Building Correlatives Incorrectly | Esperanto Grammar

Esperanto’s correlatives—traditionally called table words—look as though they are freely built from prefixes and suffixes. They are not. They form a closed system of 45 established words: five logical initials combine with nine semantic endings. Learners who translate an English form piece by piece often create plausible but nonexistent hybrids such as *kiuom, *nenikie, or *tiukiam.

The reliable method is to make exactly two choices: what logical force is needed, and what semantic domain is being expressed? Select the corresponding row and column, then apply only the inflection that that ending permits.

The closed 5 × 9 system

The initial supplies logical force:

Initial	Force	Examples
ki-	question, relative, or exclamatory	kiu, kie, kial
ti-	demonstrative	tiu, tie, tial
i-	indefinite	iu, ie, ial
ĉi-	universal	ĉiu, ĉie, ĉial
neni-	negative	neniu, nenie, nenial

The ending supplies the domain:

Ending	Domain	Question member
-u	individual identity	kiu — who/which one
-o	thing or matter	kio — what
-a	kind or quality	kia — what kind
-es	possessor	kies — whose
-e	place	kie — where
-am	time or occasion	kiam — when
-al	reason	kial — why
-el	manner or degree	kiel — how
-om	quantity or degree	kiom — how much/many

Kiam vi alvenos, kaj kie ni renkontiĝu?

When will you arrive, and where should we meet?

Mi ne scias, kial ŝi foriris tiel frue.

I do not know why she left so early.

Each bold conceptual question has its own column: time kiam, place kie, reason kial, and manner kiel. English “where/when/why/how” happens to keep these distinct, but English “what,” “that,” “some,” and “any” often hide several Esperanto choices.

The full table-word system is worth learning as a meaning grid rather than as 45 isolated vocabulary items. The grid predicts the core meaning of even rarer members such as ĉial “for every reason” and neniom “none of the quantity,” although predictable formation does not guarantee equal frequency in conversation.

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Never start by spelling a guessed form. First choose one force—question, demonstrative, indefinite, universal, or negative—and one domain—individual, thing, kind, possessor, place, time, reason, manner, or quantity.

Individual, thing, and kind are different columns

The -u words select an individual and can determine an expressed noun. The -o words stand for a thing or matter and do not directly determine a following noun. The -a words characterize a kind and can determine a noun.

Kiun jakon vi elektis? — Tiun, kiu pendas apud la pordo.

Which jacket did you choose? — The one hanging beside the door.

Kio estas en la skatolo? — Io tre fragila.

What is in the box? — Something very fragile.

Kian jakon vi serĉas? — Ian malpezan kaj akvorezistan.

What kind of jacket are you looking for? — Some lightweight, waterproof kind.

Compare the demonstratives:

Mi elektis tiun tekruĉon, ne nur tian tekruĉon.

I chose that particular teapot, not merely a teapot of that kind.

Tiu identifies the teapot; tia identifies its kind. Tio would mean “that thing/matter” and must stand alone: Mi ne atendis tion.

Do not repeat parts suggested by English

One initial and one ending are enough. English “how much” contains two words, but Esperanto uses kiom, not *kiuom or *kiel multe in a neutral quantity question. English “nowhere” combines negative and place meanings in one word; Esperanto likewise uses the established nenie, not *nenikie.

Kiom da tempo ni ankoraŭ havas? — Nur iom.

How much time do we still have? — Only a little.

Mi serĉis la kvitancon ĉie, sed trovis ĝin nenie.

I searched for the receipt everywhere but found it nowhere.

— Ĉu iu telefonis? — Jes, sed mi ne scias, kiu.

— Did someone call? — Yes, but I do not know who.

The exchange contrasts indefinite iu with interrogative kiu. English can use “someone” and then “who”; Esperanto changes only the force initial while keeping the individual column.

Add only the permitted ordinary endings

The final table element controls inflection:

-u and -a words take plural -j and accusative -n when their noun-phrase role requires them: kiujn, tiajn.
-o words normally take accusative -n, but not plural -j: kion, nenion.
-e words take -n only for direction toward a place: kien, tien.
-es, -am, -al, -el, -om are invariant.

Kiujn dosierojn vi forigis, kaj kial?

Which files did you delete, and why?

Kien vi portas tiujn skatolojn? — Tien, apud la lifton.

Where are you carrying those boxes to? — Over there, beside the elevator.

Kies ŝlosilojn vi trovis sur la ŝtuparo?

Whose keys did you find on the stairs?

Kiujn agrees with a plural object. Directional kien/tien uses -n for movement, not object case. Kies remains unchanged; ŝlosilojn carries the plural and accusative markings.

Treating the table endings as ordinary Esperanto suffixes causes errors such as *kiomn, *kiesjn, and *kialn. They may look regular, but they violate the inflection pattern of their columns.

