as bare roots. They are the pronouns (''mi'' "I"), prepositions (''al'' "to"), conjunctions (''kaj'' "and"), interjections (''ho'' "oh"), and numerals (''du'' "two"). There are also several "[[grammatical particles]]" which don't fit neatly into any part of speech, and which must generally precede the words they modify, such as ''ne'' (not), ''ankaǔ'' (also), ''nur'' (only), ''eĉ'' (even).

==Pronouns==

There are three types of pronouns in Esperanto: personal (''vi'' "you"), demonstrative (''tio'' "that", ''iu'' "someone"), and relative/interrogative (''kio'' "what"). Unlike nouns, pronouns take three cases: nominative/oblique, accusative, and genitive.

===Personal pronouns===

The Esperanto '''[[personal pronoun]]''' system is similar to that of English, but with the addition of the [[reflexive pronoun]] of the Romance languages.

{| border="1" style="text-align:center" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"

| colspan=2 | || singular || plural

|-

| colspan=2 | first-person

| '''mi''' (I) || '''ni''' (we)

|-

| colspan=2 | second-person

| colspan=2 | '''vi''' (you)

|-

| rowspan=3 | third-<br>person || masculine

| '''li''' (he) || rowspan=3 | '''ili''' (they)

|-

| feminine

| '''&#349;i''' (she)

|-

| [[Wiktionary:epicene|epicene]]

| '''&#285;i''' (it, s/he)

|-

| colspan=2 | indefinite

| colspan=2 | '''oni''' (one, "they")

|-

| colspan=2 | reflexive

| colspan=2 | '''si''' (self)

|}

Personal pronouns take the [[accusative]] suffix ''-n'' like nouns do: ''min'' (me), ''lin'' (him), ''&#349;in'' (her). [[Possessive pronoun]]s are formed with the adjectival suffix ''-a'': ''mia'' (my), ''&#285;ia'' (its), ''nia'' (our). These agree with their noun like any other [[adjective]]: ''ni salutis liajn amikojn'' (we greeted his friends). Esperanto does not have a special form for "mine" ''etc''; this sense is generally (though not always) indicated with the definite article: ''la mia''.

The [[reflexive pronoun]] is used, in non-subject phrases only, to refer to back to the subject, usually only in the third and indefinite persons,

:''li lavis sin'' (he washed [himself])

:''li man&#285;is '''sian''' panon'' (he ate his [own] bread)

:compare ''li man&#285;is '''lian''' panon'' (he ate his [someone else's] bread).

The indefinite pronoun is used when making general statements, and is often used where English would have the subject ''it'' with a passive verb,

:''oni diras, ke ...'' (they say that ... [or] it's said that ...)

Zamenhof proposed an informal second-person singular pronoun ''ci'' ([[thou]]), parallel to most European languages, but it is rarely used.

''&#284;i'' is to be used with animals and objects. Zamenhof also prescribed it as the [[Wiktionary:epicene|epicene]] (gender-neutral) third-person singular pronoun, for use when the sex of an individual is unknown. However, it is generally only used for children,

:''La infano ploras, &#265;ar &#285;i volas man&#285;i'' (the child is crying, because it wants to eat).

When speaking of adults or people in general, it is much more common to see the demonstrative adjective and pronoun ''tiu'' (that one) used in such situations.

===Other pronouns===

The '''[[demonstrative pronoun|demonstrative]]''' and '''[[relative pronoun]]s''' form part of the [[Esperanto_vocabulary#Correlatives|correlative system]], and are described in that article. They're the forms ending in ''-o'' (simple pronouns) and in ''-u'' (adjectival pronouns). Their accusative case is formed in ''-n'', but the genitive case is in ''-es''.

== Prepositions ==

Although Esperanto [[word order]] is fairly free, [[preposition]]s must come at the beginning of a [[noun phrase]]. Whereas in languages such as German, prepositions may require a noun to be in various [[case (linguistics)|case]]s ([[accusative]], [[dative]], ''etc.''), in Esperanto all prepositions govern the [[nominative]]: ''por Johano'' (for John). The only "exception" is when a preposition is ''replaced'' by the accusative.

Prepositions should be used with a definite meaning. When no one preposition is clearly correct, the indefinite preposition ''je'' should be used,

:''ili iros '''je''' la tria de majo'' (they'll go on the third of May: the "on" isn't literally true).

