Page:The Esperanto Teacher.pdf/35

means “more than John loves George,” because the final n in Georgon shows this to be not the subject .

There are cases, however, in which it is not necessary to add n, the noun or pronoun being distinguished from the subject in another way. Examples are found in the first exercise:— Sur la tero kuŝas stono, On the ground lies a stone. Antaŭ la pordo staras arbo, Before the door stands a tree. Notwithstanding their position , “ground” and “door” are seen to be not the subject, because before them are the words “on,” “before,” which connect them with the rest of the sentence — it is “on the ground,” “before the door.” So with other sentences.

The words on, before, and others given on p. 55 are called PREPOSITIONS (pre = before ). The noun or pronoun which follows then can never be the subject of the sentence.

Remember, then, that

N is added to every noun and pronoun, other than the subject, unless it has a preposition before it.*

When the noun takes n, any adjective which belongs to it must also take n, as, Li donas al mi belan ruĝan floron, He gives me a beautiful red flower. Li donas al mi belajn ruĝajn florojn, He gives me beautiful red flowers.

letero, letter.

litero, ,, of alphabet .

festo, festival, holiday .

tago, day.

nokto, night.

mateno, morning.

multaj, many.

obstina, obstinate.

ĝoja, joyful, joyous.

hela, bright, clear.

• (i.). The explanation usually given for the use of final n is , that n is added to nouns and pronouns (a) in the Accusative Case (the direct object), (b) when the preposition is omitted. The explanation given above seems to me, however, to be much simpler.

(ii.). Another use of final n is given later (p. 24, par. 4; p. 56, par. 2).