23 Comments
1689
Aw, I almost said nephew. Tricky that "nepo" is "grandson" and "nevo" is "nephew".
- 1526
I still get these two confused now, at level 25 >.<
Just realised the daft mnemonic 'never knew my nephew Neville' might help to remember that nephew is the one with 'v' in it.
- 2034
If Esperanto was designed to be easy, why are "nepo/grandson" and "nevo/nephew" so similar?
(Don't get me started on question words and demonstratives. Yargh.)
Just be thankful that they're different at all. In Romanian, "nepot" can mean either grandson or nephew, and only context can make it clear which one is intended.
If you go back far enough, it means any male relative who isn't your son. Grandson, nephew, uncle, cousin...
Yeah, I did say nephew, and wondered why it was highlighted in orange again right before clicking the button. :(
I accidentally wrote the translation as "Dat boi is my grandson". Why oh why?
- 1326
I teach ESL and the way I explain it to my students is that "guy" (singular) is almost exclusively male. Where it's potentially confusing is the plural. "Guys" can mean either "group of males" or "any group of friends or familiar people" depending on how it's used.
- Do you see that guy over there? (Male.)
- The trouble with guys is that they never listen. (Male.)
- Hey guys, look at this! (Friends or familiar people.)
I'd be interested to know if anybody can come up with a real example (used by someone else) of "guy" (singular) not being male, or even where the non-male plural meaning is not used as a form of address.
- out with the guys (sounds "male" to me.)
- the guys aren't all here yet (also sounds "male".)
This adds a wrinkle to the claim that "guy" is "ulo" - but yes, it has a similar level of informality, I would say. For sure, "guy" does not work for "knabo."
- 1326
Tiu is used when there is a following noun, expressed or implied. It's a determiner - used in response to questions such as "which" or "who", but not "what."
