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Lesson 3 Correlatives (table of words)

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Lesson 3 Correlatives (table of words)

These are tables of what we call the “Correlatives”. It's an exceptionally simple way to learn a whole set of very important words. The way to create any of the words is to take one of the 5 beginnings, shown at the top of each column, in blue. Then add that to one of the endings, shown in the rows at the right, in red. Please note that each of these words has the letter "I" in the middle (or beginning) of the word.

ĉi [cxi]- Universal every	ki- Question what	i- Indefinite some	neni- Negative no	ti- Specific that
ĉia[jn] [cxia[jn]] all / every kind[s]	kia[jn] what kind[s]	ia[jn] some kind[s]	nenia[jn] no kind[s] of	tia[jn] that kind[s] / such	-a Kind (adjective)
ĉial [cxial] for every reason	kial why	ial for some reason	nenial for no reason	tial so / for that reason	-al Reason
ĉiam [cxiam] always	kiam when	iam sometime	neniam never	tiam then	-am Time
ĉie [cxie] everywhere	kie where	ie somewhere	nenie nowhere	tie there	-e Place
ĉiel [cxiel] in all ways	kiel how	iel somehow	neniel in no way	tiel that way / so	-el Way, Manner
ĉies [cxies] everyone's	kies whose	ies someone's	nenies noone's / nobody's	ties that one's	-es Posession
ĉio[jn] [cxio[jn]] everything[s]	kio[jn] what (thing[s])	io[jn] something[s]	nenio[jn] nothing[s]	tio[jn] that (thing[s])	-o Thing (noun)
ĉiom [cxiom] every bit of it / all	kiom how much	iom some quantity / somewhat	neniom none / no amount	tiom that much	-om Quantity
ĉiu[jn] [cxiu[jn]] everyone[s]	kiu[jn] who / which [whom]	iu[jn] someone / some / anyone[s]	neniu[jn] nobody / none[s]	tiu[jn] that one[s]	-u Person / Selection

Another way of looking at it is to choose one from the first column below. Then the -i- is always in the middle. Finally, choose one from the last column. That way any of the correlatives can be created. In effect,, you only need to learn 5 beginnings and 9 endings to learn 45 of the most common words in any language, in a simple compact system.

		-a (kind)
		-al (reason)
(every) ĉ- [cx-]		-am (time)
(what) k-		-e (place)
(some)	-i-	-el (way)
(no) nen-		-es (one's)
(that) t-		-o (thing)
		-om (amount)
		-u (one)

Ĉi [Cxi] is another word that goes with the above words. It is often confused with one of the "Ĉi-" ["Cxi-"] words, but it is not part of that system at all. Simply, "ĉi" ["cxi"] is a word that stands alone as a "proximity" marker. It makes "that" into "this". So: "tio" means "that (thing)", "ĉi [cxi] tio" means "this (thing)"; "tie" means "there", "ĉi [cxi] tie" means "here"; etc.

Ajn is the last word that is almost always connected with the correlatives. "Ajn" means "-ever" or "- at all". So, for example, "kio ajn" means "whatever", and "nenie ajn" means "nowhere at all", etc.

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