Instruisto or instruanto: role, trade or thing

Role, trade or member

Four suffixes make people, and each makes a different claim:

Instruisto against instruanto is the sharpest pair. An instruisto teaches for a living, even on holiday; an instruanto is whoever is teaching now, trade or no trade:

• Ŝi estas instruistino. - She is a teacher.
• Hodiaŭ la instruanto estas Petro. - Today the one teaching is Petro.

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1. 1kuracistino
2. 2instruisto
3. 3kuiristo

Kuracistino, a (woman) doctor; instruisto, a teacher; kuiristo, a cook. Each one's job, so -ist-. The teacher at the board is also an instruanto, for as long as he is teaching.

That is why a beginner is komencanto: beginning is a phase you grow out of, not a trade, so nobody is a komencisto. Lernanto is the usual word for a pupil or a learner on a course, and a university student is a studento.

-aĵ-: a thing, not a person

Put -aĵ- on the bare root instead and you get a concrete thing, not a person:

• Ĉu vi volas trinkaĵon? - Would you like a drink?

The participle can go inside too: trinkitaĵo is something that has been drunk. It is grammatical and heavier. Build on the bare root by default, and keep the participle form for when the finished action is really the point.