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I am trying to translate 'You must leave room for nature' and I am not sure how to translate the word 'room' in this context.

So far I have considered:

  1. Vi devas lasi ĉambron por naturo. (google's choice for 'room', but feels just wrong, and probably is wrong since it refers to a physical place)
  2. Vi devas lasi spacon por naturo. (which feels okay, but I can't really say why, and vortaro confuses me a bit)
  3. Vi devas lasi lokon por naturo. (which feels wrong again. Is loko about a specific place/location?)

Other words I have considered and dismissed are areo, tereno.

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  • Malgranda gramatika korekto: …devas lasi…, ne lasu. Kaj ankaŭ, vi forgesis la akuzativon.
    – Lyubomir Vasilev
    Oct 31, 2016 at 13:30
  • So based on a comment on my answer, I need to ask: are we talking about making sure that nature has room to function, or are we talking about setting aside a literal space for nature as in - the house goes here, and we're going to leave an acre for nature over here?
    – Tomaso Alexander
    Nov 1, 2016 at 15:37
  • Yes, the first, making sure nature has room to function whatever that function may be. I'm struggling to make that more clear in the question.
    – gerbnl
    Nov 1, 2016 at 15:41

2 Answers 2

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In English, the three nouns correspond to:

  • ĉambro — a room (in a building)

  • spaco — space, a space

  • loko — a place, a position

So I think lasi spacon is closest to the meaning of leave room (without an article). Lasi lokon is fine but closer to leave a place for... (i.e. arrange for a specific location to be unoccupied for someone else's use). To leave a room/place (to go away) is forlasi ĉambron/lokon.

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Lokon or spacon is fine.

Note that it's devas lasi. Not devas lasu. (Edit: I see that has been corrected in the meanwhile.)

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  • Dankon, since loko is a place and my 'nature' refers to the concept, not a specific natural process or phenomenon, I'm tending to go for spaco...
    – gerbnl
    Nov 1, 2016 at 15:33

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