Translation
to manage, to cope, to get by; to extricate oneself, to wriggle out
Word origin
Built inside Esperanto from el ('out of'), turni ('to turn') and the suffix -iĝ-, so literally to turn oneself out. The picture is somebody twisting free of a tight corner, and the everyday meaning is simply coping.
- Origin
- Esperanto compound
- Root
- el + turni + -iĝ-
- English cognates
- turn, tour
Examples
.
He always gets himself out of difficult situations.
, .
We had little money, but we managed.
?
How did you cope all on your own?
Take it apart and it is completely regular: el "out of", turni "to turn", -- to make the subject do it to itself, -i for the infinitive. Turn yourself out of something. Every piece is a word you already have, which is the point of the language.
The idiom is what makes it worth learning as a unit, though. is not usually about escaping anything physical; it is the everyday "to manage", "to cope", "to get by". means "I'll be all right", "I'll sort it out". It carries a faint note of improvisation, of managing by wit rather than by resources, and it sometimes tips over into the slightly disreputable "to wriggle out of" a duty or a question. The related adjective a is a compliment: resourceful, quick to find a way. The -- doing the work here is set out in the -ig- and -iĝ- article.
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elturniĝi: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "elturniĝi" (to manage, to cope, to get by; to extricate oneself, to wriggle out): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 36.