A question about Esperanto..

Hi,

Since a few weeks I am studying Esperanto and I really like the language.

Now I got a difficulty that I found on the net, is it true that the wordorder doesn't matter in a sentence?

For example: The man bites a big dog:

La viro mordas grandan hundon
La viro mordas hundon grandan
La viro grandan hundon mordas
Mordas la viro grandan hundon
Grandan hundon mordas la viro
Hundon grandan mordas la viro

The first one is correct, but is it true you can say it otherwise too?



CC: goncin Borges stevo

Nathan,

Yes, all those sentences are correct Esperanto. The termination "-n" indicates the verbal complement, so the subject and the predicate are always distinct from one another.

Although word order isn't important for the sense in Esperanto, the most common structure is SVO (subject-verb-object), and further word inversions have more to do with poetry.

Thanks!

is "Hundon grandan mordas la viro "　= "a big dog eats a man"?

No, pluiepoco: "The man bites a big dog". For the big dog to bite the man, it must be "Granda hundo mordas la viron", in any word order.