George Cox

“ When the meaning is not futurity, but determination on the part of the speaker, then, in direct speech, "will" is used for the first person, and "shall" for the second and third persons, as, "I will do it, you cannot stop me." "You shall not kill that bird." "Thou shalt not steal." But in indirect speech "will" is used for all the persons, as, "He says he will go" (it is his determination to go) . "You say you will try it" (you are determined to try it) . In such cases one must, in Esperanto, use not the future, but the imperative, or some word expressing "will" or "determination." ”

“ Punctuation is only necessary to make clear the sense we wish to convey in writing. Happily it is not so important in Esperanto as in English, where a simple comma may make a great difference in the meaning of a sentence. Hence the verbosity of law documents in which stops are not used.
Every writer is free to use in Esperanto his own national or individual method of punctuation. Nevertheless, Zamenhof and the best writers follow a definite international usage, and the student is strongly advised to study and imitate their writings in this respect. ”

“ In translation work, when it is desired to reproduce as far as possible the national or individual atmosphere of the original, it is legitimate intentionally to reproduce in the translation—so long as intelligibility is ensured, and as far as the structure of the language permits—the characteristic order of words in the original text. The wonderful flexibility of Esperanto is one of the reasons why Esperanto is such an admirable language for translation purposes. ”

“ If you will take a work written in my language, you will find that each word is always in one constant form, namely, in that form in which it is printed in the dictionary, and that the various grammatical forms, reciprocal relation between words, etc., etc., are expressed by the union of unchanging words. ”

“ Pronunciation of Words.—Every vowel and consonant in a word is pronounced distinctly, and the sound never varies, whether the letters are initial, medial, or final; there is no mute letter in Esperanto. Each syllable must be distinct, and it must be remembered that when two vowels come together, such as ai, ae, ee, ii, oi, etc., or two similar consonants, as kk, ll, mm, etc., each letter always belongs to a different syllable, and must be given its full sound. ”

“ The preposition je is the only one in Esperanto without a definite meaning. It should be used only when we have to employ a preposition and are uncertain which we ought to select. We can, however, omit the preposition, and put its complement (noun or pronoun) in the accusative case, provided no ambiguity is likely to arise through the presence of other accusatives in the sentence, as:—Li ĝojas je tio, or, Li ĝojas tion = He rejoices at (or, over) that. There is no Esperanto preposition which gives exactly the English meaning of "at" or "over" in this sense. ”

“ In Esperanto there is no such confusion, for legebla = readable, legible, but leginda = readable, worth reading. Hence we see that -EBL- must always denote possibility. It is possible to love or to honour all persons, whether they merit this or not; but when, in English, we talk of a lovable or honourable individual, we imply not possibility, but worthiness; therefore, in Esperanto, aminda = lovable, and honorinda = honourable. -EBL- is sometimes used for the infinitive.
Examples.—Tiuj ĉi vortoj ne estas troveblaj en la vortaro = These words are not to be found (findable) in the dictionary. ”

“ The Direct Complement (rekta komplemento) .—The noun or pronoun (not governed by a preposition) , which is the direct complement of a transitive verb, must have the accusative form -N in the singular, or -JN in the plural. The direct complement of a verb can be determined by asking the question "whom?" or "what?" after such verb, and the word giving the reply is the direct complement, as:—Diru al mi vian nomon = Tell me your name. (Tell what? Your name = vian nomon is the direct complement.) Johano min amas = John loves me. (Loves whom? Me = min is the direct complement.) ”

“ Words in Esperanto may be divided into four classes: Primary, Simple, Compound, and Foreign.
(a) . A Primary word is one which requires no additional letters to give it a distinct meaning (see list of Primary Words, Part V) .
(b) . A Simple word is one formed by adding a grammatical termination to a single root, or to a primary word (which then becomes a root) , with or without suffixes or prefixes. ”

“ For instance, our verbs in the present and past tenses of the Indicative and Subjunctive moods have the same inflection in the first person singular and in the three persons of the plural. In Esperanto there is no such ambiguity. In such a phrase as "If they were rich, they would be happy," we must be careful to use the proper mood. Both the first and second propositions are conditional or suppositive, therefore in Esperanto the Conditional mood is logically employed, as:—Se ili estus riĉaj, ili estus feliĉaj = If they were rich, they would be happy. ”

“ It must be remembered that all roots or root-words in Esperanto are either sexless, or have only the sex naturally belonging to the root, unless the feminine suffix—IN—be added. For instance, vir- gives the idea of "man" (male) , therefore viro = a man; and we always speak of viro as li = he, because we are sure the noun refers to the male sex. But the root infan- gives only the idea of a "child" (neuter) , so, unless we actually know the child is a male, we speak of infano = child as ĝi = it, just as we do in English. ”

