Questions & Answers about La ŝuldanto ricevis prunton.
Why is there la at the beginning?
La is the definite article in Esperanto, like the in English. It shows that the speaker means a specific debtor, or one already known from the context.
Esperanto has only one article of this kind: la. It does not change for gender, number, or case.
What does ŝuldanto mean literally?
Ŝuldanto is built from:
- ŝuldi = to owe
- -ant- = active present participle, meaning someone doing the action
- -o = noun ending
So ŝuldanto literally means someone who owes, which is why it is translated as debtor.
Why does ricevis end in -is?
In Esperanto, -is marks the past tense.
So:
- ricevas = receives / is receiving
- ricevis = received
- ricevos = will receive
That is why ricevis shows that the action happened in the past.
Would the verb still be ricevis with a different subject, like mi or ili?