Agency = By (after a passive verb, to show the agent). To show the means per is used.
Examples.—Mi estas amata de mia patro = I am loved by my father. La domo konstruita de mia patro estas kovrita per ardezoj = The house built by my father is covered with slates.
Disconnection or Abstraction = From.
Example.—Apartigu la pajlon de la fojno = Separate the straw from the hay.
As a prefix, de signifies "off," "from," as:—Li deprenis la libron de la breto (or, li prenis la libron for de sur la breto) = He took the book off the shelf. Li demetis la ĉapelon = He took off his (the) hat.
259 (9). Dum = During.
Dum, whether used as a preposition or conjunction, always relates to duration of time (see note below).
Time = During.
Examples.—Dum la tuta tago (or, La tutan tagon) li restis sola = During the whole day he remained alone, or, He remained alone the whole day. Dum (or, En la daŭro de) kelkaj monatoj, ŝi ne eliradis el sia ĉambro = During (for the space of, for) some months she did not leave (go out of) her room. Li dormis dum la tuta koncerto, or, Li dormis la tutan koncerton = He was sleeping during the whole (all through the) concert. Dum ilia konsiliĝo (or, Dum ili konsiliĝis) mi restis en la apuda ĉambro = During their consultation (or, whilst they were consulting) I remained in the adjoining room.
Note.—Dum, although frequently used as a conjunction by Dr. Zamenhof, is rarely, if ever, used by him as a preposition. For our preposition "during" he generally uses the accusative of duration, or the prepositional expression en la daŭro de, or simply en, or turns the phrase by employing an adverbial present participle.