Learn Hardcore Esperanto: Nun ŝi ludas futbalon, sed ŝi diras, ke ŝi ĉiam memoros sian unuan sporton. - Now she plays football, but she says that she will always remember her first sport.

Nun ŝi ludas futbalon, sed ŝi diras, ke ŝi ĉiam memoros sian unuan sporton.

Now she plays football, but she says that she will always remember her first sport.

Breakdown of Nun ŝi ludas futbalon, sed ŝi diras, ke ŝi ĉiam memoros sian unuan sporton.

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Questions & Answers about Nun ŝi ludas futbalon, sed ŝi diras, ke ŝi ĉiam memoros sian unuan sporton.

Why does futbalon end in -on instead of just futbalo?

In Esperanto the direct object of a verb normally takes the accusative ending -n.

You can ask: ŝi ludas kion? – futbalon.
Because futbalo is what she is playing (the object of ludas), it must be futbalon:

ŝi ludas futbalon – she plays soccer / she is playing soccer
futbalo without -n would usually be interpreted as a subject, not an object.

So the -n shows that futbalon is the thing being played.

Why is it sian unuan sporton and not ŝian unuan sporton?

Sian is the reflexive possessive pronoun. It is used when the possessor is the subject of the same clause.

In the clause ke ŝi ĉiam memoros sian unuan sporton, the subject is ŝi, and the thing remembered belongs to that same ŝi, so we use sian.

ŝi ĉiam memoros sian unuan sporton = she will always remember her (own) first sport.
ŝi ĉiam memoros ŝian unuan sporton would usually mean: she will always remember another woman’s first sport (someone else, not the subject).

So: refer back to the subject of the clause → sia; refer to someone else → lia/ŝia/ilia, etc.

Why do both unuan and sporton end in -n?

In Esperanto, adjectives agree with their noun in number and case.

Noun: sport-o-n (sport + singular + accusative)
Adjective: unua-n (first + accusative to match sporton)

So you must say:

ŝi ĉiam memoros sian unuan sporton (all three content words take -n)
- sian – possessive adjective, accusative
- unuan – adjective, accusative
- sporton – noun, accusative

If the noun needed plural, you’d see -jn on the adjectives: siajn unuajn sportojn.

Why is it memoros and not memoras?

Memoros is the future tense of memori:

memoras – present (remembers / is remembering)
memoris – past (remembered)
memorOS – future (will remember)

Here the idea is “she will always remember from now on”, so the future tense memoros matches that meaning.

You could say ŝi ĉiam memoras sian unuan sporton, but that would describe a present, ongoing situation (“she always remembers her first sport”), not a promise or prediction about the future.

What exactly does ke do in ŝi diras, ke ŝi ĉiam memoros…?

Ke is a conjunction introducing a content clause, like English “that” in “she says that she will always remember…”.

Structure:

Main clause: ŝi diras – she says
Subordinate clause: ke ŝi ĉiam memoros sian unuan sporton – that she will always remember her first sport

Ke does not mean “that” as a demonstrative (“that book”): that’s tiu / tio.
It only links the main clause with the clause that gives the content of what is said, known, thought, etc.

Why is there a comma before sed and before ke?

Esperanto punctuation is similar to English here:

…, sed … – there is a comma before sed when it connects two full clauses:
- Nun ŝi ludas futbalon, sed ŝi diras…
  First clause: Nun ŝi ludas futbalon
  Second clause: ŝi diras, ke…
…, ke … – a comma is usually put before clauses introduced by ke:
- ŝi diras, ke ŝi ĉiam memoros…

You will sometimes see the comma before ke omitted in informal writing, but the form in the sentence you gave is standard and clear.

Can the word order be different, like ŝi nun ludas futbalon or nun ŝi futbalas?

Yes. Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbs like nun.

All of these are grammatically fine, with small differences in emphasis:

Nun ŝi ludas futbalon. – Now she plays soccer. (emphasis on the time “now”; good as a sentence opener)
Ŝi nun ludas futbalon. – She now plays soccer. (slight emphasis on the change in what she now does)
Nun ŝi futbalas. – Now she “soccer-plays”. (using the verb futbali instead of ludi futbalon)

The basic subject–verb–object order is most common, but moving nun around is normal and used for emphasis or style.

Why does the sentence use ludas futbalon instead of the single verb futbalas?

Both are possible in Esperanto:

ludi futbalon – to play soccer (literally “to play football”)
futbali – to play soccer (a verb built directly from futbalo)

The usual, neutral pattern for sports is ludi [sport]-on:

ludi tenison, ludi basketbalon, ludi naĝadon (less usual but possible), etc.

Verbs like futbali, tenisi, basketbali exist and are understood, but they are somewhat more colloquial or stylistic. The sentence chooses the very clear, standard ŝi ludas futbalon.

What does ĉiam modify here, and could it be in another position?

Ĉiam is an adverb meaning always, and here it modifies memoros:

ŝi ĉiam memoros sian unuan sporton – she will always remember…

Typical positions:

ŝi ĉiam memoros sian unuan sporton (most common)
ĉiam ŝi memoros sian unuan sporton (stronger emphasis on always)
ŝi memoros sian unuan sporton ĉiam (possible, but less usual; sounds a bit heavier)

All are grammatically correct; placing ĉiam right before the verb is the most neutral.

Why is there no la in sian unuan sporton?

In Esperanto you normally don’t use the definite article la together with a possessive pronoun:

ŝia sporto – her sport (already definite; you don’t say la ŝia sporto in normal usage)
lia unua domo – his first house
mia plej bona amiko – my best friend

So here:

sian unuan sporton = her own first sport (already definite by sian and unuan)

Adding la would be unusual and, in this structure, generally incorrect. The definiteness is clear without it.

Does Nun ŝi ludas futbalon mean “she plays soccer now” or “she is playing soccer now”?

It can mean either, depending on context. Esperanto’s present tense -as covers both English simple and progressive:

ŝi ludas futbalon can be “she plays soccer (as a regular activity)”
or “she is playing soccer (right now)”.

The adverb nun pushes the interpretation toward the “right now” reading, but the form ludas itself doesn’t distinguish between simple and progressive aspect. Context does the work.