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A2 Esperanto luisteroefening · Esperanto (kunsttaal) · Geschikt voor beginners
What’s the difference between “pluvi” and “plori” in Esperanto?
John’s own funny mix-up: he confuses pluvi (“to rain”) with plori (“to cry”). He explains it himself — instead of the plain, subject-free pluvas (“it’s raining,” Esperanto’s ordinary impersonal verb), he jokes that you could say la ĉielo ploras, “the sky is crying.” The two verbs share three of their five letters and the same -as present-tense ending, which is exactly why a beginner’s ear swaps them mid-thought.
He carries the joke one step further, folding in a third confusable: “se la pluvo pluvas, mi ploras, ĉar mi malsekiĝas” — “if the rain rains, I cry, because I get wet.” Malsekiĝi, “to get wet,” is itself built from mal- (opposite) + seka (dry) + -iĝi (become) — so even the punchline is made of pieces you can take apart.