"We have nothing in the house to eat."

Translation: Ni havas nenion en la domo por manĝi.

[consultjohan]

Why por manĝi and not por manĝaĵo, or simply just manĝi? The maths does not work for me

<pre>por for manĝi to eat manĝaĵo food por + manĝi for to eat por + manĝaĵo for food </pre>

[mizinamo]

Using an Esperanto infinitive as a noun is a bit like using the English gerund as a noun (one of the functions of the -ing form).

If you think of it as "for eating", it might be clearer.

[consultjohan]

Thanks! I'm already doing the -ing thing, but that por still felt a bit awkward, like some other things as well. For example the article in front of possessive pronouns. e.g. la mia. I guess they only sink in over time and with practice.

[Translingual]

Mi scivolis, cxu la du frazoj "mi ne havas ion" kaj "mi havas nenion" ambaux povus esti korektaj ? Dankon.

[mizinamo]

mi ne havas ion I would understand as "I do not have something"

mi havas nenion as "I do not have anything"

Neither of them are "correcting" (korektaj) (i.e. related to the action of correcting something), but I would say that both are correct (ĝustaj) but with different meanings -- the first of them being a slightly odd thing to say, though. I suppose it means "there exists a certain something which I am thinking of but which I do not possess", i.e. "there's something which I don't have".

[Translingual]

Dankon. I thought "mi ne havas ion" could somehow be interpreted as "I don't have anything", but it seems it doesn't work that way! : )