Alternatively, the accusative may be used without a preposition,

:''ili iros la tria'''n''' de majo''.

Note that although ''la trian'' (the third) is in the accusative, ''de majo'' (of May) is still a [[prepositional phrase]], and so the noun ''majo'' remains in the nominative case.

A frequent use of the accusative is in place of ''al'' (to) to indicate the direction or goal of motion ([[allative case]]). It is especially common when there would otherwise be a double preposition,

:''la kato &#265;asis la muson '''en''' la domo'' (the cat chased the mouse '''in''' [inside of] the house)

:''la kato &#265;asis la muson '''en''' la domo'''n''''' (the cat chased the mouse '''into''' the house).

The accusative/allative may stand in for other prepositions as well, especially when they have vague meanings that don't add much to the clause. Adverbs, with or without the case suffix, are frequently used in place of prepositional phrases,

:''li iris '''al''' sia hejmo'' (he went to his home)

:''li iris hejme'''n''''' (he went home)

Occasionally a new preposition is coined. As a bare [[root (linguistics)|root]] may indicate a preposition or [[interjection]], removing the grammatical suffix from another part of speech can be used to derive a preposition or interjection. For example, from ''fari'' (to do, to make) we get the preposition ''far'' (done by), a more precise substitute for ''de'' (of, by, from).

== Verbs ==

All verbs have regular inflections. Three [[tense]]s together form what is called the [[grammatical mood#indicative mood|indicative mood]]. The other moods are the [[infinitive]], [[conditional mood|conditional]], and [[grammatical mood#jussive mood|jussive]]. No [[Grammatical_aspect|aspectual]] distinctions are required by the grammar, but derivational expressions of [[Grammatical_aspect#Aspect_and_Aktionsart|Aktionsart]] are common.

Verbs do not change form according to their [[subject (grammar)|subject]]. ''I am'', ''we are,'' and ''he is'' are simply ''mi estas'', ''ni estas'', and ''li estas'', respectively. Impersonal subjects are not used: ''pluvas'' (it is raining); ''estas muso en la domo'' (there's a mouse in the house).

===The verbal paradigm===

The tenses have characteristic vowels. ''A'' indicates the present tense, ''i'' the past, and ''o'' the future.

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"

!

![[grammatical mood#indicative mood|Indicative]]

![[Participle|Active participle]]

![[Participle|Passive participle]]

![[Infinitive]]

![[grammatical mood#jussive mood|Jussive]]

![[conditional mood|Conditional]]

|-

![[past tense|Past]]

|align="center"|-is

|align="center"|-inta

|align="center"|-ita

|align="center" rowspan="3"|-i

|align="center" rowspan="3"|-u

|align="center" rowspan="3"|-us

|-

![[present tense|Present]]

|align="center"|-as

|align="center"|-anta

|align="center"|-ata

|-

![[future tense|Future]]

|align="center"|-os

|align="center"|-onta

|align="center"|-ota

|}

The verbal forms may be illustrated with the root ''esper-'' (hope):

:''esperi'' (to hope)

:''esperas'' (hopes, is hoping)

:''esperis'' (hoped, was hoping)

:''esperos'' (shall hope, will hope)

:''esperu'' (hope!)

:''esperus'' (were to hope, would hope)

A verb can be made emphatic with the particle ''ja'' (indeed): ''mi ja esperas'' (I do hope), ''mi ja esperis'' (I did hope).

===Mood===

The [[conditional mood]] is used for such expressions as ''se mi povus, mi irus'' (if I could, I would go) and ''se mi estus vi, mi irus'' (if I were you, I'd go).

The [[grammatical mood#jussive mood|jussive mood]], called the ''volitive'' in Esperanto, is used for wishing and requesting, and serves as the [[imperative]]. It covers some of the uses of the [[subjunctive]] in European languages,

:''Iru!'' (Go!)

:''Mi petis, ke li venu.'' (I asked him to come.)

:''Li parolu.'' (Let him speak.)

:''Ni iru.'' (Let's go.)

:''Benu tiun doma&#265;on'' (Bless this mess.)

:''Mia filino belu!'' (May my daughter be beautiful!)

