Breakdown of Foje la retejo ne funkcias, do ŝi sendas al mi retpoŝton pri la novaĵoj.
Questions & Answers about Foje la retejo ne funkcias, do ŝi sendas al mi retpoŝton pri la novaĵoj.
Foje by itself normally means “sometimes / at times” in everyday Esperanto, just like kelkfoje.
- Foje la retejo ne funkcias = Sometimes the website doesn’t work.
- Kelkfoje la retejo ne funkcias = essentially the same: Sometimes / occasionally the website doesn’t work.
Context decides whether foje means “once” or “sometimes”:
- Foje mi vizitis Parizon. – Once I visited Paris. (one specific time)
- Foje mi vizitas Parizon. – would be understood as “sometimes I visit Paris” (habitual).
In your sentence, because the verb is in the present and describes a repeated situation, foje clearly means sometimes.
The la marks that we are talking about a specific website, known from context, not just any website.
- La retejo ne funkcias. – The website doesn’t work. (the one we both know about)
- Retejo ne funkcias. – grammatically possible, but would sound like “A website doesn’t work” or “(Some) website doesn’t work”, which is odd without more context.
In Esperanto, you use la in most of the cases where English uses the.
The verb funkcii means “to function, to work (in the sense of operating correctly)”.
- La retejo ne funkcias. – The website doesn’t work / isn’t functioning.
By contrast, labori means “to work” as in “do labor / have a job.”
- Ŝi laboras en banko. – She works in a bank.
So for machines, systems, devices, and websites, you normally use funkcii:
- La telefono ne funkcias. – The phone doesn’t work.
- La komputilo ne funkcias ĝuste. – The computer doesn’t function correctly.
Saying la retejo ne laboras sounds wrong, like “the website has a job and isn’t doing it.”
Do is a conjunction meaning something like “so, therefore, then (in that case)”. It connects two clauses where the second follows logically from the first.
- Foje la retejo ne funkcias, do ŝi sendas al mi retpoŝton.
– Sometimes the website doesn’t work, so she sends me an email.
Tial is an adverb meaning “for that reason / because of that.” It usually doesn’t join two clauses directly; it acts more like a sentence adverb:
- Foje la retejo ne funkcias. Tial ŝi sendas al mi retpoŝton.
– Sometimes the website doesn’t work. For that reason she sends me an email.
In many situations, you could choose either do (single sentence) or tial (often starting a new sentence) to express the same logical connection.
You need al to mark the indirect object (the recipient) of the verb sendi.
- ŝi sendas al mi retpoŝton
– ŝi = subject (she)
– retpoŝton = direct object, what she sends (an email)
– al mi = indirect object, to whom she sends it (to me)
Saying ŝi sendas min retpoŝton would mean “she sends me as an email”, because min (with -n) would be interpreted as the direct object, not the recipient.
Correct patterns:
- ŝi sendas al mi retpoŝton – she sends me an email
- ŝi sendas retpoŝton al mi – same meaning, different word order
The al is important to show the “to someone” meaning.
Esperanto word order is fairly flexible. All these are grammatical and mean the same thing in neutral context:
- Ŝi sendas al mi retpoŝton.
- Ŝi sendas retpoŝton al mi.
- Al mi ŝi sendas retpoŝton. (emphasizes to me)
The basic pattern subject – verb – (indirect object) – (direct object) is very common and sounds natural, but you can move parts for emphasis or style, because:
- al mi is clearly a prepositional phrase (recipient), and
- retpoŝton has -n, so it is clearly the direct object.
For a learner, sticking to Ŝi sendas al mi retpoŝton or Ŝi sendas retpoŝton al mi is a good, clear habit.
Retpoŝton is the accusative singular form of retpoŝto.
Breakdown:
- ret- = network, web (from reto)
- poŝt- = mail, post
- -o = noun ending
- -n = accusative ending (direct object)
So retpoŝto = email, and retpoŝton is email as a direct object:
- Ŝi sendas retpoŝton. – She sends an email.
Accusative -n is used here simply because retpoŝton is what is being sent (direct object of sendas).
You might also see retmesaĝo (email message), but retpoŝto is very common.
The preposition pri means “about, concerning, regarding.”
- retpoŝton pri la novaĵoj = an email about the news
Other examples:
- libro pri historio – a book about history
- paroli pri vi – to talk about you
- demandi pri la horaro – to ask about the schedule
So pri la novaĵoj tells us the topic of the email.
Novaĵo means “a piece of news, a new thing, a novelty.”
Novaĵoj is the plural: “pieces of news / news items / news.”
In English, news is grammatically uncountable, but in Esperanto it’s usually treated as countable things in plural:
- Mi havas bonajn novaĵojn. – I have good news.
- Ĉu estas novaj novaĵoj? – Is there any new news?
In your sentence:
- pri la novaĵoj = about the news
There is no -n (accusative) on novaĵoj because it is the object of a preposition (pri), and in normal usage, prepositions do not require the accusative:
- pri la novaĵoj – about the news
- kun la amikoj – with the friends
- sen mono – without money
So:
- plural -j is needed: many items of news
- no -n is used, because it follows pri
Esperanto’s present tense (-as) covers both ongoing and habitual actions, like English present simple. Context decides which is meant.
Here, Foje la retejo ne funkcias, do ŝi sendas al mi retpoŝton pri la novaĵoj clearly describes a repeated, habitual situation:
- Sometimes the website doesn’t work, so (in those cases) she sends me an email about the news.
Other examples:
- Mi trinkas kafon ĉiumatene. – I drink coffee every morning. (habit)
- Nun mi trinkas kafon. – I am drinking coffee now. (ongoing; context or adverbs like nun make it clear)
So here, -as = habitual present.