Prenu kiun ajn kuleron vi volas, sed uzu tiun pladon por la fromaĝo.

Take whichever spoon you want, but use that plate for the cheese.

Breakdown of Prenu kiun ajn kuleron vi volas, sed uzu tiun pladon por la fromaĝo.

• vi: you
• la: the
• por: for
• voli: to want

Questions & Answers about Prenu kiun ajn kuleron vi volas, sed uzu tiun pladon por la fromaĝo.

Why do prenu and uzu end in -u?

The ending -u is the Esperanto volitive ending. It is used for commands, requests, suggestions, and similar ideas.

So:

• preni = to take
• prenu = take
• uzi = to use
• uzu = use

In this sentence, the speaker is giving instructions, so -u is exactly the right form.

What does kiun ajn mean here?

Ajn adds the idea of any / whichever / no matter which.

So kiun ajn means something like whichever or any one that.

In this sentence, Prenu kiun ajn kuleron vi volas means that the listener may choose freely among the available spoons. The exact identity of the spoon does not matter.

Why is it kiun ajn kuleron, not kian ajn kuleron?

This is a very common question.

• kiu asks about identity: which one?
• kia asks about quality or type: what kind of?

Here the idea is take whichever spoon you want, meaning choose any individual spoon. That is a question of identity, not type, so kiu is correct.

If you said kian ajn kuleron, it would sound more like any kind of spoon, focusing on type rather than on choosing one specific spoon from several.