"Nia patrino kaj nia patro estas niaj gepatroj."

Translation: Our mother and our father are our parents.

[Nadiros2]

Hmmm... Does it also mean that my brother and my sister are my siblings?

[jcreed]

Kompreneble jes! Mia frato kaj mia fratino estas miaj gefratoj.

[Tebis11]

No, that sentence was only about your parents, unfortunately ;(

[Majklo_Blic]

Grammar question: is the second "nia" required or optional here?

[dxrsam]

It's optional, and leaving it out would make room for slight ambiguity, as in English.

[Majklo_Blic]

Dankon.

[EricMa917497]

Would that change the first "nia" to "niaj"?

[Proximyst]

Yes.

[WWWo1f]

I left it out and it marked it as wrong

[NicholasLussier]

Wow, never would have figured that one out!!!

[olyglotED]

does "ge" at the beginning always make the root into a hierarchy such as siblings, parents, etc... is it a fixed rule?

[zytiko]

the prefix Ge- means both sexes. Gefratoj means siblings, geamikoj means both guy and girl friends, geknaboj are children both boys and girls.

[Rippler]

Yes, it generally means "both" according to my knowledge from surfing these discussions.

[j.kam]

Ya dont say

[Jackyxu]

I keep thinking that it is grandparents lol.

[Xavierkiller22]

I thought I was walking into Our mother and our father are siblings.

[BIGBOI693]

Oh my god. I never would have thought... MY LIFE IS A LIE!

[deactivated user]

This wouldn't work if your parents are a gay couple, I'm assuming.. as "ge" means both genders.. right?

[EricMa917497]

From some research, it seems like whether "ge-" means "both sexes" or "unspecified sex(es)" is under debate. (The latter is a proposed alternative to the former.)

[HaydenDave1]

Top 10 anime plot twists

[Andrusch]

Is there a rule attached to "gepatroj" starting with "ge"?

[Rippler]

Yes, it basically means both genders.

[IsabelleKik]

Nia patrino kaj nia patro ne estas niaj gepatroj

[Dasistrawad]

Can't understand the difference between NIA and Niaj

[solumaenus]

Nia and Niaj both refer to "our", but Niaj is used when describing more than one thing. For instance, "Our mother" is "Nia patrino", while "Our parents" means "Niaj gepatroj".

[SupBlue24]

Would it still make sense if it translated (in English) to "Our mother and father are parents?"

[Guevara4U]

What is the difference between Nia and Niaj?

[ronaldo623]

Niaj is pural and nia is singular. Niaj is used for gepatroj because gepatroj includes more than one person (plural).

[TobyDaDankEngine]

No dip sherlock

[cosmicstresshead]

Small world!

[Sepochi]

Mind blown.

[TryingG]

Why is it "nia" before just one parent, but "niaj" before both? Isn't "nia" already plural if it translates to "our"?

[salivanto]

The J on nia/j tells us whether our thing is singular or plural, not whether "we" are singular or plural.

• mia hundo - my dog.
• miaj hundoj - my dogs
• nia hundo - our dog
• niaj hundoj - our dogs

[LeeWhiteout]

The slowed down option sounds exactly the same for me. I had to guess whether it was saying "nia" or "mia"