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A: "You have such a cute monad!"
B: "What monad?"

One's first instinct may be to translate the latter phrase as "Kiu monado?". However, how would one distinguish between the following two meanings thereof?

"What monad?" (I have a pet monad?)
"Which monad?" (out of my many monads)

My guess is that it is still "kiu", as "Kio monado?" sounds kind of off, but then how would one disambiguate between the two nuances? Context?

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3 Answers 3

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"You have such a cute dog!"
Vi havas beletan hundon!

If you are suprised, say because you only have cats, then you could say:

What dog?
Ĉu hundon?

(it is a bit what you looked for when you mentioned kio hundo?)

Maybe you have many dogs and you'd like to know which one is the cute one, then:

Which dog?
Kiun hundon?

You will be understood if you ask:

Kiu hundo?

But it doesn't feel right, not to mirror the -n ending in the question if you don't make it a full sentence.

For example, this could be a dialog:

- Vi havas ion moviĝantan sur la kapo!!
- Kion?

or

- Atentu! Vi havas beston ĉedorse!
- Neee, kiun beston?

If the question does not use -n then you would answer without it (if you are not rephrasing it):

- Estas io inter viaj dentoj...
- Kio? Ĉu laktuko?

See this part of a play by Zamenhof (La rabistoj):

Maljuna Moor. –
   Kompaton! ... en la nuna minuto
   oni juĝas mian infanon!

Rabisto Moor, ektimigite. –
   Kiun infanon?
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  • I think your "Kio? Ĉu <io>?" example makes the most sense to me. However, I am still curious about that "Kia <io>?" in the other answer. If that is also valid, how often is that one used?
    – Mona the Monad
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 19:10
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    I don't think it is valid. The answer to kia(n) is an adjective. The other person just said "beleta" so asking for an adjective again, doesn't make a lot of sense, you could get "beleta" again. Vi havas verdan jakon! / Kian? / Verdan. In this dialog you would do that (ask kia(n)) only if you didn't understand the adjective because there was a sudden noise for example.
    – Eduardo Trápani
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 19:23
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What monad? (I have a pet monad?)

What kind of monad? (I have a pet monad?)

Kia monado?

And

Which monad? (out of my many monads)

Kiu monado?

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2
  • If the other person said "you have a cute whatever!", then I don't see how you could ever answer with "what kind of whatever"?
    – Eduardo Trápani
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 18:07
  • @EduardoTrápani Maybe kiuspeca or kia does not sufficiently debate the object; I am not entirely convinced it does not. Prio kio vi parolas? would be an answer. Ĉu seems usable too.
    – Joop Eggen ♦
    Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 8:01
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I can imagine a following conversation

- Mi havas monadon kiel dotlotbeston.

- Kio? Kio estas monado?

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7
  • In my case, however, both speakers do know what a monad is, but if B does not own a monad, what would B say? I still think it is something like "Kiu monado?", but then immediately say "Ĉu mi havas monadon?", for context.
    – Mona the Monad
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 23:59
  • Bonvolu, monado jam signifas ion kaj aliaj povus emi analizi ĝin surbaze de mon-. Viaj demandoj bonas, sed tiu vortelekto povus igi ilin nebezonate malpli profiteblaj por aliaj. Ĉu eblus uzi alian radikon?
    – Eduardo Trápani
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 17:31
  • Bonvolu, mi havas monadon kiel dorlotbesto-N. Jen klarigoj.
    – Eduardo Trápani
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 19:05
  • @EduardoTrápani, mi legis kaj legis Pomegon kaj ŝajnas, ke vi pravas. "Kiel" estas unu el la plej superŝarĝitaj vortoj en la espa, kaj ĉi tial de tempo al tempo al mi malfacile kompreni. Mi esperas, ke estus iu klara rolmontrilo ekz. por translativo. Tiu povus esti "ĝis", kiuj jam havas similan signifon kun tempo.
    – Juha Metsäkallas
    Commented Jan 9, 2020 at 9:12
  • @JuhaMetsäkallas mi neniam estis aŭdinta pri tiu kazo. Vi povus komenci novan demandon pri tio, kiel uzi translativon en la esperanta. Aspektas interese!
    – Eduardo Trápani
    Commented Jan 9, 2020 at 14:24

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