Universal ĉi- is not proximity ĉi

The initial ĉi- in ĉiu, ĉio, ĉie means universal “every/all.” The separate particle ĉi marks proximity and combines most often with a demonstrative: ĉi tiu “this one,” ĉi tie “here.”

Ĉiu partoprenanto ricevos nomŝildon ĉi tie ĉe la enirejo.

Every participant will receive a name badge here at the entrance.

Ĉi tiu seĝo estas libera, sed ĉiuj aliaj estas okupitaj.

This chair is free, but all the others are occupied.

Writing ĉiu seĝo when “this chair” is intended changes proximity into universal quantification: “every chair.” Spacing alone is not the whole difference; the two ĉi elements have different grammatical functions.

Ajn remains a separate particle

Ajn adds free-choice meaning such as “any,” “ever,” or “no matter.” It follows an established correlative as a separate word: iu ajn, kie ajn, kiam ajn.

Elektu iun ajn liberan daton en Oktobro.

Choose any available date in October.

Kie ajn vi sidos, vi bone vidos la ekranon.

Wherever you sit, you will see the screen well.

Do not invent a sixth initial from ajn or fuse it into the correlative. It modifies the already complete table word.

Negative correlatives already negate

The neni- forms normally supply clause negation themselves. English often includes an auxiliary not, but neutral Esperanto does not add ne merely because English does.

Neniu respondis, ĉar neniu sciis la kodon.

Nobody answered because nobody knew the code.

Mi neniam vidis ion similan.

I have never seen anything similar.

The second clause uses neniam as the negative carrier and ion for the additional indefinite. A combination such as ne neniam has a genuine double-negative interpretation in careful usage, not ordinary “never.”

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A well-formed table member can still be a poor vocabulary choice if it is extremely rare. The table guarantees interpretable structure; corpus frequency and context determine whether a plainer paraphrase is more natural.

The temptation to create an ali- row

Because the table is transparent, speakers have proposed an additional ali- series for “other”: forms such as aliel or alies. These proposals are nonofficial and remain outside neutral standard Esperanto; PMEG specifically recommends avoiding an invented full row. Use ordinary alia with established constructions: iu alia, io alia, alie, en alia loko, pro alia kialo.

Ni renkontiĝu aliloke, ĉar ĉi tie estas tro brue.

Let us meet elsewhere because it is too noisy here.

Aliloke is an ordinary compound based on alia + loko, not a new table member. This distinction matters: Esperanto’s productive word formation remains available, but it does not rewrite the foundational correlative inventory.

A repair procedure

For a malformed or doubtful correlative:

State the intended force.
State the semantic domain.
Read the established table member at their intersection.
Add -j/-n only if that column permits it.
Keep ĉi and ajn separate when they are particles.

❌ Kiuom da homoj aliĝis ĝis nun?

Incorrect — quantity requires the established question form kiom, not a blend with kiu.

✅ Kiom da homoj aliĝis ĝis nun?

How many people have registered so far?

Repairing just one visible letter while retaining an English-based “who + amount” analysis is unreliable. Selecting the quantity column immediately yields kiom.

Common Mistakes

Using an -o word before a noun

❌ Mi bezonas tio dokumenton antaŭ tagmezo.

Incorrect — tio stands alone; an identified document requires the -u form tiu.

✅ Mi bezonas tiun dokumenton antaŭ tagmezo.

I need that document before noon.

Building a negative-place hybrid

❌ Ni trovis liberan tablon nenikie.

Incorrect — the negative place member of the table is nenie.

✅ Ni nenie trovis liberan tablon.

We could not find an available table anywhere.

Adding case to an invariant ending

❌ Mi ne komprenas kialn ili nuligis la vojaĝon.

Incorrect — -al correlatives never take accusative -n.

✅ Mi ne komprenas, kial ili nuligis la vojaĝon.

I do not understand why they canceled the trip.

Confusing universal and proximal ĉi

❌ Ĉiu dosiero estas la ĝisdatigita versio.

Incorrect if the intended meaning is ‘this file’ — ĉiu means every.

✅ Ĉi tiu dosiero estas la ĝisdatigita versio.

This file is the updated version.

Adding ne to an ordinary negative-correlative clause

❌ Mi ne neniam uzas tiun pasvorton.

Incorrect for ordinary ‘I never use that password’ — neniam already negates the clause.

✅ Mi neniam uzas tiun pasvorton.

I never use that password.

Key Takeaways

Correlatives are systematic but closed. Choose one of five force initials and one of nine domain endings, then respect that column’s inflection. Do not splice English words into hybrids, confuse universal ĉi- with proximity ĉi, fuse ajn, or extend the table with a nonstandard ali- row. The table is a diagnostic tool, not a license to invent new members.

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