eventuala

The second headline false friend of the language, and it points the wrong way down the timeline. Eventuala means possible, contingent, depending on how things turn out. It marks a branch in the road. English eventual means final, the thing that happens at the end after everything else - the far end of the road. The two are not merely different; they are opposites in the one dimension that matters, which is why the mistake is never harmless. La eventuala rezulto is the result we might get. It is not the result we will end up with. That is la fina rezulto, or definitiva.

And the adverb is worse, because it slips past you. Eventuale means if it turns out to be possible, failing that, or alternatively: skribu al mi, eventuale telefonu - write to me, or ring if that suits better. English eventually means in the end, sooner or later, which in Esperanto is fine, poste or iam. A sentence built on the English reading still parses perfectly, so nothing warns you, and your reader simply understands the opposite of what you meant. The full case, with the other two dozen traps of this kind, is in falsaj amikoj.

It is English's fault, not Esperanto's. French éventuel, German eventuell, Spanish eventual and Italian eventuale all mean possible. Zamenhof took the root at the value the continent gave it and the continent has not moved. English is the one that wandered off, and it wandered off after the borrowing rather than before it.

Against ebla. Ebla is plain possibility: a thing can happen. Eventuala adds a condition - possible if the circumstances turn out that way - and it is the word contracts and plans use, because that is exactly what a contract is trying to say. Where you would write any possible X in a careful English document, eventuala X is usually the Esperanto.