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Some please explain to me how C^u works?

Burl
United States of America

Some please explain to me how C^u works?

Post by Burl »

I am having difficulties in understanding this term. I understand you use it in a yes/no question, and somewhere online I read it literally translates to "is it true", at the beginning of a sentence. I suppose my misunderstanding is on duolingo, why can I not just say, "Is it true the dog is blue" - "Cu la hundo estas blua?" Why is the translation to that - "Is the dog blue?" It confuses me so much.

American English : Native
Esperanto : A1

User avatar
Explorer
Portugal

Re: Some please explain to me how C^u works?

Post by Explorer »

Every language has its own way to form a question. The most important thing you have to understand is that Esperanto doesn't work like English does, that is, it doesn't use an auxiliary verb (to do) or the subject-verb inversion. It uses the interrogative particle ĉu at the beginning of the sentence instead. It always works the same way. There are no exceptions to the rule (Ĉu + pronoun + verb).

  • Ĉu vi parolas esperanton = do you speak Esperanto?
  • Ĉu li trinkas bieron? = does he drink beer?
  • Ĉu ŝi estas usonano? = is she American?
  • Ĉu mi povas trinki tason da kafo? = can I have a cup of coffee?

Don't think in English. Think in Esperanto ;)

🇬🇧 🇪🇸 🇵🇹 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 | Learning: 🇯🇵 |

Burl
United States of America

Re: Some please explain to me how C^u works?

Post by Burl »

Explorer wrote: Mon Apr 18, 2022 11:35 pm

Don't think in English. Think in Esperanto ;)

ahhhh... think in Esperanto! This is making my brain do weird things, but I think I understand now. Thank you! :)

American English : Native
Esperanto : A1

salivanto
United States of America

Re: Some please explain to me how C^u works?

Post by salivanto »

This post makes me sad for the old forum. I had a mini-FAQ written up for this question -- which comes up a lot.

I know I saved a copy of this post (and many more) which I will be rewriting and sharing on my blog. (I only got that up and running yesterday - and there's nothing on it.) I also have a mailing list that I've been using to share updates and info from the old forum.

EsperantoBlog.com
esperanto.ck.page

Oh, it looks like someone archived a copy of my answer. (I'm not sure how I feel about that - but it's useful now). Here's everything you might want to know about how Cxu works.

https://duolingo.hobune.stream/comment/ ... -not-Estas.

Tomaso ALEXANDER
Professional certified Esperanto teacher
EsperantoBlog.com / esperanto.ck.page

Ady
Canada

Re: Some please explain to me how C^u works?

Post by Ady »

How about this mnemonic:
Since 'C' and 'u' are both roughly horseshoe-shaped, you could imagine them being magnets that pull the verb to the front of the sentence (and makes a sentence that would otherwise be a statement into a question).

((no 'cxu)): The dog {{is}} blue.

((Cxu)): {{Is}} the dog blue?

Ne estas facila esti verda. :mrgreen: :star:

User avatar
IceVajal
Germany

Re: Some please explain to me how C^u works?

Post by IceVajal »

I just started learning, but I found the videos of American Esperantist very helpful.

At this one he explains "cxu"...

N :de: - B2 :us: - Beginner :ru: (Busuu: B1) - :netherlands:

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