The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto: Grammar & Commentary. George Cox

Li iris hejmen kaj restis hejme = He went home and remained at home.

      68. (3). To show that a preposition has been omitted.

      As stated in Rule 8, par. 94, every preposition in Esperanto governs the nominative case.

      By Rule 14 we are told that every preposition has a defined and constant meaning, but that if we must use some preposition, and the direct sense does not show what special preposition we are to take, we can then either use the indefinite preposition je, or the accusative without a preposition. The following are examples under this head in which the accusative may be used:—

      (a). After doubtful verbs.—From the foregoing remarks it follows that if we do not know whether a verb governs the accusative or not, we can always use the accusative, if no ambiguity is occasioned thereby. Otherwise some preposition should be employed instead.

      For instance, we can say:—Obeu vian patron, or, Obeu je via patro, or, Obeu al via patro = Obey your father. Ŝi helpis al sia frato, or, Ŝi helpis sian fraton = She helped her brother. Li pardonis sian filon, or, Li pardonis al sia filo = He forgave his son. But in phrases where doubt as to meaning may arise we must always use a preposition, as:—Li pardonis al sia filo lian kulpon = He forgave his son his fault. Not Li pardonis sian filon lian kulpon, for the two accusatives here would create confusion. Li legis tion en la dua de Marto, or, Li legis pri tio la duan de Marto = He read that on the 2nd of March.

      (b). Duration or any point of time.

      Examples.—Mi restis tie kvar semajnojn (or, dum or tra, kvar semajnoj) = I remained there (during) four weeks. La proksiman lundon (or, en la proksima lundo) mi veturos Londonon (or, al Londono) = Next Monday I shall go to London. Printempon (or, en printempo) floroj aperas = In spring flowers appear. Li venos dimanĉon (or, en dimanĉo) = He will come on a Sunday. Similarly the accusative may be used for dates, as:—Washington (pronounced Ŭaŝington) estis naskita la dudek-duan (or, en la dudek-dua) de Februaro = Washington was born on the 22nd of February. La 23an Marton, 1906a, or Je la 23a de Marto, 1906 = 23rd of March, 1906.

      (c). Price, weight, measure.

      Examples.—La libroj kostis dek ŝilingojn (or, po dek ŝilingoj) por dekduo = The books cost ten shillings (or, at the rate of ten shillings) a dozen. La ĉambro estas alta dek du futojn (or, je dek du futoj) = The room is twelve feet high. La kesto pezas tridek funtojn (or, je tridek funtoj) = The chest weighs thirty pounds.

      69. General Remarks on the Accusative.

      From the foregoing examples we see the important part the accusative N plays in the construction of Esperanto, the clearness it gives to the meaning of a sentence, and the advantage it affords in permitting words to be placed in almost any order, The following examples will further illustrate this.

      (a). Qualifying and Predicative Adjectives.—An adjective is termed "qualifying" when its noun or pronoun actually possesses the quality which the adjective denotes; and the adjective then agrees with the noun or pronoun both in case and number. But a "predicative" adjective, although it agrees in number, is always in the nominative (pars. 36, 108).

      Examples.—Mi trovis la belajn rozojn (or, rozojn belajn) = I found the beautiful roses. Mi trovis la rozojn belaj = I found the roses beautiful. In the first example the assertion is that beautiful roses were found; but in the second you assert only that you found, or discovered, that they were beautiful; they might, in someone else’s opinion, have been the contrary.

      (b). Qualifying Adverbs are invariable.

      Examples.—Li skribis al mi tute malveran raporton pri la afero = He wrote me an entirely false statement of the matter. Mi pensis, ke ŝi estas treege bela = I thought (that) she was (is) extremely beautiful.

      (c). Nouns and Pronouns in apposition have like cases and numbers.

      Examples.—Vi serĉas la princon, Hamleton = You seek the Prince, Hamlet. La diablo lin prenu, la sentaŭgulon = The devil take him, the wretch!

      N.B.—Note the difference in case of two nouns in the following sentences:—Kuracisto havis du infanojn, filon kaj filinon; li nomis sian filon Johano, kaj sian filinon Mario. Kiam li parolis pri ili kun mi, li ĉiam nomis sian filon Johanon kun voĉo de amo, sed sian filinon Marion antipatie = A doctor had two children, a son and a daughter; he named his son, John, and his daughter, Mary. When he spoke to me about them, he always named his son, John, in voice of affection, but his daughter, Mary, with antipathy.

      N.B.—In this example, when the nouns (Johano and Mario) are in the nominative, they express what is predicated or said about the objects (filon and filinon). But when they agree in case with the objects (filon and filinon), this shows they are nouns in apposition (see pars. 108, 109).

      (d). Proper names.—In the case of non-Esperanto names it is possible to indicate the accusative, where desired, by the addition of N after a vowel, or ON after a consonant. This is the plan adopted by Zamenhof in La Malnova Testamento. Or the name may be regarded as a foreign word and left unchanged for the accusative.

      Examples.—David, Davidon. Noa, Noan. Sara, Saran. Robinson, Robinsonon. Smith, Smithon (or simply Smith). Of course, proper names which have been converted by use into Esperanto are treated like other nouns in O, as, Londono, Londonon; Berlino, Berlinon. Jones iris Berlinon, kaj renkontis Arturon Brown = Jones went to Berlin and met Arthur Brown.

CAPITAL LETTERS (Majuskloj).

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