Ch 17 · Lesson 15Esperanto · Chapter 17 · Lesson 15 · Grammar primer
La parolanto: people who carry a tense
is speaking now, has spoken, is about to: a participle plus -o is a person with a tense. So the winner is the , because the winning is over.
The short version
The winner is
premion.
Why?Hide
Esperanto has no separate root for speaker or winner. It builds them, and the built version carries a tense English nouns cannot: is speaking now, has spoken, is about to. So the man on the podium with the is the , because the winning is over; is the one winning right now, while the contest is still on. The same trap sits in , the deceased, against , somebody still dying.
Put -o on a participle and you get a person, and the person carries a tense. is speaking now, has spoken, is about to. English speaker and winner say nothing about when.
| Ending | Means | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
-anto | doing it now | | the speaker |
-into | has done it | | the winner |
-onto | about to do it | | the groom-to-be |
- | a e | | a teacher |
- | a thing | | a drink |
-onta | coming | | next week |
The grid of --, -- and -- is in participles. This page takes the -o forms, the suffixes they compete with, and the time phrases.
People who carry a tense
One root gives three people, one per tense:
| Form | English |
|---|---|
| the person speaking, a speaker |
| the person who has spoken |
| the next speaker, still to speak |
| a reader |
| a beginner |
Legantino, a woman reading; kuiranto, a man cooking; kuranto, a boy running; parolantino, a girl talking. Each is in the middle of it, so -ant-.
From there they are ordinary nouns. They take -j, -n, -- and the article:
.- I listened to the speakers..- The (woman) speaker is my sister.
The -- people say in one word what English needs a phrase for: is the man about to marry, the people about to arrive.
venkinto, not venkanto
English winner has no tense, so English speakers reach for -- and get the wrong moment:
.- The winner received the. (The race is over.).- The one who is winning is running ahead of everyone. (The race is still on, though in a race people more often just say
Both are real words; they make different claims. The same choice runs through the vocabulary:
| Still going | English | Done | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| a dying person | | the deceased |
| people leaving | | people who have left |
| the one winning | | the winner |
Ask where the action has got to at the moment you are talking about, and the vowel follows.
Going further: Role, trade or member and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
Practise this lesson
9-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end.
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