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I am having trouble translating this line "What the world needs now is love, sweet love"

Here's my attempt:

Kio la mondo bezonas nun estas amo, dolĉa amo

I would appreciate an explanation for any corrections.

Dankon :)

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I think your translation sounds nice, but you need to put the accusative marker on kio:

Kion la mondo bezonas nun, estas amo, dolĉa amo

Some people may argue that you also need to add tio. The kion introduces a subphrase which references something in the main phrase. Usually when the two things have a different role in the main phrase and the subphrase (in this case, one is the subject and the other is the object), you need to add the tio that is being referenced to make this clear. Then it would be like this:

Tio, kion la mondo bezonas nun, estas amo, dolĉa amo

However I think this isn’t really necessary and it’s a bit pedantic. PMEG has some similar examples where the tio is left out.

So I would recommend the version without tio because it sounds less heavy.

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  • I know comma rules aren't as well-defined in Esperanto as in some other languages, but I strongly feel like the subclause "kion la mondo bezonas nun" should be wrapped with commas: "Kion la mondo bezonas nun, estas amo, dolĉa amo." or "Tio, kion la mondo bezonas nun, estas amo, dolĉa amo."
    – das-g ♦
    Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 23:36
  • @das-g Yes, I agree. I’ve edited the response. Thanks
    – Neil Roberts
    Commented Feb 14, 2020 at 7:05

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