Da De La Kaj Quantity Listo Box Fonto

Of (used instead of
de
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/de
with quantities, to emphasize the quantity rather than the thing quantified, or to indicate the unity of a shape and its material, a container and its contents, or a group and its members)
[1]
[2]
^
Sergio Pokrovskij (2007) , in Lingva Kritiko: Studoj kaj notoj pri la Internacia Lingvo
^
Reta vortaro

Pronunciation

• Audio

  ( file https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/File:Eo-da.ogg )

• IPA
  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:International_Phonetic_Alphabet
  (
  key
  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Esperanto_pronunciation
  ): /da/

Preposition

da

1. Of (used instead of
   de
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/de
   with quantities, to emphasize the quantity rather than the thing quantified, or to indicate the unity of a shape and its material, a container and its contents, or a group and its members)
   [1]
   [2]

   glaso da vino ― a glass of wine

   kilogramo da viando ― a kilogram of meat

   grupo da homoj ― a group of people

   kvar metroj da ĉi tiu ŝtofo kostas naŭ frankojn ― four meters of this cloth costs nine francs

   Li ligis la tri florojn en bukedon, kaj prezentis al ŝi tiun bukedon da floroj

   He tied the three flowers into a bouquet, and presented her with this bouquet of flowers

   Damasko [...] estos amaso da ruinaĵoj ― Damascus will be a mass of ruins

   tuto da kondiĉoj kaj cirkonstancoj, en kiuj iu troviĝas ― all of the conditions and circumstances in which we find ourselves

   sistemo da sonoj por la esprimado de pensoj ― a system of sounds for the expression of thought

Usage notes

Unlike most prepositions, da cannot occur after a verb. It necessarily links two nouns.

The article la does not occur after the preposition da, and this is often mistakenly understood to mean that the quantity introduced by da must be indefinite. However, there is no such restriction, any more than there is with possessive pronouns such as mia 'my', which also do not allow the article. Because of the unity of the two nouns linked by da, only the phrase can be modified by the article, so it must precede the first noun. See the fourth and fifth examples above.

Some Esperanto dictionaries substitute listo de and tuto de for listo da and tuto da. This is an error, an influence of Western languages which do not have an equivalent to da.

Compare these:

• listo da kandidatoj ― a list of candidates (list of names)
• listo da kondiĉoj de la kandidatoj ― a list of conditions from the candidates

-

• skatolo da ĉokolado ― a box of chocolates
  (a boxful of chocolate)
• skatolo de ĉokolado ― a chocolates box
  (the box itself, made for chocolates, but now perhaps used to store paper clips)
• skatolo el ĉokolado ― a box made of chocolate

-

• ho, se mia kapo havus sufiĉe da akvo kaj miaj okuloj estus fonto da larmoj! ― oh, if my head had enough water, and my eyes were a spring of tears!
• fonto de akvo ― a spring of water
  which indicates the kind of spring rather than the quantity of tears. Even dry eyes could be said to be fonto de larmoj 'a source of tears',, fonto da larmoj indicates that they are tear-filled eyes.

References