===Aspect===

Although verbal [[Grammatical_aspect|aspect]] is not grammatically required in Esperanto, the Slavic aspectual system survives in two [[Grammatical_aspect#Aspect_and_Aktionsart|Aktionsart]] affixes, [[perfective aspect|perfective]] ''ek-'' and [[imperfective aspect|imperfective]] ''-adi''. Compare,

:''Tiu &#265;i '''ek'''interesis min kaj montris al mi, ke ...'' (This '''caught''' my interest and showed me that ...)

and

:''Tiu &#265;i interesis min'' (This interested me).

Various prepositions may also be used as Aktionsart prefixes, such as ''el'' (out of), used to indicate that an action is performed to completion or at least to a considerable degree. In,

:''Germanan kaj francan lingvojn mi '''el'''lernadis en infaneco'' (I learned French and German in childhood),

the verb ''el-lern-ad-is'' is past tense (''-is''), on-going/imperfective (''-ad-''), and performed to significant completion (''el-''). Such distinctions are notoriously difficult to render in English, but perhaps a circumlocution may help: ''In childhood, I spent time soaking up German and French''. Here ''spend time &mdash;ing'' corresponds roughly to ''-adi'', and the ''up'' of ''soak up'' [originally also a preposition] conveys some of the meaning of ''el-''.

The participles (see below) may also be used for aspectual distinctions.

===The copula===

The verb ''esti'' (to be) is both the [[copula]] and the existential ("there is") verb. As a copula linking two [[noun phrase]]s, it does not cause either to take the accusative case. Therefore, unlike the situation with other verbs, word order with ''esti'' can be semantically important: compare ''hundoj estas personoj'' (dogs are people) and ''personoj estas hundoj'' (people are dogs).

It is becoming increasingly common to replace ''esti''-plus-adjective with a verb: ''la &#265;ielo estas blua'' or ''la &#265;ielo bluas'' (the sky is blue). This is a stylistic rather than grammatical change in the language, as the more economical verbal forms were always found in poetry.

===Participles===

[[Participle]]s are verbal derivatives. In Esperanto, they retain the tense of the verb in their vowel. They may be [[active]] (performing an action) or [[passive]] (receiving an action).

====Adjectival participles====

The basic principle of the participles may be illustrated with the verb ''fali'' (to fall). Picture [[Wile E. Coyote]] running off a cliff. Before gravity kicks in (after all, this is a cartoon), he is ''fal'''o'''nta'' (about to fall). As he drops, he is ''fal'''a'''nta'' (falling). After he impacts the desert floor, he is ''fal'''i'''nta'' (fallen).

Active and passive pairs can be illustrated with the transitive verb ''haki'' (to chop). Picture a woodsman approaching a tree with an axe, intending to chop it down. He is ''hak'''on'''ta'' (about to chop) and the tree is ''hak'''o'''ta'' (about to be chopped). While swinging the axe, he is ''hak'''an'''ta'' (chopping) and the tree ''hak'''a'''ta'' (being chopped). After the tree has fallen, he is ''hak'''in'''ta'' (having chopped) and the tree ''hak'''i'''ta'' (been chopped).

====Compound tense====

Compound tenses are formed with the adjectival participles plus ''esti'' (to be) as the auxiliary verb,

*Present [[Continuous aspect|progressive]]: ''mi estas kaptanta'' (I am catching [something]), ''mi estas kaptata'' (I am being caught)

*Present [[perfect]]: ''mi estas kaptinta'' (I have caught [something]), ''mi estas kaptita'' (I have been caught)

*Present [[predictive]]: ''mi estas kaptonta'' (I am going to/about to catch), ''mi estas kaptota'' (I am going to be/about to be caught)

These are not used as often as their English equivalents. For "I ''am'' go''ing'' to the store", you would normally use the simple present ''mi iras'' in Esperanto.

The tense and mood of ''esti'' can be changed in these compound tenses,

:''mi estis kaptinta'' (I had caught)

:''mi estus kaptonta'' (I would be about to catch)

:''mi estos kaptanta'' (I will be catching).

The option of replacing ''esti'' + adjective with a verb holds for adjectival participles, with the verbal suffix reflecting the tense of the auxiliary,

:''mi estas kaptinta'' or ''mi kaptintas'' (I have caught)

:''mi estis kaptinta'' or ''mi kaptintis'' (I had caught).

