The Esperanto Teacher | Page 7

Cxu vi jam trovis vian horlogxon? Mi gxin ankoraux ne sercxis; kiam mi finos mian laboron, mi sercxos mian horlogxon, sed mi timas, ke mi gxin jam ne trovos. Se vi nin venkos, la popolo diros, ke nur virinojn vi venkis. Kiam vi atingos la agxon de dek-kvin jaroj, vi ricevos la permeson.
LESSON 7.
Confusion is apt to occur in English in the use of the words "him, her, it, them; his, hers, its, their", e.g., "John loves his brother and his children." Whose children, John's or his brother's? "The boys brought to their fathers their hats." Whose hats, the boys' or their fathers'? "She gave her sister her book." Whose book? Her own or her sister's?
This confusion is avoided in Esperanto by the use of, the pronoun "si" ("sin"), meaning "himself, herself, itself, themselves", and "sia," meaning "his own, her own, its own, their own."
"Si" ("sin, sia") refers to the "subject" of the sentence in which it occurs; therefore in the sentence "John loves his brother and his son," it must be "Johano amas sian fraton kaj sian filon" if it is his own (John's) son, because John is the subject, but we must say "lian filon" if the brother's son is meant. "La knaboj alportis al siaj patroj siajn cxapelojn" means "The boys brought to their fathers their own (the boys') hats," because "boys" is the subject, but if we mean "the fathers' hats" it must be "iliajn cxapelojn."
"She gave to her sister her book" must be "Sxi donis al sia fratino sian libron" if it were her own book, but "Sxi donis al sia fratino sxian libron" if it were her sister's book. "Li diris al si"... means "He said to himself," but "Li diris al li" means that he said it to another person.
"Si", "sia", can only "refer to" the subject, it cannot be the subject itself or any part of it; therefore we must say "Sinjoro P. kaj lia edzino tre amas miajn infanojn", because the subject is "Sinjoro P. kaj lia edzino."
"Mem," self, is only used for emphasis, "e.g.", "Mi mem," my (own) self.
VOCABULARY.
gasto : guest. montr- : show. vespero : evening. fleg- : tend, take care of mangxo : meal. re-ven- : come back. pupo : doll. pri : concerning, about. aventuro : adventure. gxis : until, as far as. palaco : palace. tute : quite, wholly. zorg- : take care of. tute ne : not at all. gard- : guard. kun : with. am- : love. el : out of. akompan- : accompany. el-ir- : go out of. lav- : wash.
Mi amas min mem, vi amas vin mem, li amas sin mem kaj cxiu homo amas sin mem. Mi zorgas pri sxi tiel, kiel mi zorgas pri mi mem, sed sxi mem tute ne zorgas pri si, kaj tute sin ne gardas. Miaj fratoj havis hodiaux gastojn; post la vespermangxo niaj fratoj eliris kun la gastoj el sia domo kaj akompanis ilin gxis ilia domo. Mi lavis min en mia cxambro, kaj sxi lavis sin en sia cxambro. La infano sercxis sian pupon; mi montris al la infano, kie kusxas gxia pupo. [Footnote: Notice the use of the present "kusxas," "lies", after the past "montris," "showed", because at the time the action of "showing" took place the action of "lying" was then actually going on.]
Sxi rakontis al li sian aventuron. Sxi revenis al la palaco de sia patro. Siajn florojn sxi ne flegis. Mia frato diris al Stefano, ke li amas lin pli, ol sin mem.
LESSON 8.
The Cardinal Numbers are:--
unu : 1 kvar : 4 sep : 7 dek : 10 du : 2 kvin : 5 ok : 8 cent : 100 tri : 3 ses : 6 naux : 9 mil : 1,000
The numbers above 10 are written and read exactly as they are set down in figures:--11, dek unu; 12, dek du; 13, dek tri; 19, dek naux. The "tens" are written as one word, 20, dudek; 30, tridek; 90, nauxdek; 23, dudek tri; 47, kvardek sep; 85, okdek kvin; 136, cent tridek ses; 208, ducent (as one word) ok; 359, tricent kvindek naux; 1,001, mil unu; 2,877, dumil okcent sepdek sep; 1907, mil nauxcent sep.
Notice that there is a separate word for each figure except 0, nulo.
VOCABULARY.
busxo : mouth. forges- : forget. orelo : ear. kre- : create. fingro : finger. estu : should be. horo : hour. facile : easily. minuto : minute. sankta : holy. sekundo : second. unuj : some. monato : month. alia : other. semajno : week. cxio : everything, all. dato : date (of month, etc.). multe : much, many. pov- : can, be able. per : by means of, through, with. promen- : take a walk. nur : only. konsist- : consist. malbona : bad. elekt- : choose, elect. Kristnaska Tago :