Breakdown of Mia amiko preskaŭ forgesis la daton de la festo, sed li tamen alportas donacon.
Questions & Answers about Mia amiko preskaŭ forgesis la daton de la festo, sed li tamen alportas donacon.
Forgesis is past tense because the forgetting (or almost-forgetting) happened before the time of speaking.
Alportas is present tense, but here it has a near‑future / planned action meaning, similar to English “is bringing / will bring”. In Esperanto the present tense is often used for scheduled or clearly intended future actions.
You could change the meaning slightly by changing the tense:
- … sed li tamen alportos donacon. – more explicitly “but he will (in the future) bring a present anyway.”
- … sed li tamen alportis donacon. – “but he brought a present anyway.” → now the whole sentence is fully in the past.
The original mixes a past situation (he almost forgot) with a current plan (he is going to bring a gift anyway), which is natural in Esperanto.
The ‑n ending marks the accusative case, usually the direct object of the verb.
- forgesi ion – to forget something
- la daton is what he almost forgot → direct object
- alporti ion – to bring something
- donacon is what he is bringing → direct object
So:
- la dato = the date (no grammatical role specified yet)
- la daton = the date as a direct object (the thing forgotten)
- donaco = a gift / present
- donacon = a gift as a direct object (the thing brought)
Leaving off ‑n here would be grammatically wrong.
No. In standard Esperanto you must keep the ‑n on direct objects, even if word order changes.
For example, all of these are correct and mean the same:
- Mia amiko preskaŭ forgesis la daton de la festo.
- Mia amiko la daton de la festo preskaŭ forgesis.
- La daton de la festo mia amiko preskaŭ forgesis.
In every case, daton keeps ‑n, because it is still the direct object of forgesi. Word order is flexible because the endings show the roles.
- sed = but / however (a basic contrast conjunction)
- tamen = nevertheless / still / anyway (adds emphasis to the contrast)
In the sentence:
… sed li tamen alportas donacon.
Sed introduces the contrast, and tamen strengthens the idea that despite almost forgetting, he still brings a present.
You can say just one of them:
- … sed li alportas donacon. – “but he brings a present”
- … tamen li alportas donacon. – “nevertheless he brings a present”
Using both is very natural and adds a bit more emotional contrast, similar to English “but he still brings a present anyway.”
Preskaŭ means almost / nearly. Here it modifies the verb:
Mia amiko preskaŭ forgesis la daton…
→ He almost forgot the date…
That is, he did not actually forget; he came close to forgetting.
The position matters:
- preskaŭ forgesis la daton = he almost forgot the date (correct meaning here).
- forgesis preskaŭ la daton would sound like “forgot almost the date”, which is odd and unclear in Esperanto.
So the normal place is right before the word it modifies, here the verb forgesis.
- porti = to carry (with no direction implied)
- alporti = to bring (carry towards someone or some place)
The prefix al‑ indicates movement toward a destination (related to the preposition al = to / towards).
So:
- Li portas donacon. – He is carrying a present (perhaps in his hands somewhere).
- Li alportas donacon. – He is bringing a present (bringing it to the party, to someone, etc.).
In this context, alportas is the natural verb for “bring (to the party)”.
The phrase la dato de la festo literally means “the date of the party”.
- de = of / from, and is used for:
- possession or belonging: la libro de mia amiko – the book of my friend
- relationships like name of X, date of X, color of X, etc.
Other prepositions would change the meaning:
- pri la festo – about the party (topic: “We talked about the party.”)
- por la festo – for the party (purpose: “I bought drinks for the party.”)
Here we just want the standard “the date of the party”, so de is the right choice.
No, not in normal Esperanto. Subject pronouns are not usually dropped.
Esperanto is not like Spanish or Italian, where you can often leave out I / you / he because the verb ending shows the subject. In Esperanto you normally must say:
- … sed li tamen alportas donacon.
You can sometimes omit a repeated subject in very short, parallel clauses, but in standard, clear style you keep the pronoun li here.
Mia is a possessive adjective meaning my.
- The ending ‑a marks adjectives in Esperanto.
- amiko – friend
- mia amiko – my friend
- bona amiko – a good friend
With possessive adjectives (mia, via, lia, ŝia, nia, ilia), you normally do not use the article la:
- mia amiko – my friend (not la mia amiko)
- lia domo – his house
So mia amiko is exactly “my friend”, with mia as an adjective modifying amiko.
Festo is a general word for a festive event. Its exact nuance depends on context:
- Often it does mean a party, especially a social gathering, birthday party, etc.
- It can also mean festival / celebration / feast day, especially in religious or public‑holiday contexts:
- Kristnaska festo – Christmas celebration
- ŝtata festo – state holiday
In this everyday sentence with donaco and dato, festo is most naturally understood as a party.