LESSON LIX.THE POSITION OF UNEMPHATIC PRONOUNS.
274. An unemphatic personal, indefinite or demonstrative pronoun very frequently precedes the verb of which it is the object. This is especially true if the verb in question is an infinitive:
Mi volas lin vidi, I wish to see him.
Li povos tion fari, he will be able to do that.
Vi devus ion manĝi, you ought to eat something.
Ĉu vi ĝin kredis? Did you believe it?
Se li min vidus, li min savus, if he should see me, he would save me.
Cf. in other languages, as in German ich möchte ihn sehen, French je veux le voir, Latin se alunt, me defendi, etc. That such pronounsare unemphatic can be seen from English let her come (= let'er come), make him stop (= make'im stop), etc., in which the unemphatic forms er, im, replace him, her, in pronunciation (cf. the Greek enclitic pronouns μοϋ, μοί, μέ, σον, σοι, σέ, οϋ, οι, έ, the Sanskrit enclitic forms mā, me, tvā, te, nas, vas, enam, enat, enām, also sīm, and the Avestan ī, īm). The same phenomenon is indicated in prithee (=pray thee), and in the spellings gimme (= give me), lemme (= let me), in dialect stories.
SOME INTRANSITIVE VERBS.
275. Some intransitive verbs have English meanings which do not differ in form from the transitive English verbs to which they are related. In Esperanto the suffix -ig- (214) must be used when the transitive meaning is desired. Some examples are given in the following table:
Verb.
Intransitive Use.
Transitive Use.
Boli . . .
La akvo bolas
The water boils
Li boligas la akvon
He boils the water
Bruli . . .
La fajro brulas
The fire burns
Li bruligis la paperon
He burned the paper
Ĉesi . . .
La bruo ĉesas
The noise stops
Li ĉesigas la bruon
He stops the noise
Daŭri . . .
La bruo daŭras
The noise continues
Li daŭrigas la bruon
He continues the noise
Degeli . . .
La glacio degelas
The ice thaws
Li ĝin degeligas per fajro
He thaws it with fire
