Breakdown of Mi havis ideon, do hodiaŭ mi elektas lerni en la biblioteko anstataŭ en mia ĉambro.
Questions & Answers about Mi havis ideon, do hodiaŭ mi elektas lerni en la biblioteko anstataŭ en mia ĉambro.
In Esperanto, -n marks the accusative case, usually the direct object of the verb.
- Mi havis ideon.
- mi = I (subject)
- havis = had (verb)
- ideon = idea (direct object → gets -n)
Without -n, ideo could be interpreted as a subject in some other role. With normal word order it would probably still be understood, but it would be grammatically wrong. So you always mark the direct object with -n:
- Mi vidas hundon. – I see a dog.
- Li skribas leteron. – He writes a letter.
The tenses show two different time frames:
- Mi havis ideon – I had an idea (earlier in time, at some point before now).
- do hodiaŭ mi elektas lerni… – so today I choose to study… (now, today).
The structure is:
- First, at some earlier moment: I had an idea.
- As a result, today I am choosing to do something differently.
If you said Mi elektis lerni…, it would mean you already made the choice in the past, not that you are making it today as a consequence of the idea.
do is a conjunction meaning roughly “so, therefore, thus”. It links a cause and its consequence.
- Mi havis ideon, do hodiaŭ mi elektas lerni…
→ I had an idea, *so today I choose to study…*
You typically use do:
- At the start of the clause it introduces:
- Mi estas laca, do mi iros hejmen. – I’m tired, so I’ll go home.
- Often after a comma, like in your sentence.
It doesn’t change word order, unlike English so sometimes does; it just joins the two clauses.
Word order in Esperanto is quite flexible, because roles are mostly shown by endings, not by position.
All of these are grammatical and natural:
- Hodiaŭ mi elektas lerni…
- Mi hodiaŭ elektas lerni…
- Mi elektas hodiaŭ lerni… (slightly different emphasis)
The version Hodiaŭ mi elektas… puts special emphasis on “today”:
- HODIAŬ mi elektas lerni en la biblioteko… (as opposed to other days).
So the order is not fixed, but here it’s chosen for emphasis and flow.
In Esperanto, you often use an infinitive after a verb like elekti (to choose):
- Mi elektas lerni en la biblioteko.
= I choose to study in the library.
Structure:
- elekti fari ion – to choose to do something
- Li elektis resti hejme. – He chose to stay home.
- Ni elektis vojaĝi trajne. – We chose to travel by train.
You do not need por here:
- Mi elektas lerni (correct, natural)
- Mi elektas por lerni (would sound like I choose in order to study, odd in this context)
So lerni is just the plain infinitive acting as the complement of elektas.
Two points here:
Possessive adjectives (mia, via, lia, ktp.) usually make a noun definite by themselves.
- mia ĉambro = my room → the room that belongs to me.
There’s usually no need for la: - mia ĉambro, via hundo, lia libro.
- mia ĉambro = my room → the room that belongs to me.
“la” before “biblioteko”:
- en la biblioteko = in the library (a particular, known library – maybe the one on campus or in town).
- If you said en biblioteko, it would mean in a library (any library).
So:
- en la biblioteko – in the (known) library.
- en mia ĉambro – in my room (already definite because of mia).
Yes, but the meaning shifts a bit.
anstataŭ en mia ĉambro
→ replaces the location phrase:
I will study in the library instead of (studying) in my room.anstataŭ mia ĉambro
→ literally instead of my room. This sounds like you’re replacing the room itself with the library, not just the place where you study. It’s understandable, but less natural in this context.
So:
- Best, most natural here: …lerni en la biblioteko anstataŭ en mia ĉambro.
anstataŭ is a preposition, and prepositions in Esperanto normally do not require -n.
You would say:
- Mi manĝis pomon anstataŭ pano. – I ate an apple instead of bread.
- Li iris labori anstataŭ resti hejme. – He went to work instead of staying home.
- Mi studas en la biblioteko anstataŭ en mia ĉambro.
You might see -n after anstataŭ only when someone is using accusative of direction with a separate preposition (e.g. al), but anstataŭ itself doesn’t “force” an -n.
The comma marks the boundary between two independent clauses:
- Mi havis ideon,
- do hodiaŭ mi elektas lerni en la biblioteko…
In Esperanto punctuation, it’s normal to put a comma:
- Before conjunctions that link full clauses (kaj, sed, ĉar, se, do, etc.) when it clarifies structure.
- Especially when the second part has its own subject and verb.
So the comma here is standard and helpful, but in very short sentences you might sometimes see do without a comma.
Both are grammatically correct, but the aspect/nuance differs:
hodiaŭ mi elektas lerni…
→ today I (now) choose to study… (the act of choosing is happening now, today).hodiaŭ mi elektos lerni…
→ today I will choose to study… (the choice will be made later today).
In your sentence, the idea is usually:
I had an idea; as a result, right now I’m choosing to study in the library today.
So the present tense elektas fits better.
Native-like Esperanto strongly prefers:
- Mi havis ideon. – I had an idea.
Phrases like veni al ideo are understandable but not idiomatic. The common ways are:
- Mi havis ideon.
- Ideo venis al mi.
- Subite al mi venis ideo.
So Mi havis ideon is the most straightforward and natural here.
Because ĉambro here is not a direct object; it’s part of a prepositional phrase:
- en mia ĉambro – in my room.
In Esperanto:
- Direct objects → take -n:
- Mi legas libron.
- Objects of prepositions → normally do not take -n:
- Mi legas en la ĉambro.
So ideon (object of havis) gets -n,
but ĉambro (object of en) does not.
Yes, several placements are possible and grammatical, with slight differences in emphasis:
- do hodiaŭ mi elektas lerni en la biblioteko… (neutral, very natural)
- do mi hodiaŭ elektas lerni en la biblioteko… (still quite neutral)
- do mi elektas hodiaŭ lerni en la biblioteko… (focus a bit more on today as the time of learning)
The key is: hodiaŭ is an adverb; adverbs are mobile in Esperanto. Just avoid splitting phrases in a confusing way. All of the above would be understood correctly.
hodiaŭ: HO-di-aŭ
- Stress on the second-to-last syllable: di.
- ŭ is a semi-vowel, like the w in English cow.
- So roughly: HO-dee-ow.
ĉambro: ĈAM-bro
- ĉ = ch in church.
- Stress on ĈAM.
- r is tapped or trilled (like in Spanish or Italian), not like English r.