Adjectival participles agree with nouns, as any other adjectives do,

:''ili &#349;paris la arbojn '''hakotajn''''' (they spared the trees '''that were to be chopped down''').

====Nominal participles====

Participles may be turned into adverbs or nouns by replacing the adjectival suffix ''-a'' with ''-e'' or ''-o''. This means that, in Esperanto, some nouns may be inflected for tense.

A nominal participle indicates ''one who participates'' in the action specified by the verbal root. For example, ''esperinto'' is a "hoper" (past tense), or ''one who had been hoping''. (In the early years of the language, such forms were assumed to be masculine, but that is no longer the case.)

====Adverbial participles====

[[Adverbial participles]] are used with subjectless clauses,

:''Kaptinte la pilkon, li ekkuris golen'' (Having caught the ball, he ran for the goal).

====Conditional participles====

Occasionally, the participle paradigm will be extended to include conditional participles, with the vowel ''u'' (''-unt-, -ut-''). If, for example, in our tree-chopping example, the woodsman found that the tree had been spiked and so couldn't be cut down after all, he would be ''hakunta'' and the tree ''hakuta''.

This can also be illustrated with the verb ''prezidi'' (to preside). Just after the recount of the 2000 US presidential election,

:the current president [[Bill Clinton]] was still ''prezid'''a'''nto'',

:president-elect [[George W. Bush]] was declared ''prezid'''o'''nto'',

:the previous president [[George H. W. Bush]] was ''prezid'''i'''nto'', and

:the contender [[Al Gore]] was ''prezid'''u'''nto'' (''The Man Who Would be King'' &mdash; that is, if the recount had gone differently).

Note that the conditional forms are not officially recognized, but their regular derivation means that they're readily understood, even if they're rarely needed.

====Tenseless participles====

The three indicative forms of ''prezidi'' above may be subsumed under the term ''prezid'''e'''nto'' (president), if the speaker doesn't wish to specify the tense.

The tenseless ''-ent-'' suffix is an extension of the original participial paradigm, which is now asymmetric in that there is no ''regular'' passive equivalent to ''-ent-'', since the parallel ''-et-'' is the diminutive suffix. Instead, the [[middle voice]] suffix ''-i&#285;i'' is used. There was heated debate for several decades as to whether "I was born in 19xx" should be ''mi estis naskita'' or ''mi estis naskata'', with the French and Germans generally holding opposite opinions deriving from usage in their native languages. Today, people avoid the problem of overly specifying tense in such cases by saying ''mi naski&#285;is'' (I was born).

== Negatives ==

A statement is made negative by using ''ne'' or one of the negative (''neni-'') [[Esperanto_grammar#Correlatives|correlatives]]. Only one negative word is allowed per clause:

: ''Mi ne faris ion ajn.'' I didn't do anything.

''*Mi ne faris nenion ajn'' (I didn't do nothing) would be considered nonsensical.

The word ''ne'' comes before the word it negates, with the default position being before the verb:

: ''Mi ne skribis tion'' (I didn't write that)

: ''Ne mi skribis tion'' (''I'' didn't write that) [It wasn't me who wrote that]

: ''Mi skribis ne tion'' (I didn't write ''that'') [It wasn't that that I wrote]

== Questions ==

''Main article: [[Interrogatives in Esperanto]]''

"Wh" questions are asked with one of the interrogative (''ki-'') [[Esperanto_grammar#Correlatives|correlatives]]. They are commonly placed at the beginning of the sentence, but different word orders are allowed for stress:

:''Kion vi faris?'' (What did you do?)

:''Vi faris kion?'' (You did ''what''?)

Yes/no questions are asked with the conjunction ''&#265;u'' (whether):

:''Mi ne scias, &#265;u li venos'' (I don't know whether he'll come)

:''&#264;u li venos?'' (Will he come?)

Such questions can be answered ''jes'' (yes) or ''ne'' (no) in the European fashion of aligning with the polarity of the answer, or ''&#285;uste'' (correct) or ''mal&#285;uste'' (incorrect) in the Japanese fashion of aligning with the polarity of the question:

:''&#264;u vi ne iris?'' (Didn't you go?)

