Breakdown of La ombrelo, kiun mia amikino forgesis, ankoraŭ estas apud la pordo.
esti
to be
la
the
ankoraŭ
still
mia
my
Questions & Answers about La ombrelo, kiun mia amikino forgesis, ankoraŭ estas apud la pordo.
Why is it kiun and not kiu?
Because kiun is the accusative form of kiu.
In this sentence, kiun refers back to la ombrelo and is the object of forgesis (forgot). Your friend forgot the umbrella, so the relative pronoun must take -n.
A useful way to see it is:
- mia amikino forgesis la ombrelon = my friend forgot the umbrella
- when la ombrelon is replaced by a relative word, it becomes kiun
So:
- La ombrelo, kiun mia amikino forgesis...
- literally: The umbrella, which my friend forgot...
Why doesn’t ombrelo have -n if it is the thing that was forgotten?
Because in the main clause, la ombrelo is the subject of estas.
The full sentence has two parts:
- main clause: La ombrelo ... ankoraŭ estas apud la pordo
- relative clause: kiun mia amikino forgesis
Inside the relative clause, the umbrella is the object, so the pronoun becomes kiun. But in the main clause, la ombrelo is the subject, so it stays without -n.
So the same thing has different roles in different clauses:
- in the relative clause: object → kiun
- in the main clause: subject → la ombrelo
What exactly does kiun mia amikino forgesis do in the sentence?