“ Place of the infinitive.—The infinitive being really a noun, takes its place, according as it is the subject, predicate, or complement. When it is the subject, it generally precedes the verb, unless one wishes to place it otherwise for the sake of emphasis.
Examples.—Scii estas utile = Knowledge (to know) is useful. Honte estas mensogi = It is shameful to lie. If the predicate, it usually follows the verb, as:—Tion fari estas agi malsaĝe = To do that is to act foolishly. ”

“ We cannot say Mi lavas sin, or Ni, or Vi lavas sin, for "I wash myself," "We wash ourselves," "You wash yourself." We must, in each of these cases, use the pronoun which is the subject of the verb, as:—Mi lavas min—Ni lavas nin—Vi lavas vin = I wash myself—We wash ourselves—You wash yourself (or if vi = you is plural) , You wash yourselves. Si, therefore, is used for the 3rd person, singular or plural, when it refers to the subject of the verb. It takes the accusative termination N when necessary, and then represents "himself, herself, itself, oneself, themselves." ”

“ Beginners should read aloud daily; at first slowly and slightly exaggerating the sounds, making free use of the organs of speech. It will then be found that in more rapid utterance the exaggeration will gradually disappear, and a good, bold, free pronunciation be attained. (See "Hints to Learners," page 363.)
19. It is advisable that the student, before proceeding to the grammar, should get a thorough knowledge of the sounds of letters, syllables, and words; he should, therefore, read over the following list of words, which gives most of the combinations of sounds in the language. ”

“ There is but one auxiliary verb in Esperanto, esti = to be. This verb is used to form the passive voice, and also all the compound tenses of the active voice. The verb havi = to have is in no sense an auxiliary, but is an ordinary active verb denoting ownership, and governing the accusative case, as: Mi havas libron = I have a book.
In Esperanto the following and other verbs are often used where English would usually employ "to be," viz., kuŝi = to lie; sidi = to be situate; sin trovi = to find oneself; troviĝi = to be found; stari = to stand ”

“ From the examples given of the use of the Imperative mood, we see that in Esperanto the verb in a dependent proposition is almost always preceded by the conjunction ke = that, and that the English rendering generally puts the verb in the Infinitive, the conjunction being omitted, or if it be retained, that the verb is in the Subjunctive mood. It is not generally advisable to translate this infinitive rendering literally into Esperanto, except when the actor of the first verb is also the actor of the second. ”

“ When a participle, relating to the subject of a sentence, but not qualifying it, expresses the circumstances, manner, time, occasion, etc., of an act, it takes the adverbial form. Zamenhof states that the "ablative absolute" does not exist in Esperanto, as its use would be against the spirit of the language. ”

“ Estas mirinde! Kiu ĝin kredus? Mi povas tute facile kompreni ĉi tiun strangan lingvon! Kio oni ĝin nomas? Ho! mi vidas, ‘Esperanto!’ Kion signifas ‘ŝlosileto’? Mi serĉu en la libreto mem. Jen estas! ‘Ŝlos’ = lock; ‘il’ = instrument; ‘et’ = diminutive; ‘o’ = ending of nouns; tial ‘ŝlosileto’ signifas a diminutive instrument for locking, = a tiny key. Nu, se mi povas tiel facile, unuavide, kompreni la lingvon, ĝia aŭtoro havas ĉian kaŭzon por esperi, ke li efektivigos sian deziron; kaj mi kore deziras, ke li sukcesu. Mi certe lernos Esperanton kaj penos disvastigi ĝin kiel eble plej multe. ”

“ Do not think, after a few days’ study, as many do, that you can improve the language. If you have such thoughts, put down on a piece of paper your youthful would-be improvements, and think no more of them till you have a really good knowledge of the language. ”

“ It is, however, better to use the suffix -et, thus: nigreta, verdeta.
-ISM. In many cases the ending -ISM forms part of an international root, and is thus used in Esperanto also; e.g., paroksismo = paroxysm, sofismo = a sophism, fallacy, aforismo = an aphorism, are simple words, for there are no roots paroks, sof (in this sense) , afor. In the majority of cases the English suffix -ism and the Esperanto suffix -ism coincide, thus: komunismo = communism, vegetarismo = vegetarianism. Sometimes the English -ism has the meaning -ec, thus: heroeco = heroism, fanatikeco = fanaticism. ”

“ MAL- is used as a root in the adjective mala = contrary, and the adverb male = on the contrary, conversely. As a prefix it signifies that the word has a meaning exactly the contrary to that which it had before MAL- was prefixed. It is never used to give the meaning of badness, unless because it is prefixed to some word signifying goodness. For instance, timulo = a coward has a bad signification, but its opposite maltimulo = a bold man has no such meaning. ”

