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I want to say "use your common sense" in Esperanto. How can I translate this to Esperanto? I found "sana prudento" in Reta Vortaro, so can I just say "uzu vian sanan prudenton?

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I like komuna saĝo: komuna saĝo diras al ni, ke […]

PS: I found the following in the dictionary:

ReVo - komuna saĝo: prudento, kapablo por juĝi ordinarajn situaciojn, saĝo (2).

ReVo - saĝo (2): prudento.

ReVo - prudento (1): kapablo trafe juĝi pri la aferoj de la praktika vivo.

ReVo - komuna (2) ➞ la komuna saĝo (kapablo distingi veron de malvero, almenaŭ tiom, kiom povas ĉiu ajn normala homo).

PIV - komuna (2) ➞ la komuna saĝo (kapablo distingi pravon de malpravo, almenaŭ tiom, kiom povas ĉiu ajn normala homo).

Thus, according to ReVo komuna saĝo and prudento are synonymous. A possible translation for use your common sense could be: uzu la / vian prudenton or uzu la / vian komunan saĝon.

Here is a quotation (page 32) from the English version of the book One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel García Márquez:

Úrsula fought to preserve common sense in that extravagant house

Here is the same quotation (page 59) from Cent jaroj da soleco, translated by Fernando de Diego, one of the most important translators to Esperanto:

En tiu ekstravaganca domo, Úrsula klopodis konservi la komunan saĝon

Here is the original in Spanish:

En aquella casa extravagante, Úrsula pugnaba por preservar el sentido común

Here is the definition of ekstravaganca in PIV and ReVo:

(io) Kontraŭa al la komuna saĝo, sensence stranga.

You need to know the hierarchy of importance in order to appreciate the accuracy of that translation:

God ➞ Zamenhof ➞ Fernando de Diego :p

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  • If you ever find out what's hiding there in the dot-dot-dot, let us know. This is apparently a Zamehofa expression, but I can't find it in context. It could just as easily be "conventional wisdom." There are no appearances of "komuna saĝo" in the Tekstaro to get a sense for how this is actually used.
    – Tomaso Alexander
    Commented Nov 7, 2016 at 1:11
  • I found 9 instances of "komuna saĝo" meaning "common sense" in the Spanish dictionary of Fernando de Diego, under sentido común. Although the author gives no source, common sense tells me he is right.
    – Vidamuzo
    Commented Nov 7, 2016 at 11:59
  • I'm specifically asking for examples of this phrase used in Esperanto and in the wild. So far, I have only been able to find it in dictionaries.
    – Tomaso Alexander
    Commented Nov 7, 2016 at 12:37
  • This is an example of how "komuna saĝo" is actually used by a well known Esperantist author, namely Liven Dek. Here is a translation from English "Common sense dictates a cleaning out of the source of the disease" to Esperanto "La simpla komuna saĝo postulas do la purigadon de la fontoj de la malsano". I think both Liven Dek and Le Monde diplomatique are trustworthy sources of good Esperanto usage.
    – Vidamuzo
    Commented Nov 7, 2016 at 18:42
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Just prudento would be fine. You could also go with havu la bonan sencon X-i.

There are examples of usage here

http://vortaro.net/#prudento

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  • For those who want to use this answer. I think you can not always translate "common sense" with "prudento". Common sense can mean a knowledge that is commonly shared and consideredd obvious. This has no relation to being prudent. Like the difference between "bon sens" and "prudence" in French.
    – Vanege
    Commented Nov 6, 2016 at 22:42
  • I believe you're mixing up common sense with common knowledge. Merriam-Webster defines common sense as "the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions". This matches the definition in PIV. Prudento is the translation given in both Benson and Wells.
    – Tomaso Alexander
    Commented Nov 7, 2016 at 1:02
  • The English common sense is a bit of disambiguation of sense and prudento is just fine. Common sense (ab)used as common knowledge, would be something like intuicio.
    – Joop Eggen ♦
    Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 12:05

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