113 Comments
Me too!.. Sometimes she can give me things Duo can't, but I always keep running back
Yes, "ĉu" is always necessary to show that it is a question - when you do not have other question words. Remember that in Esperanto there is no specific intonation for questions, so you need sg else - like... "ĉu"
What do you use to say "really" in a question then? Because "ĉu" in the basics stood for "really" but every time I translate it as "really" in the question, it's wrong
This is addressed in the notes for basics. By itself, it means "really?", but when it starts a sentence, it turns the following statement into a question.
It actually says in the notes that it is for yes and no questions, which is causing some confusion.
I've been mentally translating it as being for either/or questions instead, since every example so far has had two choices.
If you click on "cxu," it says that it actually means "whether," if that helps at all
If you have learned or studied other languages in the altiac language family (mongolian, kazak, korean, japanese) then you would be familiar with the question particles. This "ĉu" works very similarly.
I think some knowledge of Polish or Ukrainian can be even more useful here because they both have these particles "Czy"/t͡ʂɨ/ and "Чи"/t͡ʃɪ/ respectively and they are also used at the beginning of yes/no questions.
In Latin there are -ne, nonne, and num particles for expressing a question.
From my experience with Celtic languages (essentially just Irish and the modern Gaulish conlang), it seems that they have question particles as well.
I have come to the conclusion that Ĉu is not for just yes/no questions. It is to signify the start of a question in general. It is like the “¿” in Spanish.
No. You don't say Ĉu kio estas tio? (What is that??). It's just Kio estas tio? Questions with a question word, who, what, why, how etc (starting with ki- in Esperanto) do not use ĉu.
Edit: Oh, I see what you mean. This is not a yes-no question. It's an alternative question. Ĉu is used for that too.
Ĉu is basically the equivalente to the auxiliary verbs in English, such as "do" and "did".
No, it's not. Ĉu means "whether" on its own and is used before yes/no questions. It has no English equivalent.
I think the best way to think of ĉu is "Is it that..." or "is it the case that..."
"Do you love her...Or me?" I say,looking into his eyes. He looks back in silence,opens his mouth,and closes it again. "Oh my god,"I whisper as it dawns on me who he really wants. "Oh my god!"I pull my hand away from his and storm off,my eyes filling with water. It seems he really does love her after all.
This reminds me of a quote from 'The Parent Trap'. "It's either me, or them. Take Your pic........" "Them!". Ha. Amazing movie.
I thought that "ĉu" was limited to yes/no questions? Asking "Ĉu vi amas min?" makes sense since the answer is either yes or no. However, in this case the answer is not yes or no, instead it is either "(mi amas) ŝin" or "(mi amas) vin". Would anyone care to elaborate on why "ĉu" is required in this particular question?
- Dankon! :)
I find that it helps for me to think of 'cxu' at the beginning of a question as meaning something like, "Is it (the case) that..." In this example, "Is it (the case) that you love her or me?"
I believe ĉu indicates a question and is not necessarily limited in the scope of the question it can ask.
Ču is at the beginning of close-ended questions, where there are a limited number of options, as opposed to an open-ended question. Example: Close-ended question: Do you prefer to swim, ski, or surf? Open-ended question: When was the last time you surfed? I think of it as on an exam: The multiple choice section represents the Ču questions and the free response section represents non-ču questions. I hope this helps!
Because they are both objects in this sentence. They are the things being loved, not the things loving, so they take the -n objective ending.
Rough answer: same reason why it's "her" and "me" in English, not "she" and "I". They're objects.
I use an Android phone and i cannot seem to get the accented C letter in Cu. Any help?
Stock android should have special characters. Just press a different hold a letter. Options will pop up.
But if you want a keyboard with multilingual capabilities, I suggest SwiftKey. Easy to use and a lot of languages and features without all that extra bloatware.
And! They are always taking advice from users and improving. Currently I'm using the beta keyboard so it has experimental features on it.
Çĉčć
You have to download an alternate keyboard from settings, on that uses these accents. Since the maker of this language was Polish, try using a language written in the Latin script that is east European.
It's the same as doing e or è on my android phone, have you tried pressing the letter and holding it? In my case a window appears with all the possible variations (eėęəēéêë...)
I am guessing that my translation isn't correct because I didn't asked a "closed" question... I put, "Are you in love with her or me?" I am not sure if I am correct or not because I am new to the language.
But the correct answer, "Do you love her or me?", isn't a closed question either. Why shouldn't your answer be accepted? I think you should report it.
They probably didn't accept it because loving somebody is different from being in love with them. Although you could report it if you think that they're the same.
Ŝi means "she" and is used when it is the subject of the sentence. Ŝin is used when it's the object and means "her" because of the accusative marker -n.
After a preposition, ŝi is used whereas her is used in English. Kun ŝi = with her ... so yes, kind of.
Is this asking which one you love, or if you love one of them? Because if it's the first one, it doesn't make sense to use "cxu" if it should be for yes or no questions.
Well, ‘ĉu’ isn't only for Yes/No questions. It's also for Either/Or questions. (It's just not for questions introduced with Who, What, etc.)
Cxu i understand to take the place of 'do' in English questions. In English 'do' is used when there is no auxiliary in the indicative (statement) form of the sentence, I believe-tell me if I'm wrong :) and then otherwise I use cxu to mean 'indeed'. For meaning/literal translstions, though not natural translations, it seems to fit so I can understand :)
Duo, I would never leave you. However, I'm my own person, though i love you, and sometimes I need other people in my life. Just know I would never leave you for anyone else, and you have to understand that sometimes I just can't do everything you want me to our be the one you want me to be, because I'm a human, and i make mistakes. Please, Duo just know i love you.always.
Anyone else notice that "ŝin" and "min" are pronounced incorrectly? with an [ɪ] like in "sick", instead of an [i] in "machine."
Yes! I was looking for this post - I knew I couldn't be the only one who thought the pronunciation was off.
You can practically hear the hurt in his voice. I second thr Esperanto telenovela!
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Why is my translation 'Ĉu vi amas min aŭ ŝin"? incorrect? I've noticed that Duolingo has problems with the fact that there are no word order rules in Esperanto.
Well, no. Let's just say this implies more active engagement. Not necessarily sending-the-kids-the-room active, but probably making-the-prepubescent-boys-snicker active.
I'm kind of accustomed to German, where you would say "liebst du ihr oder mich?" The verb "liebst" being first indicates this is a question.
I guess I don't really know what "do" in english actually is grammatically. It seems sort of like a state of being but with some differences to the verb "to be" but I can't really place what those differences are
Sounds like Portuguese too, because America Latina has a lot of latim words, like a LOOOT of :-)
So basically, "Ĉu" is used for all questions that don't have a question word like Kiu.
