We have learned that the accusative case is used in Esperanto to indicate the
direct object of a sentence. However, there are more functions of the
accusative and one of these is to mark the destination of a movement. Observe
the following English sentences:
The man walked in the garden.
The man walked into the garden.
The man in the first sentence may be heading for a destination, but this
destination is not mentioned. All that we know is that the movement took place
in the garden and the man may just be walking in circles without ever coming
out of the garden. The second sentence tells us that the man was first outside
the garden, and then he entered it; that is, the garden was his destination.
How do we translate these two different sentences in Esperanto? The first
sentence is easy; we know all the necessary words and grammar and we can
produce the following Esperanto translation:
La viro marshis en la ghardeno = The man walked in the garden.
But what about the second sentence? Do we have to look up the Esperanto
equivalent of the English into in a dictionary? No, the preposition
en is in fact used to translate both in and into, and a
case form is used to distinguish the two meanings. If en is followed
by a place in the nominative case it means in and if it is followed by
a place in the accusative case its meaning is into.
La viro marshis en la ghardenon = The man walked into the garden.
The accusative is used in this manner with all other prepositions than can
indicate a position, with two exceptions: al and ghis (up to).
The reason that the accusative is not used with these two prepositions is that
it is superfluous because al and ghis already imply a movement
to a destination (and they never indicate a position).
Here are a few examples of sentences with and without use of the accusative
for indicating movement to a destination:
Li iros al sia onklo = He will go to his uncle.
Mi metis la libron en la shrankon = I put the book into the
cupboard.
La infanoj iris en la chambron = The children went into the room.
La kato saltis sur la tablon = The cat jumped onto the table.
La hundo kuris sub la tablon = The dog ran under the table.
Muso kuras sub la tablo = A mouse is running under the table.
In the first sentence no accusative is used because al already
indicates movement to a place. In the second sentence the accusative is used
twice; first to indicate the object (la libro) and then to indicate the
destination (la shranko). Note that in the last two sentences the
English versions can be interpreted in two different ways. However, the
Esperanto versions are unambiguous even without a context that would provide
additional information.
In some cases using the accusative can make a preposition superfluous. Take
for example the following two sentences, which mean exactly the same:
Ili iris al la muzeo = They went to the museum.
Ili iris la muzeon = They went to the museum.
However, using the accusative like this can easily lead to ambiguity, for
instance if the sentence contains a direct object (which is also used in the
accusative case). So, for the time being my advice is not to use this method.
There is one exception though. In the previous example the destination was
a noun, but the destination of a movement can also be an adverb (e.g.
there, northward, away, up, etc.). In Esperanto
this kind of adverbs are derived from the adverbs of position by attaching
the ending -n to them. If we replace la muzeo in the last
example by an adverb with the ending -n (which we can still call the
accusative ending, though according to classical grammar adverbs cannot have
case endings), we can produce sentences like these:
Ili iris tien = They went there (thither).
Ili iris tien chi = They went here (hither).
Ili iris hejmen = They went home.
Sometimes it is possible to use a noun instead of an adverb. The following
two sentences are perfectly acceptable alternatives for "Ili iris
hejmen.":
Ili iris al sia hejmo.
Ili iris sian hejmon.
But in such cases adverbs are often favoured because they make it possible to
use shorter sentences that carry the same amount of information.
Note that although it is correct and very common to use in English here
and there instead of hither and thither, you must not use
adverbs of position in Esperanto to indicate a destination of a movement!
Ili estis tie = They were there (cf. German "Sie waren
da".)
Ili iris tie = They went there (cf. German "Sie gingen
dahin".)
It is important to remember that the accusative is only used to indicate a
movement to a destination (unless already indicated in another way).
You should not use the accusative to indicate movement from a place.
This is done by using el (from, out of), alone or together with another
preposition.
Shi venis el Afriko = She came from (or: out of) Africa.
La muso kuris el sub la tablo = The mouse ran from under the
table.
La kato saltis el sur la tablo = The cat jumped off the table.
Vocabulary
Esperanto
English
antau
before, in front of
el
from, out of
ghis
as far as, till, until, up to
kagho
a cage
kuri
to run (cf. courier)
meti
to put
muso
a mouse
muzeo
a museum
nordo
north
salti
to jump (cf. sommersault)
shranko
a cupboard
sudo
south
Exercise 13-1
Translate into English:
1. La birdo flugis el sia kagho. 2. Mi metis la birdo en ghian kaghon. 3. En
la printempo multaj birdoj en Afriko flugas norden al Europo. 4. Shi metis
la plantojn sur la tablon. 5. Kien (lit.: whither) vi metis miajn
librojn? 6. Chu vi metis ilin en la shrankon au sur la tablon? 7. Mi ne scias,
kien li metis ilin. 8. Hodiau mi estas tie chi, sed morgau mi iros tien. 9.
Mi metos la bananojn kiujn mi achetis, sur la tablon. 10. Mi forgesis kien mi
metis miajn librojn. 11. Kiam la hundo kuris en la chambron, la kato rapide
saltis sur la tablon. 12. Antau du horoj (two hours ago) li iris norden. 13.
Kiam li vidis sian patron, li kuris antauen (forward). 14. Mi vidis ke du
personoj iris en la chambron. 15. La kato sidis sur la tablon, sed mi metis
ghin sur la plankon. 16. La fisho saltis el la akvo sur la teron. 17. Shi
diris ke shi metis ducent dolarojn en tiun chi shrankon. 18. Morgau la
prezidento vojaghos el Europo al Usono. 19. Chu vi volas salti en la lagon en
la vintro? 20. Mi donis al li mian monon, kaj li metis ghin en tiun chi
blankan shrankon. 21. Mi metis la pomojn ien, sed mi forgesis kien mi metis
ilin. 22. Chu vi vidis, kien mi metis ilin? 23. Jes, vi metis la pomojn sur la
tablon en la ghardeno. 24. Li staris antau sia domo, sed kiam li vidis min, li
rapide iris enen.
Exercise 13-2
Translate into Esperanto:
1. I have put the apples and the pears that I want to sell on the table. 2.
Did he go southward or northward? 3. Many birds in the south fly north in
spring. 4. He put the yellow bananas in front of the brown ones. 5. Yesterday
he was here, but today he has gone home. 6. I saw him an hour ago when he was
travelling home. 7. He could not have put anything into that cupboard. 8. Her
children ran into the room. 9. They must not run in this room. 10. I shall go
to him with pleasure (plezure), but first I must put these books into the
cupboard. 11. What did he do when he came into your house? 12. Do you know
what he did when he came there? 13. The birds flew out of their cage. 14. What
did he wrote into the book? 15. In Europe many birds fly south to Africa in
autumn. 16. We cannot forget what he did when he came out of the house. 17. I
put the dogs into the car, where they cannot bite you. 18. The cat jumped out
of the tree and ran into the house. 19. Do you know what will happen when she
comes out of the house? 20. You have to put these books into the cupboard. 21.
The dog ran out of the garden and jumped into the water. 22. We walked as far
as his house.