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The cardinal numbers are one, two, three, unu, du, tri. The ordinal numbers are first, second, third, unua, dua, tria.
Esperanto happens to use ordinals to talk about time. "It's two o'clock" = "It's the second hour" = "Estas la dua [horo]". Since kiom is a question asking for a (cardinal) number, kioma is used to ask for an ordinal.
It'd be as if in english we made a distinction between "which" and "whichth", which I love saying just because I love trying to pronounce "whichth".
You might also use kioma to ask which of a number of things in a sequence has some property or whatever.
- Kioma filmo "Reen al la Estonteco" estas via plej ŝatata? - La dua. (which "back to the future" movie is your favorite? the second)
Very probably if you said "Kiu filmo" instead of "Kioma filmo" it'd still make perfect sense, but I think it's cool that kioma nails down the meaning of the question so nicely.
Yeah, but the interesting thing is that I rarely hear "kioma" in reference to anything but the hour. If I ask "Ĉe kioma etaĝo vi loĝas?" people will understand... but they will give me a puzzled look. For some reason, "Kiu etaĝo" is more common.
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It's because few languages make that distinction. I know Japanese does, with dore and dono for kiu and nanbanme (and nanninme, nandaime etc.; nan___me for any counter word) for kioma.
If you say so! Laŭ mi "kioma etaĝo" estas tre plaĉe trafa, sed eble tio estas ĉar mi estas tro matematikmensa :)
Because "horo" is a noun, it takes here the adjective "kioma" to qualify it in this particular question.
Check this grammar: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7787/7787-h/7787-h.htm (use Ctrl+F to search for item 185., "Time of day").
Just in case you want a better looking font/design, here is the same thing but looks better: click this
Is "Estas kioma horo?" valid?
EDIT: Apparently it is, because it's now accepted!
In an esperanto book, it is written ĥoro instead of horo. Has esperanto evolved here or is this a different dialect?
A ĥoro is not an hour, but a choir! However, because many people wanted to remove the letter ĥ from the language they sometimes call it koruso. Normally they replace the ĥ with a k, but koro already means heart.
Who would want to get rid of hx? Hx is my favorite letter.
Don't judge me for having a favorite letter.
You seem to know a lot about Esperanto. Can I ask where you learned about the language? Also, what community is talking about getting rid of hx, or Esperanto at all, for that matter! I'd love to join that community.
I feel like 'kiu horo estas' would make more sense in Esperanto. Which hour is it? Oh well.
As in many other exercises in this course there is a stress problem. "Kioma horo" is clearly pronounced "Kio mahoro". Please, Duo, pay attention. And do not say "train your ear", just train your tongue.
