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 unu “one” and alia “other/another”.

1. Ili ĉirkaŭbrakis unu la alian
2. Ili laboris unu kun la alia
3. Ili batalis unu kontraŭ la alia
4. Ili donis donacon unu al alia

Notice the main difference with how it’s constructed in english. You don’t say “with one another”, you say “one with the other”. Also note that if there is no relation like “to/against/with” (because instead it’s a direct object relation), then you take up the accusative “N” (1).

But what other tools do we have in our tool-belt?

We could use reciproke “reciprocally”:

ĉiuj komprenis sin reciproke
everyone understood each other

Or we could use inter “among/between” as a prefix to the action word. Or even inter si (roughly “among themselves”):

ili interbatalis / ili batalis inter si
they fought each other (amongst themselves)

I love how simple but complete “ili interbatalis” is!

Wanna read about si? I’ve got previous posts on it: 1, 2

Dank’ al the PMEG for this information!