Mi ne scias, ĉu ni fritu fungojn kun herboj aŭ ne.

I do not know whether we should fry mushrooms with herbs or not.

Breakdown of Mi ne scias, ĉu ni fritu fungojn kun herboj aŭ ne.

• mi: I
• ni: we
• kun: with
• aŭ: or

Questions & Answers about Mi ne scias, ĉu ni fritu fungojn kun herboj aŭ ne.

What does ĉu mean here?

Here ĉu introduces an indirect yes/no question. In English, that is usually expressed with whether.

So:

• Mi ne scias = I don't know
• ĉu ni fritu fungojn kun herboj aŭ ne = whether we should fry mushrooms with herbs or not

The same word ĉu is also used to ask a direct yes/no question, but here it is embedded inside a larger sentence.

Why is the verb fritu and not fritas, friti, or fritos?

Fritu has the -u ending, which is the volitive form in Esperanto.

This form is used for ideas like:

• command
• request
• suggestion
• proposal
• what should be done

With ni, it often has the sense of:

• let us fry
• shall we fry
• we should fry

So ĉu ni fritu... means something like whether we should fry... or whether to fry...

Why not the others?

• fritas = are frying / fry as a fact
• friti = infinitive, to fry
• fritos = will fry as a future fact

This sentence is about a decision or proposal, so -u fits best.

What exactly does ni fritu mean?