"Sofia finds her puppy very amusing."

Translation: Sofia trovas sian hundidon tre amuza.

[dema90]

Should it not be "tre amuzaN" as amuza refers to the dog and not to Sofia?

[mizinamo]

No, it shouldn't.

If you leave off the adverb "tre", you can see the problem:

"Sofia trovas sian hundidon amuzan" would mean "Sofia finds her amusing puppy."

So you have the nominative case to mark the result of finding: "Sofia trovas sian hundidon amuza" for "Sofia finds her puppy amusing".

You have a similar thing for "Mi farbas la domon ruĝan" would be "I paint the red house", while "Mi farbas la domon ruĝa" would be "I paint the house red".

PMEG calls this "perverba priskribo": http://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/specialaj_priskriboj/perverba/objekto.html

I guess it is considered elliptical for something like "She finds her puppy such that it is amusing", "I paint the house such that it is red", in which case the adjective applies to the subject of the understood, omitted verb.

However you analyse it, though: no -n in this case :p

[dema90]

Thank you for the long answer! I like the example with the red house. I wonder if in that case the -e form would also work: "mi farbas (kolorigas?) la domon ruĝe"

This does not work with "find", of course.

[mizinamo]

I believe "mi farbas la domon ruĝe" could also work - I colour it redly, in a red manner.

Not quite the same as "I coloured the house (in such a manner that afterwards it was) red" - one focusses on the process, the other on the result.

Kind of like "I called him Stefano", where "Stefano" is the result of naming but not really the way you name him. "Mi nomis lin Stefano" works, "Mi nomis lin Stefane" would be odd.

[HeroRobb]

This is very informative. Dankon!

[stephbutler19]

What is the english translation of "perverba"? I can't find it in the dictionary and do not understand.

[salivanto]

You won't find it in a dictionary. It's per-verb-a. "Perverba priskribo" is "description by means of a verb."

[robot-dreams]

Can the English "find" literally be translated as "trovas" here, or does "trovi" mean something closer to "to locate, to discover"?

[salivanto]

According to ReVo, this use of "trovas" is fine:

Opinii ion aŭ iun tia: trovi la frukton bongustaB; mi trovas la ideon ĝustaZ; ĉio alia ... estas nur verkoj privataj, kiujn la esperantistoj – se ili trovas tion ĉi utila ... – povas rigardadi kiel modela [4]. li trovis ŝin bela; mi trovas superflue tie ĉi paroli detale pri tioZ; mi trovis necesa doni la sekvantajn klarigojnZ; oni trovas ebla kion oni dezirasZ

[mizinamo]

Perhaps you should also explain that "Z" means that it's a quote from Zamenhof itself.

[DinoSnider]

I don't think that a direct object.

[salivanto]

I just replied in another thread with the opposite problem. (She thought it was a direct object when it was not.) I proposed the test of trying to turn it into passive. If you can, then it's almost certainly a direct object.

• She finds the dog to be funny.
• The dog was found to be funny by her.

It passes this test. (Or just take my word for it.) It's a direct object.