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<center>LESSON 7.</center> Confusion is apt to occur in English in the use of the words him, her, it, them; his, hers, its, their, e.g., "John loves his brother and his children." Whose children, John's or his brother's? "The boys brought to their fathers their hats." Whose hats, the boys' or their fathers'? "She gave her sister her book." Whose book? Her own or her sister's? This confusion is avoided in Esperanto by the use of, the pronoun si (sin), meaning himself, herself, itself, themselves, and sia, meaning his own, her own, its own, their own. Si (sin, sia) refers to the subject of the sentence in which it occurs; therefore in the sentence "John loves his brother and his son," it must be "Johano amas sian fraton kaj sian filon" if it is his own (John's) son, because John is the subject, but we must say "lian filon" if the brother's son is meant. "La knaboj alportis al siaj patroj siajn ĉapelojn" means "The boys brought to their fathers their own (the boys') hats," because "boys" is the subject, but if we mean "the fathers' hats" it must be "iliajn ĉapelojn." "She gave to her sister her book" must be "Ŝi donis al sia fratino sian libron" if it were her own book, but "Ŝi donis al sia fratino ŝian libron" if it were her sister's book. "Li diris al si..." means "He said to himself," but "Li diris al li" means that he said it to another person. "Si," "sia," can only refer to the subject, it cannot be the subject itself or any part of it; therefore we must say "Sinjoro P. kaj lia edzino tre amas miajn infanojn," because the subject is "Sinjoro P. kaj lia edzino." "Mem," self, is only used for emphasis, e.g., "Mi mem," my (own) self. <center> <table cellspacing="8"> <caption>Vocabulary.</caption> <tr> <td nowrap valign="top">gasto, guest. vespero, evening. manĝo, meal. pupo, doll. aventuro, adventure. palaco, palace. zorg-, take care of. gard-, guard. am-, love. akompan-, accompany. lav-, wash.</td> <td nowrap valign="top">montr-, show. fleg-, tend, take care of re-ven-, come back. pri, concerning, about. ĝis, until, as far as. tute, quite, wholly. tute ne, not at all. kun, with. el, out of. el-ir-, go out of.</td> </tr> </table> </center> Mi amas min mem, vi amas vin mem, li amas sin mem kaj ĉiu homo amas sin mem. Mi zorgas pri ŝi tiel, kiel mi zorgas pri mi mem, sed ŝi mem tute ne zorgas pri si, kaj tute sin ne gardas. Miaj fratoj havis hodiaŭ gastojn; post la vespermanĝo niaj fratoj eliris kun la gastoj el sia domo kaj akompanis ilin ĝis ilia domo. Mi lavis min en mia ĉambro, kaj ŝi lavis sin en sia ĉambro. La infano serĉis sian pupon; mi montris al la infano, kie kuŝas ĝia pupo. [Footnote: Notice the use of the present "kuŝas," lies, after the past "montris," showed, because at the time the action of "showing" took place the action of "lying" was then actually going on.] Ŝi rakontis al li sian aventuron. Ŝi revenis al la palaco de sia patro. Siajn florojn ŝi ne flegis. Mia frato diris al Stefano, ke li amas lin pli, ol sin mem. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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