Questions & Answers about Ni diskutis la labortempon.
Why does diskutis end in -is?
In Esperanto, -is marks the past tense. So diskutis means discussed.
The verb is built like this:
- diskut- = the verb root, discuss
- -is = past tense
Some related forms are:
- diskutas = discuss / are discussing
- diskutis = discussed
- diskutos = will discuss
- diskuti = to discuss
So Ni diskutis means we discussed.
Why is there an -n at the end of labortempon?
The -n shows the direct object of the sentence.
In Ni diskutis la labortempon, the thing being discussed is the working time / work time, so labortempo is the direct object. That is why it becomes labortempon.
Breakdown:
- Ni = we
- diskutis = discussed
- la labortempon = the work time / working time
Esperanto often uses -n where English relies mostly on word order.
Compare:
- Ni diskutis la labortempon. = We discussed the working time.
- La labortempon ni diskutis. = The working time, we discussed.
Both can mean the same thing because the -n makes the object clear.
Why do we use la here?