At 02:50 AM 07-05-97 -0700, Bruce R. Gilson wrote:

>I know Esperanto permits a past tense to be marked in either word of
>expressions like "estas aminta/astis amanta."

Not quite correct.  Yes, the "i/a/o" vowel in a simple verb suffix
"is/as/os" identifies past/present/future:

  mi vidis [I saw] / ^si vidas [she sees] / li vidos {he will see]

But in the participle, the "i/a/o" vowel has a related but not identical
function, specifying whether the action is completed/ongoing/yet-to-begin.
Of course, the parallel with past/present/future is clear and makes the
forms easier to remember and use, but it's not quite the same thing!

  mi estas aminta = I am (now) in the state of having loved (completed)
                  = I have loved.

  mi estis amanta = I was (past) in the state of loving (ongoing action)
                  = I was loving.

The passives are formed by dropping the "N":  "ita/ata/ota", instead of
"inta/anta/onta":

  mi estas amita = I have been loved.
  mi estis amata = I was being loved.

Of course we can also use the future and/or not-yet-started indicators,
any combination is possible:

  li estos veninta = he will (future) have come (completed)
  li estos venonta = he will be (future) on the point of coming

Schematically (view with a fixed-width font):

            IS (past)                  I(N)T     (completed)
          /                          /       \
  ... est - AS (present)   verb_root - A(N)T - A (ongoing)
          \                          \       /
            OS (future)                O(N)T     (not-yet-begun)

Oh, the final "-A" automatically makes these participles _adjectives_
(so basically the "compound tenses" are just "estas" + a predicate
adjective).  Adding a final "-O" or "-E" instead gives a noun or an
adverb, respectively.

Notice that this system gives precision that one must work hard to obtain
in English, but for normal usage the simple verb tenses suffice.

>I am asking the Esperantists, and James Chandler and any other Idists there
>may be on this list: Is there, in your mind any difference between the two
>expressions?

Yes.

Salutojn al ^ciuj / Greetings to all!
Ken
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