"Good morning, how are you?"

Translation: Bonan matenon, kiel vi fartas?

[HitoMem]

I have heard that you can say "kiel vi" to mean "how are you" instead of "kiel vi fartas" to specifically mean "how do you feel". Wouldn't that work?

[ZelieZazou]

Yes it would, but it is not accepted here... :(

[Adrian729689]

It's VERY lazy. Generally only used when non-Esperantist English speakers are listening in, because it stops them laughing when they hear the 'false friend'

[nspot]

Why can't we say "kiel vi estas" ?

[Mouxon]

Yes, why is "estas" refused?

[Rae.F]

Probably because it's not the same idiom as it is in English.

[Heysoos1]

That would be something like asking "how do you exist?"

[Sheshanpatel]

Can "How are you" be translated as "Kiom estas vi"?

[lingvulo]

No, "kiom" means "how much" (in terms of quantity).

[andreim1828]

fartas gives me the creeps

[Deact1vated_User]

Sometimes, I wish whoever created the Esperanto language would have picked a different word besides fartas. For obvious reasons, it just sounds weird.

[Rae.F]

Zamenhof didn't speak English, so this never would have occurred to him.

[Deact1vated_User]

I suppose that makes sense. It still just sounds weird, though.

[Rae.F]

Zamenhof took it from the German fahrt, which means "journey". It's cognate with the English "fare".

Of course, there is a natural language where "fart" means something else.

https://inktank.fi/10-english-words-mean-something-else-languages/

[Andr16065]

or maybe he took it from the nordic languares where it is spelled 'fart' without the 'h' and which is globally used nowadays in the runners community in name for a popular training method, 'fartlek'. fart = speed . btw in French and Spanish you say ''how are you going?'' for 'how are you?' as well, so it is not that far(t) fetched.

[Andrew122126]

What does the word "fartas" itself mean?

[Rae.F]

It's the present-tense conjugation of "farti", which is essentially the English "fare". "How are you faring?"

https://esperanto.stackexchange.com/questions/4771/difference-between-fari-and-farti

[cauerego]

and if you're also not familiar (like me) with "fare" in this sentence, perhaps you heard it as "farewell" or "fare thee well", i just learned. in english, it means to proceed or get along.

it's also interesting to notice the similarities with "fari", in esperanto: https://esperanto.stackexchange.com/questions/4771/difference-between-fari-and-farti

[LunaMarie30749]

When do I use "bone" and when do I use "bonan"?

[Rae.F]

Adverbs end in -e.
Adjectives end in -a.
Any noun/adjective (except for "la") that's in the accusative (direct object of a transitive verb) gets the -n suffix.

The greeting is "bonan matenon" because it's short for something like "I bid you a good morning" or "I hope you have a good morning" or something along those lines.

[nathankoren]

Just curious -- would "kiel fartas vin" not be acceptable? Is "vi" not a direct object in this case?

[potatoeglot]

It's not a direct object. A direct object is the one receiving the action (i.e. in "Mi amas vin", "vin" receives the action "amas" given by the subject "mi"). But "vi" here is the subject and is the one that does or experiences the action, so it can't be in the accusative case.

[Rae.F]

Beyond what crimson_seraph said, "farti" is a stative verb and stative verbs don't have direct objects. Instead, they take subject complements.