Questions & Answers about La afableco de nia nova kelnerino estas tre grava por ni.
What does afableco mean, and how is it built?
Afableco is a derived noun.
- afabla = friendly, kind, affable
- -ec- = the quality or characteristic of being something
- -o = noun ending
So afableco means friendliness or affability.
This is a very common Esperanto pattern:
- bela → beleco = beauty
- grava → graveco = importance
- juna → juneco = youth
So when you see -ec-, think the quality of being ...
Why is there la at the beginning?
La is the Esperanto definite article, meaning the.
So La afableco... means the friendliness..., not just friendliness in general.
Esperanto has only one definite article:
- la viro = the man
- la virino = the woman
- la libroj = the books
It does not change for gender, number, or case.
In this sentence, la is used because the speaker is talking about a specific thing: the friendliness of a particular person, namely our new waitress.
What is de doing in afableco de nia nova kelnerino?