A Complete Grammar of Esperanto | Page 7

sur segxoj, the men
are-not-sitting on chairs. La kolombo kantas, ne flugas, the dove is-singing, not flying. La
domo estas blanka, ne verda, the house is white, not green.
VOCABULARY
apud = near, in the vicinity of. koloro = color. benko = bench. largxa = wide, broad.
brancxo = branch. mangxas = eat, eats. diversa = various. mola = soft. felicxa = happy.
nigra = black. frukto = fruit. ne = not, no. havas = have, has. rompas = break, breaks.
herbo = grass. sed = but. ili = they. trovas = find, finds. kolektas = gather, collect. vidas =
see, sees.
READING LESSON.
1. La knaboj ne estas en la cxambro en la blanka domo. 2. Ili estas en la granda gxardeno.
3. La gxardeno sxajnas kaj longa kaj largxa. 4. La felicxaj knaboj vidas la belan
gxardenon. 5. Ili vidas florojn apud alta arbo. 6. La floroj havas diversajn kolorojn. 7. La
knaboj kolektas kaj rugxajn kaj flavajn florojn. 8. Sed ili ne trovas fruktojn en la
gxardeno. 9. Florojn blankajn ili ne vidas. 10. La alta arbo havas verdajn foliojn sur la
brancxoj. 11. La knaboj rompas brancxon, kaj kolektas la fruktojn. 12. Ili vidas florojn
sur la brancxoj, sed la florojn ili ne kolektas. 13. La knaboj ne sidas sur benkoj en la
gxardeno, sed kusxas sur la mola herbo. 14. La kolomboj sidas sur la arboj, kaj ili estas
felicxaj. 15. La knaboj vidas la belajn birdojn. 16. Fortaj nigraj cxevaloj mangxas la
herbon en la kampo. 17. La knaboj vidas la cxevalojn, sed la cxevaloj ne vidas la knabojn.
18. La cxevaloj ne dormas, ili mangxas. 19. La fresxa herbo estas verda kaj mola. 20.
Felicxaj estas kaj la knaboj kaj la cxevaloj. 21. La pomo estas bona frukto.
SENTENCES FOR TRANSLATION.
1. Green leaves are on the trees. 2. The boys break branches and gather the apples. 3.
They are near the tall tree in the garden. 4. They find leaves on the tree, but they do not

see the fruit. 5. The house is long, broad and high. 6. The rooms in the house are both
long and wide. 7. The men have strong black horses. 8. The horses eat the fresh green
grass in the field. 9. The men sit on benches in the garden. 10. The boys do not sleep, but
they lie on the soft grass. 11. They see both the birds and the flowers, and they seem
happy. 12. The flowers have various colors, but the grass is green. 13. The doves are not
sitting on the tree, they are flying near the trees. 14. Beautiful red roses are lying on the
table in the house. 15. The large red apples are near the yellow roses.

LESSON V.
THE COMPLEMENTARY INFINITIVE.
28. The infinitive is a form of the verb which expresses merely the general idea of the
action or condition indicated, and has some of the characteristics of a noun. The ending
of the infinitive is "-i", as "kuri", to run, "esti", to be, "havi", to have.
29. An infinitive used to complete the meaning of another verb, serving as a direct object
to a transitive verb, is called a "complementary infinitive". If the complementary
infinitive is from a transitive verb, it may itself have a direct object:
La knabo volas kuri, the boy wishes to run. Birdoj sxatas kanti, birds like to sing. La
knabo volas havi cxevalon, the boy wishes to have a horse. Ili volas trovi florojn, they
wish to find flowers.
INTERROGATION.
30. An interrogative sentence is one which asks a question. Unless some directly
interrogative word (as "who," "when," "why," etc.) is used, the sentence is rendered
interrogative by use of the word "cxu". This interrogative particle is placed at the
beginning of a sentence, the words of which are left in the same order as for a statement.
Since there is no inversion of order, there is no necessity for a word like English "do" or
"does," to introduce the verb:
Cxu la knabo estas bona? Is the boy good? Cxu ili havas florojn? Have they flowers? Cxu
la kolomboj kantas? Do the doves sing? (Are the doves singing?)
THE CONJUNCTION "NEK".
31. In the expression "neither ... nor ...", the conjunction "nek" is used for both words.
Since an adjective modifier of two or more words connected by "nek" must necessarily
modify them separately, the adjective remains in the singular number:
Ili nek marsxas nek kuras, they neither walk nor run. La viro havas nek domon nek
gxardenon, the man has neither a house nor a garden. Nek la rozo nek la violo estas verda,
neither the rose nor the violet is green.
VOCABULARY
(Verbs will hereafter be quoted in the infinitive form.)
bruna = brown. matura = ripe. cxerizo