Esperanto Correlatives in Use: tiu kiu, tio kion and More

In a paragraph, the correlatives are the joints. A ti- word holds a place in the main clause, and the matching ki- word opens the clause that fills it. The correlatives table builds the 45 words; this page puts them to work.

A ti- word holds the slot, a ki- word fills it

The two words match in kind: a person with a person, a place with a place, a time with a time.

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1. 1tiu, kiu
2. 2tie, kie
3. 3tiam, kiam
4. 4tiom, kiom

A person: tiu, kiu (the one who). A place: tie, kie (where). A clock: tiam, kiam (when). Coins: tiom, kiom (as much as).

The ki- word takes its -n from its own clause. In ĉio, kion li diris, the -n is there because it is the object of said, while everything is the subject of was true.

The ti- half can go when the sentence is short and clear. Most writers keep it:

• Mi faros, kion vi diros. - I will do what you say.
• Mi faros tion, kion vi diros. - I will do what you say.

The direction -n runs right through: tie is there, tien is to there, as in en la domon.

Where the commas go

The usual convention, and Zamenhof's own practice, is a comma before every ki- clause, however short. The Fundamento sets no comma rules:

• Mi ne scias, kion fari. - I do not know what to do.
• Kiam li venis, ni manĝis. - When he came, we ate.

English never puts a comma in I do not know what to do, so this is the comma learners drop most.

Tio or tiu: a fact or a thing

Tiu and kiu are for a person or a thing a noun names, countable or not (tiu akvo, that water). Tio and kio are for a fact, an event or a whole clause. English says that and which for both:

In the second sentence the lateness annoyed me, so kio. With kiu it would read as a person annoying me.

The test: if you could put a noun after it, it is tiu or kiu.

pro tio, post tio: the connectives

A preposition plus tio joins one sentence to the last:

• Li ne studis. Pro tio li ne sukcesis. - He did not study. Because of that, he did not succeed.
• Ni manĝis. Post tio ni iris al la urbo. - We ate. After that we went to town.

Krom tio usually means besides, and can also mean apart from that:

• Krom tio, ĉio estas en ordo. - Apart from that, everything is fine.

kies and ties

Kies is whose, in a question or a relative clause:

• Kies libro estas tio? - Whose book is that?
• La viro, kies filo venis, estas instruisto. - The man whose son came is a teacher.

Kies never takes -j or -n. The noun after it carries its own job:

• La viro, kies libron mi legis, loĝas apud ni. - The man whose book I read lives next to us.

Ties is that one's, and it usually points at the last person or thing mentioned:

• La patro venis kun sia filo kaj ties amiko. - The father came with his son and the son's friend.
• Li parolis pri sia frato kaj pri ties amiko. - He talked about his brother and about his brother's friend.

Ĉies (everyone's), ies (someone's) and nenies (nobody's) work the same: Tio estas nenies kulpo. - That is nobody's fault.

tial, kial and ĉar

English why and because sit close together; Esperanto keeps four words apart:

Tial, ke puts weight on the reason; ĉar is the everyday because. Kial also reports a question or introduces the reason why:

• Ŝi demandis, kial mi ne venis. - She asked why I had not come.
• Jen kial mi venis. - That is why I came.

Kial never means because.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Write one sentence for each pair in the table: tiu, kiu to tiom, kiom.
2. Join three pairs of sentences with pro tio, post tio and krom tio.
3. Then read subordinate clauses: ke, ĉu and the relative clause in full.

See also

• The correlatives table - the grid this page assumes.
• Particle combinations - ĉi, ajn, ju ... des and mem.
• Subordinate clauses - relative clauses in full, and the commas.
• Questions - the ki- words asking rather than joining.
• Comparisons - tiel ... kiel and tiom ... kiom as comparison frames.
• Word order and style - the habits of readable Esperanto prose.