Correlative Interrogatives
Esperanto has a series of words which can be arranged in a table according to how they start and end which are often called correlatives. The column of words which begin with ki- can be used to ask questions which cannot be answered by yes or no. These correspond to wh-questions in English. These words are:
- kiu - who or which
- kio - what
- kia - what kind of
- kie - where
- kiam - when
- kies - whose
- kiel - how
- kial - why
- kiom - how much or how many
These words are inflected according to the role they play in the clause (for the words which take an inflection), and moved to the beginning of the clause. For example, Kion vi faras? - What are you doing? Kiu has the usual dual function of adjectives: standing alone as proform, or modifying a noun, as in "Kiu tago?" (which day?). Tio is exclusively used standing alone. As with yes–no questions, there is no inversion of subject and verb, and the sentence is generally ended with a rising intonation in the spoken language.
Read more about this topic: Interrogatives In Esperanto
Famous quotes containing the word correlative:
“I conceive that the leading characteristic of the nineteenth century has been the rapid growth of the scientific spirit, the consequent application of scientific methods of investigation to all the problems with which the human mind is occupied, and the correlative rejection of traditional beliefs which have proved their incompetence to bear such investigation.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)