Mi preferas lui tutan dometon, sed mia amikino volas nur ĉambron ĉe la strando.

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Breakdown of Mi preferas lui tutan dometon, sed mia amikino volas nur ĉambron ĉe la strando.

• la: the
• ĉe: at
• voli: to want

Questions & Answers about Mi preferas lui tutan dometon, sed mia amikino volas nur ĉambron ĉe la strando.

Why do preferas and volas end in -as?

In Esperanto, -as marks the present tense.

• preferas = prefer
• volas = want

So:

• Mi preferas = I prefer
• mia amikino volas = my female friend wants

This is one of the basic verb endings in Esperanto:

• -as = present
• -is = past
• -os = future
• -us = conditional
• -u = command / jussive
• -i = infinitive

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Why is lui in the infinitive form instead of something like luas?

Because after verbs like preferi (to prefer) and voli (to want), Esperanto usually uses an infinitive for the second verb.

So:

• Mi preferas lui... = I prefer to rent...
• Mia amikino volas... could also be followed by an infinitive in other sentences, for example volas resti = wants to stay

Here:

• preferas is the main conjugated verb
• lui is the infinitive, meaning to rent

Using luas would mean rent/is renting, which would create a different structure.

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What exactly does lui mean?