“ Foreign words are those which in most languages are derived from the same source, and, being consequently much alike in formation, are easily understood by most nations, there being only a slight difference in spelling and that difference of termination which occurs in all languages. Dr. Zamenhof wisely lays down that they should undergo no change, beyond conforming to Esperanto orthography and its grammatical terminations. ”

“ The compound tenses are formed by the auxiliary verb esti = to be, and one of the participles of the verb which must agree in number with its subject. Esti is conjugated in exactly the same way as all other verbs.
215. The three Tenses used in Esperanto are the Present, Past, and Future.
216. Duration of action of the verb.— (a) . In English, to express the continuance of an action, the present participle of a transitive verb is used after the verb "to be" in all the moods and tenses—as "I am loving," or "I was (have been, shall be, should be) loving"; imperative, "Be thou loving." ”

“ The following is a list of the chief Esperanto verb roots whose English equivalents are used both transitively and intransitively. (E.g., wakes, in he wakes her, is transitive; in she wakes it is intransitive.) Esperanto follows international usage in giving such verbs one meaning only, either transitive or intransitive. ”

“ Preposition and the accusative of direction.—As already stated in par. 67, the accusative is used when direction (physical or otherwise) is implied towards something. But if the word towards which such movement is implied is the complement of a preposition, then such word is in the nominative or accusative, in accordance with the following rules:—
(a) . If the preposition denotes of itself movement, its complement will be in the nominative, in accordance with Rule 8 that prepositions govern that case. ”

“ Some word used as a noun, e.g., (1) , a pronoun, mi = I; (2) , an adjective, mia kara estas bona filino = my dear (one) is a good daughter; (3) , an infinitive, mensogi estas honte = to lie (or, lying) is shameful; (4) , a phrase. Estas agrable por (or, al) mi, ke vi aĉetis tiun domon (here "ke vi aĉetis" is the subject) = I am glad (it is agreeable to me) that you bought that house.
26. The subject is always in the nominative case. When the subject is a noun, it must, therefore, always end in -O, if the noun is singular, or in -OJ, if the noun is in the plural. ”

“ When there is no such root, Esperanto provides an independent root, as:—Tajloro = a tailor, lakeo = a lackey, or valet.
(e) . When the person is engaged in a temporary occupation, or is not a professional, but an amateur, a participle is often used. ”

“ Order of roots in compound words.—The principal root is always placed last, and receives the grammatical termination, with or without a suffix. The root of a subordinate word is sufficient without any suffix. ”

“ The preposition el = out of, of, is used with the superlative when it relates to numbers, or something collective, as a "group," "society," etc. But when the superlative relates to the place or position where the superiority is or was, then some other appropriate preposition is used.
Examples.—Johano estas la plej forta el la knaboj = John is the strongest of the boys. Petro estis la plej malforta el ĉiuj = Peter was the weakest of (out of) all. Georgo estas la malplej kuraĝa knabo en la domo = George is the least courageous boy in the house. ”

“ Forms of the verb: the present tense (the time being) takes the termination -as; the past tense (the time been, or having been) -is; the future tense (the time about to be, or going to be) -os; the Conditional mood -us; the Imperative (ordering) mood -u; the Indefinite (infinitive) mood -i. Participles (with an adjectival or adverbial sense) : active present -ant; active past -int; active future -ont; passive present -at; passive past -it; passive future -ot. All forms of the passive are formed by help of a corresponding form of the verb esti and a passive participle of the required verb. ”

“ A non-predicative verb is one which does not, of itself, show an act, but is accompanied by some adjective, participle or predicative noun, defining and describing the subject, as:—La urbo estas belega = The city is magnificent. Kolombo estas birdo = A pigeon is a bird. ”

“ An adjective added, without any intervening word, to a noun is termed "qualifying," in order to distinguish it from an adjective (called a "predicative" adjective) having the verb esti (expressed or understood) between it and the noun, as:—Homo bona = A good man (qualifying) . La homo estas bona = The man is good (predicative) . (See remarks on adjectives, par. 108.)
DEFINITIONS (Difinoj) .
37. A word consists of one or more syllables or distinct sounds, and has a definite meaning.
38. A root is an incomplete word conveying only an idea. ”

“ Bona = good, malbona = bad, simply because "bad" is the opposite of "good."
(c) . NE is a primary adverb, meaning "no," "not," and is often used as a prefix to give a negative signification to a word, as:—Plena = complete, full, neplena = incomplete, not full. Ne estas certe = it is not certain has the same signification as estas necerte = it is uncertain. Used as a root, it forms nei = to deny, nea = negative, etc.
(d) . SEN is a preposition meaning "without," and as a prefix it has the same signification; as ĉesi = to cease, senĉesa = without ceasing, incessant, ceaseless ”