::''&mdash; Ne, mi ne iris'' (No, I didn't go); ''&mdash; Jes, mi iris'' (Yes, I went)

::''&mdash; &#284;uste, mi ne iris'' (Correct, I didn't go); ''&mdash; Mal&#285;uste, mi iris'' (No, I did go)

== Conjunctions ==

Basic Esperanto [[conjunction]]s are ''kaj'' (both/and), ''a&#365;'' (either/or), ''nek'' (neither/nor), ''se'' (if), ''&#265;u'' (whether/or), ''sed'' (but), ''anstata&#365;'' (instead of), ''krom'' (besides, in addition to), ''kiel'' (like, as), ''ke'' (that). Like prepositions, they precede the phrase or clause they modify:

:''Mi vidis kaj lin kaj lian amikon'' (I saw both him and his friend)

:''Estis nek hele nek agrable'' (it was neither clear [sunny] nor pleasant)

:''&#265;u pro kaprico, &#265;u pro natura lingvo-evoluo'' (whether by whim, or by natural language development)

:''Li volus, ke ni iru'' (he would like us to go)

However, unlike prepositions, they allow the accusative case, as in the following example from Don Harlow:

:''Li traktis min kiel princon'' (He treated me like a prince: that is, as he would treat a prince)

:''Li traktis min kiel princo'' (He treated me like a prince: that is, as a prince would treat me)

==Interjections==

Since [[interjection]]s have no part-of-speech suffix, they may be derived from bare affixes or roots: ''ek!'' (get going!), from the perfective prefix; ''um'' (um, er), from the indefinite/undefined suffix; ''fek!'' (shit!), from ''feki'' (to defecate).

== Word formation ==

:''Main article:'' '''[[Esperanto_vocabulary#Word_formation|Esperanto word formation]]'''

Esperanto [[morphology (linguistics)|derivational morphology]] uses a large number of lexical and grammatical affixes ([[prefix]]es and [[suffix]]es). These, along with compounding, decrease the memory load of the language, as they allow for the expansion of a relatively small number of basic roots into a large vocabulary. For example, the Esperanto root ''vid-'' (see) regularly corresponds to several dozen English words: ''see (saw, seen), sight, blind, vision, visual, visible, nonvisual, invisible, unsightly, glance, view, vista, panorama, observant'' etc., though there are also separate Esperanto roots for a couple of these concepts.

==Numbers==

===Numerals===

The cardinal [[numerals]] are:

:''nul'' (zero)

:''unu'' (one)

:''du'' (two)

:''tri'' (three)

:''kvar'' (four)

:''kvin'' (five)

:''ses'' (six)

:''sep'' (seven)

:''ok'' (eight)

:''na&#365;'' (nine)

:''dek'' (ten)

:''cent'' (one hundred)

:''mil'' (one thousand)

These are grammatically numerals, not nouns, and as such do not take the accusative case suffix. However, ''unu'' (and only ''unu'') is sometimes used adjectivally or demonstratively, meaning "a certain", and in such cases it may take the accusative affix ''-n'' and plural affix ''-j'', just as the demonstrative pronoun ''tiu'' does: ''unuj homoj'' (certain people). Additionally, when counting off, the final ''u'' may be dropped, as if it were a part-of-speech suffix: ''Un'! Du! Tri! Kvar!''

===Higher numbers===

As in other languages, there are several systems for numbers above a million. A ''[[billion]]'' in the US and Russia is different from a ''billion'' in France and Germany (10⁹ ''vs'' 10¹²; that is, a thousand million ''vs'' a million million), and Esperanto ''biliono'' is likewise ambiguous. However, there is an additional unambiguous system:

:10⁶: ''miliono''

:10⁹: ''miliardo'' (or ''mil milionoj'')

:10¹²: ''duiliono''

:10¹⁵: ''duiliardo'' (or ''mil duilionoj'')

:10¹⁸: ''triiliono''

:10²¹: ''triiliardo'' (or ''mil triilionoj'')

:''etc.''

Note that these are not numerals but nouns, and behave as such.

An additional unambiguous system is provided by the international set of metric prefixes, and occasionally the nonce numerals ''meg'' (miliono) and ''gig'' (miliardo) are derived from them.

===Compound numbers and derivatives===

Numerals are written together as one word when their values are multiplied, and separately when their values are added (''dudek'' 20, ''dek du'' 12, ''dudek du'' 22). Ordinals are formed with the adjectival suffix ''-a'', quantities with the nominal suffix ''-o'', multiples with ''-obl-'', fractions with ''-on-'', collectives with ''-op-'', and repetitions with the root ''-foj-''.

