ainurakne wrote:You can make nouns from all past participles (although some of them may not make much sense or be very natural):
olnud (active past participle of olema) -> olnu (what(who) has been)
tehtud (passive past participle of tegema) -> tehtu (what has been done)
Thanks! I have seen some of those words (olnu, etc) but didn't realize that it was something that could be done with any past participle.
ainurakne wrote:This järgima seems weird here.Linguaphile wrote:I've seen the proverb translated this way in various places on the web: "Õppimine on aare, mis järgib oma omanikku kõikjal."
I checked it from EKSS and it can indeed be used in that sense (although this usage is rare), but then the object should still be in allative case, it seems.
So is this one okay then:
Õpitu on aare, mis järgneb oma omanikule kõikjal
ainurakne wrote:When the object is partitive, then järgima has a bit different meaning. I'm not sure how to exactly and simply translate it into English, but it is used for to follow an example / someone's lead / rules, to conform to ..., to abide by ..., to comply with ..., etc.
Ahaa! I had wondered why järgima was sometimes followed by allative and sometimes by partitive.
ainurakne wrote:Also, õppimine is the name of an action. How can an action be a treasure?
The phrase comes from a Chinese proverb and it means either (a) the result of learning is that we get something valuable that we always have with us and/or (b) the process of learning gives us something valuable that we always have with us. I think that the original proverb means the process of learning/studying, but in English it's ambiguous and I don't speak Chinese.
Õpitu focuses on the result rather than the action - (a) rather than (b) - but I think it makes sense.....
The English translation is pretty well-known (like a proverb of our own) and it sounds cute because it makes me think of a puppy going everywhere with its owner - very loyal, always right there whenever you need it.
Anyway, I'm a teacher and I like the way the quote says that learning is valuable and something you can use anywhere, anytime - you can't lose it and it can't be stolen from you by someone else. Once you learn something, that knowledge is valuable and it is yours forever. To me that's what the proverb means.