Breakdown of La kuracisto diris, ke ŝia gorĝo estas tre ruĝa, sed la doloro baldaŭ malaperos.
Questions & Answers about La kuracisto diris, ke ŝia gorĝo estas tre ruĝa, sed la doloro baldaŭ malaperos.
Esperanto does not require “backshifting” of tenses the way English often does.
- In English we often say: The doctor said that her throat was very red.
- In Esperanto, you normally keep the tense that matches the time of the situation itself, not the time of speaking.
Here, the throat is still red at the time of speaking, so estas is used:
- La kuracisto diris, ke ŝia gorĝo estas tre ruĝa.
→ The doctor said that her throat is very red (and it still is now).
If the throat was red only in the past, you’d use estis:
- La kuracisto diris, ke ŝia gorĝo estis tre ruĝa.
→ The doctor said that her throat was very red (but now it isn’t).
Yes. Ke is a conjunction that introduces a content clause, similar to English that in sentences like:
- He said that…
- I think that…
So:
- La kuracisto diris, ke ŝia gorĝo estas tre ruĝa.
= The doctor said that her throat is very red.
In Esperanto, ke is almost always present in this kind of structure; you generally don’t drop it the way English often drops that:
- English: He said (that) she is ill.
- Esperanto: Li diris, ke ŝi estas malsana. (you do not omit ke)
La is the definite article, like English the. You use la when you mean a specific, known doctor:
- La kuracisto = the doctor (the one already known from context)
- Kuracisto (without la) = a doctor (any doctor, not a specific one)
In your sentence, it’s clearly talking about a particular doctor who examined the patient, so la kuracisto is natural.
Kuracisto means doctor (physician).
It’s built from parts:
- kurac- = root for to treat / to cure (medically)
- -ist- = person who practices something (profession, habitual activity)
- -o = noun ending
So:
- kuraci = to treat, to cure
- kuracisto = a person who cures → a doctor
Ŝia is the possessive form of ŝi (she). It works like this:
- ŝi = she
- ŝia = her (possessive adjective: her throat, her book, etc.)
It does not change for gender of the possessed thing or for number:
- ŝia gorĝo = her throat
- ŝiaj gorĝoj = her throats (plural, if that were needed)
- Here ŝiaj gets -j to agree with plural gorĝoj.
In your sentence:
- ŝia gorĝo = her throat (a specific female person previously known in context)
Because ruĝa is an adjective describing a noun (gorĝo).
Basic pattern:
- Adjectives end in -a and describe nouns:
- ruĝa gorĝo = a red throat
- gorĝo estas ruĝa = the throat is red
- Adverbs end in -e and describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs:
- singi ruĝe = to sing in a red way (nonsense in normal contexts)
- tre ruĝe = very redly (again, normally not what you want)
Here the color belongs to the throat, so you use the adjective form:
- ŝia gorĝo estas tre ruĝa = her throat is very red.
Tre means very and is an adverb of degree. It modifies adjectives or adverbs:
- ruĝa = red
- tre ruĝa = very red
- rapide = quickly
- tre rapide = very quickly
So tre ruĝa = very red.
La doloro = the pain, a specific pain already known from context (the patient’s current pain).
- La doloro baldaŭ malaperos.
= The pain will disappear soon.
Without la, doloro would mean pain in general / some pain, which sounds less natural here because both doctor and patient know exactly which pain they’re talking about. So la doloro is the expected form.
In many medical contexts, you’ll see la doloro used for “your (the patient’s) pain” even if the patient isn’t explicitly named.
Malaperos means will disappear.
It comes from:
- aperi = to appear
- mal- = a very common prefix meaning the opposite
- malaperi = to disappear (literally “un-appear”)
- -os = future tense ending
So:
- mi malaperas = I disappear / am disappearing
- mi malaperos = I will disappear
- la doloro baldaŭ malaperos = the pain will disappear soon
Baldaŭ means soon. It’s an adverb of time.
Typical placements:
- La doloro baldaŭ malaperos.
- Baldaŭ la doloro malaperos.
Both are correct. The first (as in your sentence) is the most neutral: adverb comes before the verb or near it.
You usually avoid splitting mal- from its verb root, so you don’t write:
- ✗ La doloro mal baldaŭ aperos. (wrong: mal must stay attached to aper-, as malaperos)
Esperanto word order is relatively flexible, but there is a neutral, most common order: Subject–(adverbs)–Verb–(objects).
Neutral version:
- La doloro baldaŭ malaperos.
You can move parts for emphasis or style:
- Baldaŭ la doloro malaperos. (emphasis on “soon”)
- La doloro malaperos baldaŭ. (possible, but less typical; sounds a bit heavier)
As long as the grammar endings are clear (-o, -a, -e, -as/-is/-os), the sentence remains understandable, but sticking to the neutral order is best until you feel very comfortable with Esperanto style.