Translation
vague catch-all; no fixed meaning
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Examples
.
She fulfilled her promise.
o .
His collar was white and clean.
.
I watered the flowers before evening.
o .
The cuff of his garment was worn out.
.
He caught a cold in the rain.
-um- is the one affix with no meaning of its own. It marks some relation to the root and leaves you to guess which, so every -um- word has to be learned as vocabulary rather than worked out. gives , to fulfil; gives o, a collar; gives o, a cuff; gives , to water; gives , to catch a cold. It takes whatever ending the sense needs.
The real rule is that you cannot coin with it and expect to be understood. If a precise suffix exists, use that one instead.
is the neat illustration. It means watering the garden. i, built with the causative, would mean turning something into water, which is not what a gardener is doing at all.
Where this fits
Used in
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Esperanto · Free printables
-um-: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "-um-" (vague catch-all; no fixed meaning): 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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