Esperanto · Chapter 16 · Lesson 8 · Grammar primer
Particle combinations: cxi tiu, ju...des, ajn and mem
The small words that combine: cxi points, ju...des scales, ajn generalises, and mem sits exactly after what it emphasises - move it and you change the claim.
The short version
Ĉi is a proximity marker, not a word for this
There is no this-series in the correlatives table and none is needed: ĉi pulls a ti- word towards the speaker. Tiu is that one, ĉi tiu is this one; tie is there, ĉi tie is here. The order does not matter, tiu ĉi being equally correct, and ĉi never inflects: the endings go on the correlative, ĉi tiun libron. What you cannot do is drop the correlative, however much the hand wants ĉi libro. Hyphenated to a root it becomes a prefix: ĉi-vespere, ĉi-jare, ĉi-foje.
Ĉi-vespere mi legos ĉi tiun libron.
Ju opens and des closes, one each, every time
The correlated comparison needs both halves, a comparative in each and a comma between: ju pli mi lernas, des pli mi komprenas. Two errors, both imported rather than invented. French and Spanish speakers write ju pli ... ju pli on the model of plus ... plus, and the second clause then never announces itself as the consequence. English speakers hunt for a la to translate the, which is an Old English case fossil with no Esperanto equivalent. Des pli may stand alone; ju never may.
Ju pli frue, des pli bone.
Mem emphasises the word directly before it
Mi mem faris tion is I did it and nobody else; mi faris tion mem is I did it unaided. English packs both into one -self and lets intonation choose, while Esperanto makes you place the word instead, which is more work and less ambiguity. The other half of the lesson is what mem is not: the reflexive is si. Li lavis sin is he washed himself. Li mem lavis lin is two men, with the emphasis on which of them did the washing.
La reĝo mem venis.
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