In a sentence like "I know who he is." the word who is called
a relative pronoun. Such a pronoun always refers to another part of
the sentence (In the given example who refers to he). Here are
a few more examples of the use of relative pronouns in English:
The man that we saw today is my father (that refers to the
man).
This is the table on which I put my book (which refers to
the table).
The girl (whom) we met was his sister (whom refers to the
girl).
In English the subject of relative pronouns is rather complicated stuff. The
relative pronouns who and which are identical in form to
interrogative pronouns, but that on the other hands looks like a
demonstrative pronoun. There are many rules that prescribe which relative
pronoun should be used (or can be used) under which circumstances. And of
course sometimes a relative pronoun is not even mandatory, as in "The girl
we met...".
Luckily the correct use of relative pronouns in Esperanto is much simpler to
learn than in English. The same set of interrogative pronouns is used as
relative pronouns, i.e. kio and kiu. The first word is used to
refer to whole clauses and to the words io (something),
tio (that thing), chio (everything) and nenio (nothing).
All the words in this category, like kio itself end in -io
Mi forgesis mian tekston, kio estis embarasa = I forgot my text,
which was embarrassing.
In the above sentence kio refers to the clause "Mi forgesis mian
tekston", and it is quite logical that kio is used here as relative
pronoun because this clause is the answer to the question "Kio estis
tre embarasa?"
Mi forgesis kion li diris = I forgot what he said.
Just like English Esperanto uses here what as a relative pronoun, but
note the accusative ending of kion, which is the object of
diris.
Io okazis tie chi kion mi ne povas forgesi = Something happened here
that I cannot forget.
In the third example kion refers to the "thing" word io which
explains the choice of this particular relative pronoun.
And in all cases where kio cannot be used (the cases where the
relative pronoun refers to a real noun) you should use kiu:
La viro kiu staras tie estas mia patro = The man (who is)
standing there is my father.
La infanoj kiujn vi vidas estas la shiaj = The children (that)
you see are hers.
Tie chi estas la libroj kiuj vi forgesis = Here are the books (that)
you forgot.
Tiu chi estas la segho sur kiu li sidis = This is the chair which he sat on.
Li estas la viro kiu min vidis = He is the man who/that saw me.
Li estas la viro kiun mi vidis = He is the man (that) I saw.
Sometimes the demonstrative and relative pronouns are used together in
sentences like these:
Tiuj kiuj volas iri devas iri nun = Those who want to go must go now.
Tiu kiu ne havas monon ne estas richa = He who has no money is not rich.
It is not possible in Esperanto to replace the demonstrative pronoun
by a personal pronoun. "Li kiu ne havas monon..." would not be correct!
Vocabulary
Esperanto
English
diri
to say, to tell
embarasa
embarrassing
forgesi
to forget
io
something, anything
mono
money
nun
now
okazi
to happen (cf. occasion)
povi
to be able to (cf. power)
richa
rich
stari
to stand
teksto
a text
Exercise 8-1
Translate into English:
1. La arboj kiuj kreskas en via ghardeno estas grandaj. 2. Kiu estas la viro
kiun mi vidis en tiu chi chambro? 3. Kiu povas diri kio okazos? 4. Tiu chi
estas la nova auto kiun mi achetis. 5. Kaj tie loghas la viro kiu vendis ghin
al mi. 6. Kio estas tio, kio kushas sur la tablo? 7. Tiu chi estas katon kiu
dormas sur la tablo. 8. Kiu skribis la tekston kiun mi legis? 9. Mi vidis ion
kion mi ne povas forgesi. 9. Li achetis la seghojn sur kiuj ni nun sidas. 10.
Ili forgesis doni al shi la monon, kio estis embarasa. 11. Li volas havi ion
kion mi ne povas doni al li. 12. Mi ne diros al vi kio okazis. 13. Tiuj kiuj
laboris tie chi ni ne forgesos. 14. La arboj kiuj staras en la ghardenoj estas
pomarboj.
Exercise 8-2
Translate into Esperanto:
1. I have bought a new car which has the colour green. 2. The man who is
sitting in the garden is my uncle. 3. I saw the potatoes that were lying on
the table. 4. This is something which I bought. 5. That is the dog that bit
me. 6. The chairs you were sitting on were ours. 7. We ate the apples which
she had given to us. 8. Those who are rich live in these big houses. 9. The
house that I am living in is not new. 10. We saw many birds flying to Africa.
11. This is the house in which I am living now. 12. I read the books that he
wrote. 13. This is something I will not say.