"La afero ne estas grava."
Translation:The matter is not important.
15 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I searched several bilingual dictionaries and here is the one that gave the broadest range of definitions https://en.glosbe.com/eo/en/afero . the consensus is "affair, matter, thing, business,", but this one includes many other synonyms, including "case". Seems that "situation" is not a close enough synonym (although it is only one degree of separation away from "affair": http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/situation?s=t )
It's a different grammatical construction.
The matter is not serious = La afero ne estas grava.
subject = The matter/La afero
complement = serious/grava
It is not a serious matter = Ne estas grava afero.
subject = It/∅
complement = a serious matter/grava afero
Do you see how in one, the adjective is not part of the noun phrase and in the other it is part of the noun phrase?