Esperanto

In favour of numberable

If you’re anything like me, you often sit pondering the nature of countable nouns. The countability, or enumerability, of things is an important consideration – despite my spellchecker refusing to acknowledge it. This is the idea that some nouns name individual things that one could count, and yet others name

Esperanto

One Neat Trick: to -i or -ado

What’s the difference between tricking and tricking? Or trompi and trompado? For those unfamiliar with the suffixes, “i” is the base form of a verb, the dictionary form, the infinitive. So trompi means “to trick” – no sense of time/tense. Notice how when we want to put it in

Esperanto

"Screwing" is fun in Esperanto

I just had quite the enjoyable eight or so minutes; I discovered the word for “screw” in Esperanto, and it is gorgeous and supremely fun to pronounce over and over: ŝraŭbi The first bit might take some effort if you’re not used to the combo, because we’ve got

Esperanto

Apply squirrels where needed – Apliku laŭbezone sciurojn

I recently realised that one of the little enjoyments of my day is when I discover words that demonstrate neat uses of word building. bezoni to need Dictionary examples: laŭbezone where needed / as need be / as needed bezonaĵo requisite / a thing that is necessary senbezona needless Laŭ (“according to” / “following”

Esperanto

Esperanto missed its chance

I’m not certain whether Esperanto can recover from such a horrendous and unforgivable oversight. I feel like it might be possible, but it’d take some work. Let me explain. I’m talking about a dilemma that many Esperantistas will have encountered: the actual Esperanto word for dilemma “dilemo”

Esperanto

Turn around - de temp' al temp' mi disrompiĝas

It’s all about word versatility this evenin'. We turn a simple word into whole bag of tricks. So don’t turn back, nor avert your eyes. The word of interest is: turni  to turn (pronounced TOOR-nee) This word specifically means that the subject is turning something. As in

Esperanto

Why not… Combine the power of -ig & -iĝ?!

… It’s sheer madness,  that’s why. But it’s fun, and that’s what we’re here for. I was trawling through the latest updates to the PMEG (because I know how to party), and found that it’s not entirely unheard of to combine the suffixes -ig &

Esperanto

Esperantic Quest

“Esperantic”! Such a tasty word. I wish we had something like “Englic” as the usual adjectival form of English. A missed opportunity. Long ago, I blitzed through the first version of the Esperanto course on Duolingo, and actually found it very useful for cementing vocabulary in my head in a

Esperanto

Frothing at the mouth

In the past weeks, a number of perfectly pleasant interactions with completely competent individuals out in the world made me feel very… animated, shall we say. And after regaling friends with my tales of these… Interactions… A lovely little Esperanto word formed in my brain: ŝaŭmbuŝa Besides being gorgeous and

Esperanto

Cut the red and blue wires

Which wires did you cut? Maybe this would’ve been clearer if I’d chosen one of these for the title: Tranĉu la ruĝan kaj bluan dratojn Tranĉu la ruĝajn kaj bluajn dratojn I noticed an interesting post on the lernu.net forums concerning a similar ambiguity concerning beach flags.

Esperanto

To word-thingy

As you know, the PMEG is a pretty awesome resource. And a great model for clear and concise language. Whilst having a read the other day, it used a word that particularly tickled me. Check out this sentence: en la komencaj tempoj la principoj por fari A-vortojn el ne-ecaj radikoj

Esperanto

Winds of change

In a very old post of mine, I started talking about what comes out when we start sticking “a” on the end of word roots. And at the time of writing, it was very much in line with the PMEG’s recommendation. But the world moves on, guys. One day,

Esperanto

Ambiguous lock

A curiosity-led ambling through the pathways of the internet one night revealed something to me that I’d never previously noticed about the English word “unlockable”. A quirk whereby it may mean either of: 1. impossible to lock 2. capable of being unlocked In first case, we have “un + lockable”

Esperanto

Incredibly concerning café

My fianĉino and I were minding our own business, finding safe places for pancakes covered in syrup. When, to my shock and great despair, I discovered something truly sinister about the café hosting us. Just a reminder to remain vigilant:

Esperanto

How must we must?

Got something weird for you today, which came up on the Lernu.net forums a little while back. Have you ever tried telling someone that they don’t have to do something, or that they have to not do something? Well if you do in Esperanto, you could be in

Esperanto

Meloy: ilùi estoit nosay maystroy

The nerdiness can only get worse at this stage. I’m ever so slowly writing a little Esperanto novella, a fantasy parody. In this book, there are ridiculous sorcerers, and exceedingly ridiculous spells, and I wanted magic to be associated with an archaic language and full of mystery, as often

Esperanto

Boisterous Bajoran Buffoonery: badger disguised in costume crashes sci-fi convention

I’m a trifle nerdy, and that’s setting off my understatement-o-meter. But whether or not you are too, you’ve probably heard this quote before: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new

Esperanto

Shortcut to phrasal freedom

I’m a little stunned that I don't recall visiting this PMEG page before… It’s all about making words out of phrases (rather than just shoving roots and affixes together). It’s a goldmine of inspiration for word-building, and gets you thinking about how to really play

Esperanto

The accusative is a worm

It slithers its way into every corner of the language. I found a use of it today that I’ve not seen previously, whilst browsing through PMEG. It sort of indicates position of a part, though usually a body part. Here’s one of the PMEG examples: li haltis dum

Esperanto

Working with one another

Let's explore ways of expressing “one another” / “each other”, as in the examples below: 1. They hugged each other 2. They worked with one another 3. They fought against each other 4. They gave a present to each other The simplest way is to use some configuration of

Esperanto

Strangers from distant lands... Friends of old

“La duonon el vi mi ne konas duone tiom, kiom mi volus; kaj mi ŝatas malpli ol la duonon el vi duone tiom, kiom vi meritas.” The above may give away that I’ve been reading the Esperantisised version of The Fellowship of the Ring. If not, then perhaps this’

Esperanto

That particular one is terribly special

I'm never going to keep the meanings apart for aparta unless I write something down... And whilst I tackle it for all our sakes, I’ll also distinguish it from a couple of close synom… synomnom… synonyms (that’s literally how many tries I needed). So the Lernu

Esperanto

Utterly unpocketable

Inspiration for a word hit me today whilst reading some text by William Auld (who wrote so well!). The word is poŝebla, the simplest translation of which is perhaps “pocketable”. The meaning is a description of something which is shaped in such a way that it is possible to put

Esperanto

A traditional way to become

A little lexical musing for you today! We have a perfectly good word for “to become”, which is iĝi. We can use it by itself, or use it as a suffix (as it was originally intended): ŝi iĝis pala she became pale ŝi paliĝis she became pale But, according to

Esperanto

Mouth full o' words

Found some really inventive words today! If you’ve been paying close attention to the Lernu forums since at least… December, maybe? Then you might have seen my source: an article by Claude Piron, because I think someone may have linked to it a while back. Besides being an incredibly