The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto: Grammar & Commentary. George Cox
The letter A in the article la may be elided when the article is preceded by a preposition ending in a vowel, for then the L of the article can be sounded with the preposition and the full pronunciation given to the first letter of the following word, e.g., de l’ kreo de l’ mondo (for de la) = since the creation of the world. (Pronounce de l’ as del).
In poetry the letter A of the article is occasionally elided before a word beginning with a vowel.
The final O of the substantive may also be elided, e.g., kant’ (for kanto) = a song. The tonic accent (par. 17) remains on the same syllable on which it would fall if no elision had taken place.
Note that kant’ may not be used as an abbreviation of anything else but kanto. Thus, it cannot represent kanton, kantoj, kante, kantas, etc.
The dropped letter is in all cases noted by an apostrophe.
Ĝis la bela sonĝo de l’ homaro (de l’ for de la) Por eterna ben’ efektiviĝos (ben’ for beno). Till the beautiful dream of humanity Shall be realized for an eternal blessing.
Pri l’ tempoj estontaj pensante (pri l’ for pri la) Thinking of times to be. L’ espero, l’ obstino kaj la pacienco. Hope, tenacity, and patience.
INTERROGATION (Demandado).
58. Questions are asked in two ways, viz.—either by the interrogative adverb ĉu = whether, or by one of the interrogative words kia = what kind of, kial = why, kiam = when, kie = where, kiel = how, kies = whose, kio = what, kiom = how much, or how many, kiu = who, which.
(a). Ĉu is used when none of the other words in a sentence are used in an interrogative sense. It is, in fact, the general word for interrogations answerable by "yes" or "no."
Examples.—Ĉu vi komprenas? = Do you understand? Ĉu li legas? = Does he read? Ĉu vi havas mian libron? = Have you my book? Ĉu vi havas tion, kion mi bezonas? = Have you what (that which) I want? Ĉu Johano iris lernejon? (or, al lernejo?) = Did John go (or, has John gone) to school? Ĉu vi pruntos al mi krajonon? = Will you lend me a pencil? Ĉu li estos foririnta, antaŭ ol vi alvenos? = Will he have gone away before you (will) arrive? Ĉu vi estus tion farinta, se mi estus tie? = Would you have done that if I had been there?
When the verb following ĉu is in the Imperative mood, it shows the ellipsis of some other verb expressing "wish, desire, etc." (see pars. 200, 237 (m)).
Examples.—Ĉu mi iru kaj kunpremu la gorĝon de tiu ĉi hundo … ? (Zamenhof, "La Rabistoj") = Shall I go and squeeze the throat of this dog … ? Here the full phrase would be, Ĉu vi volas, ke mi iru … ? = Do you wish me to go … ? Ĉu mi aĉetu por vi libron? = Shall I buy you a book? Ĉu ni luu fiakron? = Shall we take a cab?
The verb is sometimes omitted when a question is preceded by an assertion.
Examples.—Hodiaŭ estas merkredo, ĉu ne? (or, ĉu ne vere?) = To-day is Wednesday, isn’t it? Ili diris al vi la veron, ĉu ne? = They told you the truth, didn’t they? Ili ne diris al vi la veron, ĉu? = They didn’t tell you the truth, did they?
(b). The following examples show the use of the nine interrogatives kia, kial, kiam, etc.
Examples.—Kian leteron vi skribis? = What kind of letter did you write? Kial vi ne respondis? Why did you not answer? Kiam li alvenos? = When will he come? Kie estas la poŝtoficejo? = Where is the post-office? Kiel vi faris tion? = How did you do that? Kies domo estas tiu? = Whose house is that? Kion vi konsilas al mi fari? = What do you advise me to do? Kiom da ĉevaloj estas tie? = How many horses are there? (at that place)? Kiom kostas tio? = How much does that cost? Kiu estas en la ĝardeno? = Who is in the garden? Kiun vi vidis en la preĝejo? = Whom did you see in the church? Kiu estas tie? = Who is there?
(c). Of the above, those ending in a consonant are invariable. Those ending in a vowel can take the accusative N, but kia and kiu are the only words which take the plural J (par. 142).
Examples.—Kien vi iras? = Whither are you going? Kiajn tranĉilojn vi bezonas? = What kind of knives do you need? Kiujn librojn vi aĉetis? = Which books did you buy? Kiuj estas la tagoj de la semajno? = Which are the days of the week?
(d). From kiom the adjective kioma = how much, how many’th is formed, and this also may be used as an interrogative.
Example.—Je kioma horo vi venos? = At what o’clock (hour) will you come?
(See correlative words, pars. 147–157. For further examples see pars. 64, 170. For place of interrogative see par. 91.)
NEGATION (Neado).
59. Double negatives are hardly ever used in Esperanto, for, if employed, they would, as in English, have an affirmative meaning.
(a). Ne = no, not, is the word in general use to imply negation. It immediately precedes the word or words it modifies.
Examples.—Ĉu vi ne vidis lin? = Did you not see him? Mi devas ne iri = I must not go.[11] Mi ne devas iri = I am not obliged to go.[11] Ne mi, sed li, havas katon = It is not I, but he, who has a cat. Mi ne havas katon = I have not (got) a cat.
Footnote:
[11] This distinction, however, is not observed by all writers.
(b). The nine correlative words, nenia, nenial, neniam, nenie, neniel, nenies, nenio, neniom, neniu, also imply negation.
Examples.—Li havas nenian sperton = He has no kind of experience. Li ne havas ian sperton = He has not any kind of experience. Nenial li subite foriris de Londono = For no reason he suddenly left London. Mi nenion trovis = I found nothing. Mi ne trovis ion (ion, not nenion, here) = I did not find anything. (See correlative words, pars. 147–157).
(c). Nek = nor and nek … nek = neither … nor have also a negative meaning.
Examples.—Nek mi nek li estis tie = Neither I nor he was there. Mi vidis nek Johanon nek Georgon = I saw neither John nor George.
Nek is generally used in the second clause of a sentence, although the first is negative.
Examples.—Mi ne scias la francan lingvon, nek la anglan, nek la turkan = I do not know the French language, or (nor) English, or (nor) Turkish. Nenio estas al mi pli kara, nek dolĉa,