:''sescent sepdek kvin'' (675)

:''tria'' (third [as in ''first, second, third''])

:''trie'' (thirdly)

:''dudeko'' (a score)

:''duobla'' (double)

:''kvarono'' (one fourth, a quarter)

:''duope'' (by twos)

:''dufoje'' (twice)

The particle ''po'' is used to mark distributive numbers, that is, the idea of distributing a certain number of items to each member of a group. Consequently the [[logogram]] @ is not used (except in email addresses, of course),

:''mi donis al ili po tri pomojn'' or ''pomojn mi donis al ili po tri'' (I gave them three apples each).

Note that particle ''po'' forms a phrase with the numeral ''tri'' and is not a preposition for the noun phrase ''tri pomojn'', so it does not prevent a grammatical object from taking the accusative case.

== Comparisons ==

Comparisons are made with the adverbial correlatives ''tiel ... kiel'' (as ... as), the adverbial roots ''pli'' (more) and ''plej'' (most), the antonym prefix ''mal-'', and the preposition ''ol'' (than):

:''mi skribas tiel bone kiel vi'' (I write as well as you)

:''tiu estas pli bona ol tiu'' (this one is better than that one)

:''tio estas la plej bona'' (that's the best)

:''la mia estas malpli multekosta ol la via'' (mine is less expensive than yours)

Implied comparisons are made with ''tre'' (very) and ''tro'' (too [much]).

Phrases like "The more people, the smaller the portions" and "All the better!" are translated using ''ju'' and ''des'' in place of "the":

:'''''Ju''' pli da homoj, '''des''' malpli grandaj la porcioj'' (The more people, the smaller the portions)

:'''''Des''' pli bone!'' (All the better!)

== Sample text ==

The paternoster, from the [[Unua Libro|first Esperanto publication]] in 1887, illustrates many of the grammatical points presented above, and should be readable without translation,

:''Patro nia, kiu estas en la ĉieloj,

:''sanktigata estu via nomo.

:''Venu via regno,

:''fariĝu via volo,

:''kiel en la ĉielo, kaj sur la tero.

:''Panon nian ĉiutagan donu al ni hodiaǔ.

:''Kaj pardonu al ni niajn ŝuldojn,

:''kiel ankaǔ ni pardonas al niaj ŝuldantoj.

:''Kaj ne konduku nin en tenton,

:''sed liberigu nin de la malbono.

:''(ĉar via estas la regno kaj la potenco

:''kaj la gloro eterne.

:''Amen.)''

The morphologically complex words (see [[Esperanto vocabulary#word formation|Esperanto word formation]]) are,

:''sanktigata'' &ndash; sankt-ig-at-a (holy-causative-passive participle-adjective) "made holy"

:''fari&#285;u'' &ndash; far-i&#285;-u (do-middle voice-jussive) "be done"

:''&#265;iutagan'' &ndash; &#265;iu-tag-a-n (every-day-adjective-accusative) "daily"

:''&#349;uldantoj'' &ndash; &#349;uld-ant-o-j (owe-active participle-noun-plural) "debtors"

:''liberigu'' &ndash; liber-ig-u (free-causative-jussive) "free [us]"

:''la malbono'' &ndash; la mal-bon-o (generic article + antonym-good-noun) "evil"

== External links ==

A fairly good overview of Esperanto's grammar and word-building system can be gained by viewing [http://www.webcom.com/~donh/Esperanto/rules.html "The Sixteen Rules of Esperanto"], [http://www.webcom.com/~donh/Esperanto/correlatives.html "The Esperanto Correlatives"] and [http://www.webcom.com/~donh/Esperanto/affixes.html "Word Building With Esperanto Affixes"]

Also see Jiri Hana's Master thesis overview of Esperanto:

:[http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~hana/esr/grammar/EsrGrammar-Title.html "Esperanto Grammar"]

[[Category:Esperanto language|Grammar]]

[[Category:Grammars of specific languages]]

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[[fr:Grammaire de l'espéranto dans le Fondamento]]

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[[fi:Esperanton kielioppi]]

[[zh:世界语语法]]