Examples.—Ĉarme, bele kaj kortuŝe estis vidi la birdon zorgi pri sia ido = Charming, beautiful and touching it was to see the bird take care of its offspring. Starante kun la brakoj etenditaj, li paroladis al la popolamaso = Standing with arms outstretched, he harangued the populace (see par. [245] (a)).
89. Place of the preposition.—The preposition always immediately precedes its complement.
Examples.—Skribu al mi = Write to me. Li venis al mia domo kune kun la du hundoj je la tria (horo) = He came to my house (to me) along with the two dogs at 3 o’clock.
90. Place of the conjunction.—The conjunction always precedes the verb to which it refers, but separated from it by the words which logically intervene.
Example.—Se iu hodiaŭ matene deziros min vidi, diru al ĝi, ke mi estas tre okupita = If anyone (someone), this morning, should desire to see me, tell him (or her) I am very busy.
N.B.—Note that iu does not give the sex, therefore ĝi is rightly used; but, as in English, the sense would be clear without the words al ĝi.
91. Place of the interrogative.—In direct questions the subject usually precedes the verb.
Examples.—Ĉu vi havas mian libron? = Have you my book? In English, in many cases, we place the subject first; for instance, in the present tense we often commence a question with "Do"; in the past, with "Have" or "Did"; in the future, with "Shall" or "Will." If we substitute Ĉu for any of these words, we have the Esperanto construction, as:—Ĉu vi bezonas tiun plumon?
= Do you want that pen? Ĉu vi faris tion? = Did you do that? Ĉu li venos tien ĉi? = Will he come here?
92. Place of the negative.—The negative ne = not, when it relates directly to a verb, is placed immediately before such verb, but otherwise in its natural position in the clause; i.e., it negatives the word or words it precedes. The negative correlatives nenia, nenial, etc., may be placed in almost any position, according to the emphasis we wish to give to the word.