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Grammar — Correlatives

The correlatives, called tabelvortoj (table-words) in Esperanto, are a fixed set of extremely common words whose English equivalents are of various parts of speech.  These act like various parts of speech, mostly adverbs.

The basic meaning is expressed in the first part of the word, and the last part gives it its grammatical category.

These words can begin with any of the following parts:

• ki−, for words that ask “what”, or that say “which”.
• ti−, for words that say “that” in some way or other.
• i−, for words that express “some” or “any”.
• neni−, for words that express “no” or “none”.
• ĉi−, for words that express “all” or “every”.

The endings can be any of the following:

• −o, for noun-like words.
• −u, for adjectives denoting identity.
• −a, for adjectives denoting kind.
• −es, for adjectives denoting possession.
• −e, for adverbs denoting location.
• −el, for adverbs denoting manner.
• −al, for adverbs denoting reason.
• −am, for adverbs denoting time.
• −om, for adverbs denoting quantity.

By combining one of the five beginnings and one of the nine endings, you can get any of forty-five words (some of which can take additional endings).

The −o words are rather abstract nouns, and do not modify other words.  So tio means “that”, in the sense of “that thing that I am pointing at”, or “that idea which you have just mentioned”.  Examples:

• Kio estas tio?  What is that?  (What are those?)
• Tio estas mia aŭtomobilo.  That is my car.
• Tio estas libroj.  Those are books.
• Ĉu io mankas?  Is anything missing?
• Ne, nenio mankas.  No, nothing is missing.
• Ĉio estas ĉi tie.  Everything is here.

Ordinarily, these words do not have plurals, so we don’t ask, «Kioj estas tioj?», meaning, “What are those things?”  They do take the −n ending for accusative case, when appropriate:  «Kion vi faras?» “What are you doing?”

A −u word always modifies some other word, though that word may not always be actually expressed.  Examples:

• Kiu aŭtomobilo estas la via?  Which car is yours?
• Tiu estas la mia.  That [one] is mine.
• Ĉu iu libro sufiĉos?  Will any book suffice?
• Ne, neniu el tiuj estas sufiĉe bona.  No, none of those is good enough.
• Ĉiu estas malbona libro.  Every [one] is a bad book.

This single illustration should point out the difference between an −o word and a −u word with no noun following.  If there are a bunch of books on the table, and you have been discussing them, you could ask, «Kiun vi desiras?»  “Which [one] do you want?”  If you ask simply, «Kion vi desiras?», you’re being more open-ended, and asking “What do you want?”, not limiting the answer to one of the books under discussion.

Very often, a −u word refers to a person, and there is seldom an actual noun following it.  Examples:

• Kiu estas tiu?  Who is that [person]?
• Tiu estas mia onklino.  That is my aunt.
• Ĉu iu venos?  Is anyone coming?
• Ne, neniu venos.  No, no one is coming.
• Ĉiu estas tro okupita.  Everyone is too busy.

These words act like adjectives, so they can take both the plural and accusative endings.

The −a words express kind or type.  Examples:

• Kia libro estas tio?  What kind of book is that?
• Tia libro estas amuza.  That kind of book is funny.
• Ia libro estas tro mafacila.  Any kind of book is too difficult.
• Nenia libro sufiĉos.  No kind of book will suffice.
• Ili havas ĉian libron.  They have every kind of book.

These words act like adjectives, so they can take both the plural and accusative endings.

These denote possession.  Examples:

• Kies jako estas tio?  Whose coat is that?
• Tio estas ties jako.  That is that person’s coat.
• Ĉu ies jako estas nigra?  Is anyone’s coat black?
• Ne, nenies jako estas nigra.  No, no one’s coat is black.
• Ĉies jako estas blanka.  Everyone’s coat is white.

These words behave like adjectives, but do not take adjective endings.

These denote location.  With an −n ending, they denote destination.

• Kie li estas?  Kien li iras?  Where is he?  Where is he going?
• Li estas tie.  Li iras tien.  He is there.  He is going there.
• Ĉu ŝi estas ie?  Ĉu ŝi iras ien?  Is she anywhere?  Is she going anywhere?
• Ĝi estas nenie.  Ĝi iras nenien.  It is nowhere.  It is going nowhere.
• Ili estas ĉie.  Ili iras ĉien.  They are everywhere.  They are going everywhere.

Correlatives ending with «−EL»

These words denote manner.  Examples:

• Kiel vi fartas?  How are you doing?
• Tiel ĝi iras.  It goes like that.
• Ĉu ni iel sukcesos?  Will we succeed in any way?
• Ne, vi neniel sukcesos.  No, you will will succeed in no way.
• Ili sukcesos ĉiel.  They will succeed in every way.

Correlatives ending with «−AL»

These words denote reason:

• Kial?  Why?
• Tial  Therefore
• Ial  For any reason
• Nenial  For no reason
• Ĉial  For every reason

Correlatives ending with «−AM»

These words denote time:

• Kiam?  When?
• Tiam  Then
• Iam  Some time; at any time
• Neniam  Never
• Ĉiam  Always

Correlatives ending with «−OM»

These words denote quantity:

• Kiom?  How much?
• Tiom  That much
• Iom  Some; any
• Neniom  None
• Ĉiom  All

These words are often followed by the preposition da, and there is some controversy over whether the pair of words, kiom da, constitutes an adverb and a preposition, so the word modified should not have the −n ending, or a single adverb, so the word should have the ending if the phrase is used as the object of a verb.  So in asking, “How much money do you have?”, some will ask, «Kiom da mono vi havas?», and others, «Kiom da monon vi havas?»  I would prefer simply «Kiom monon vi havas?»

Note that there are no correlatives that mean “this”.  For these, we use a ti− word, and put the particle ĉi either before or after it.  Some people hyphenate this word in, giving ĉi−tie or tie−ĉi (here), but officially, this is an error.

It is possible to put the particle for after a ti− word to indicate remoteness:  tie for (way over yonder), but this usage is rare.

The particle ajn adds emphasis, generally emphatic uncertainty:

• Kie? Where?  Kie ajn? Wherever?
• Iu Someone, anyone  Iu ajn Anyone, anyone at all
• Nenio Nothing  Nenio ajn Nothing at all
• Ĉiam Always  Ĉiam ajn Every single time

Questions or suggestions?  Please write, and I’ll get back to you.