Breakdown of Kiam la supo estas tro varma, mi atendas kelkajn minutojn antaŭ ol mi manĝas ĝin.
mi
I
esti
to be
manĝi
to eat
la
the
Questions & Answers about Kiam la supo estas tro varma, mi atendas kelkajn minutojn antaŭ ol mi manĝas ĝin.
Why does the sentence start with Kiam?
Kiam means when. It introduces a time clause:
Kiam la supo estas tro varma = When the soup is too hot
In Esperanto, this kind of subordinate clause works very much like English when-clauses.
Why is it la supo and not just supo?
La is the definite article, so la supo means the soup.
It is used because the speaker is talking about a specific soup in the situation, not soup in general. Esperanto has la, but it does not have an indefinite article like English a/an.
So:
- supo = soup, soup in general
- la supo = the soup, a specific soup
Why is it varma and not varme?
Because varma is an adjective describing supo.
In Esperanto:
- -a = adjective
- -e = adverb
So:
- varma supo = hot soup
- la supo estas varma = the soup is hot
- varme would mean hotly/warmly, which describes how something is done, not what the soup is like
Here the soup has the quality of being hot, so varma is correct.
What is the difference between and ?