"He ordered the players to wait."

Translation: Li ordonis al la ludantoj atendi.

[RizIDN]

Ĉu oni uzas "li ordonis ke la ludantoj atendu" ĉi tie?

[LouisSepdekdu]

Your sentence does not tell who received the order. It could mean "li ordonis al la trejnisto ke la ludantoj atendu".

[paulmakepeace]

Jes; tiu estas akceptita por mi

[SariniLynn]

Could they be ludistoj, say if they were pro?

[jxetkubo]

Yes, they could, but there is no hint that they are.

[SariniLynn]

No, of course. I put ludisto by mistake, agreed it was wrong, then thought to myself, wait... then what IS a ludisto? I mix up those two endings a lot, and I'm trying to drill the difference into my brain. Thanks for the response!

[madsciencer]

Why does ordoni have an al? Is there a list of such verbs?

[jxetkubo]

First of all, ordoni is transitive verb, i.e. it can have a direct object. So you ask for an accusative: Kion li ordonis? This position is taken by an infinitive (atendi). Thus the receiver of the order has to be the indirect object. In Esperanto this is realised with the preposition al, other languages may use the dative case here.

The preposition al can be used with nearly every verb where it does make sense that the action is directed to someone or to something.

[snailsnail1]

What about "Li ordonis al la ludantoj atendu"?

[salivanto]

No.... maybe:

• Li diris "atendu".