Examples of Participle.—La reĝo ordonis, ke ĉiuj renkontante (kiam ili renkontis) lin, eliru. La princo montris viron, starantan post li. La knabo vidis siajn fratinojn, ludantajn (kiuj ludas) per sia (their own) pupo—per lia (with his) pupo. La reĝo forveturis, ne sciiginte (kaj ne sciigis) sian ministron pri sia (the king’s) devo—pri lia (the minister’s) devo.
(d). Boirac names lia, ŝia, ĝia, etc., the direct or normal form of the pronoun, "La rekta formo," and sia the secondary or accessory form, "flanka kaj akcesora." He points out that where the use of the normal form could cause no possible ambiguity, the use of the reflexive form, though always advisable if justified by rule, is nevertheless not obligatory. It is even possible, as shown by Millidge, that the non-use of si may in some cases be felt to be somewhat clearer than its use, e.g., "La Ĥino legas siajn skribajn signojn en sia dialekto, kaj la aliaj popoloj de Azio legas tiujn samajn signojn en ilia (instead of sia) lingvo (F.K., p. 258). In any case it is better, in case of doubt, to use the normal form. It is worse to use the reflexive form when it should not be used, than to omit it when it might be used.
CORRELATIVE WORDS. (Korelativaj Vortoj.)
139. The 45 correlative words (see table, par. [147]) form a very important part in the construction of the Esperanto language. Their uses and meanings are very easily learnt and remembered, since they have been exceedingly cleverly devised on a simple and uniform plan. They are all to be found in the list of Primary Words given in [Part V.]
140. They consist of nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and adverbs. Many of them can be applied to denote not only one word, but also expressions which require several English words to define clearly.
141. The words in the table (par. [147]) are placed in series horizontally and vertically. All the words in each of the vertical series commence with the same letter, and all in each horizontal series have the same termination. It will be seen that the letter I is the first letter in the first vertical series, and that this is a central letter in each of the other words in the table. The first letter of a word conveys an idea of its meaning, and the terminal letters following I show how that idea is applied, and consequently the full meaning of the word.
(a). The initial letters convey the following ideas:—
- I- that the word is "indefinite."
- Ĉ- that the word is "distributive" or "collective."
- K- that the word is "interrogative" or "relative."
- NEN- that the word is "negative" (nen- = ne, not, and N added for euphony).
- T- that the word is "demonstrative."
(b). The terminal letters following I denote that the idea is to be applied, in accordance with the termination, as follows:—
- -A in relation to "quality" or "the kind of" (adjectival).
- -AL in relation to "motive" or "reason for" (adverbial).
- -AM in relation to "time" (adverbial).
- -E in relation to "place" (adverbial).
- -EL in relation to "manner" (adverbial).
- -ES in relation to "possession" (pronominal).
- -O in relation to "a thing" (substantival or pronominal).
- -OM in relation to "quantity" or "number of" (adverbial).
- -U in relation to "person" or "thing specified". (pronominal or adjectival).