"Ĉu vi scipovas paroli Esperanton?"
Translation:Do you know how to speak Esperanto?
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18
You can have compound verbs in English too, just that they are exceptionally rare. For example, "kickstart" is a compound verb.
In my mind, I read "scipovi" as "to know how," even though that translation doesn't work literally. I'm guessing the literal might be something about "know how to be able" or "know (that the subject) can."
Anyhow, "know how" has worked pretty well for me so far.
E.g.: Mi scipovas fari tion / I know how to do that.
Mi scipovas legi libron / I know how to read a book.
Mi opinias ke mi scipovas uzi scipovi. ;)
It's like the Polish umieć, or Mandarin 会 (hui4); it's something you have to study or learn to be able to do, i.e. swim, surf, ski, speak a language, read, cook etc.
I gave the Polish and Mandarin examples in case you would like to directly translate those specific words and find an equivalent to a language you're already familiar with, which I see there are quite a few!
2293
I'm not quite sure what you're asking about here, but if it's the difference between -a/an for any other language and -o/on for Esperanto, I recall it being mentioned in one of the earlier units' tips sections that Esperanto is unique and always gets treated as a noun in these cases.
Which I guess means distinguishing between the language Esperanto and one who actually hopes just has to be via context (and capitalization?).
2293
Whoops -- forgot that. I found the relevant page, and it looks like it covers that difference too, though not too explicitly -- https://www.duolingo.com/skill/eo/Languages