Duolingo Esperanto Grammar Notes

Tips and notes

Grammar notes will be more helpful once you have a context for understanding them, so if you find you're having trouble with the lessons, these notes should be more helpful to you.
Some simple Esperanto rules

    Each letter has a unique and separate sound. For example: longa is pronounced "lon-ga". Both k and n are pronounced in knabo.

    The emphasis in every word is always on the next-to-last syllable. For example: all 2-syllable words have the emphasis on the first syllable, as in viro, and all 3-syllable words have the emphasis on the middle syllable, as in knabino.

    All present tense verbs end in -as, so there are no verb conjugations. Examples: estas, laboras. Yay!

    All singular nouns, such as knabo and virino, end in -o. This includes names of cities and countries, such as Francio (France).

    The definite article ("the" in English) is la in Esperanto. For example: la viro = the man.

    Indefinite articles ("a" and "an" in English) are not used in Esperanto. For example: viro = a man.

    -in is the feminine suffix: viro = man, virino = woman; knabo = boy, knabino = girl. Remember that all singular nouns end in -o, so the full suffix is -ino.

Esperanto alphabet

The Esperanto alphabet has 28 letters. They include all the letters of the English alphabet, except for Q, W, X and Y. A few letters have accent marks.

If you are spelling an Esperanto word out loud, the name of each consonant is the sound that letter makes, followed by -o: B = bo, S = so etc. The name of each vowel is the sound that letter makes.
Here are English equivalents for each vowel:
Esperanto 	English equivalent
a 	ah
e 	eh
i 	ee
o 	oh
u 	oo
The letters C and J
Esperanto 	English equivalent 	Esperanto example
c 	ts (as in pets) 	laca
j 	y (as in yet ) 	kaj
Here are three of the accented letters:
Esperanto 	English equivalent 	Esperanto example
ĉ 	ch (as in chair) 	ĉu
ĝ 	g (as in large) 	ĝi
ŝ 	sh (as in shoe) 	ŝi
Esperanto keyboard

To obtain an Esperanto keyboard that will allow you to easily type these special characters, please consult how to type Esperanto characters.


Adjectives

Adjectives are words like fast, good, or big, which modify a noun. Remember that a noun always ends in -o in Esperanto. Adjectives, on the other hand, end in -a:
rapida = fast, granda = big, bona = good

In Esperanto, an adjective generally comes before the noun; but an adjective may also be placed after the noun for emphasis or style. Note the phrase bona viro (a good man). bona is the adjective and viro is the noun. viro bona is also valid if used for reasons of style.
Affixes

mal- is a prefix that means "the opposite of". Please note that while malbona means bad, mal- by itself does not mean bad (as it does in some other languages).

-ej is a suffix to indicate a place:
kafo = coffee; kafejo = café
Adverbs

Adverbs (usually -ly words in English) modify verbs and adjectives. In Esperanto they almost always end in -e. Examples:
rapide = quickly, malrapide = slowly, bone = well
Ĉu

Ĉu introduces a yes/no question. The subject and verb are not inverted, unlike in English:
Statement 	Question
La kafo estas varma. 	Ĉu la kafo estas varma?
The coffee is hot. 	Is the coffee hot?
Expressions with Ĉu

Ĉu ne? = Isn't it?
Ĉu? = Really?


Ĝis

Note that the word for bye in Esperanto is ĝis. This is short for ĝis la revido, which literally means until the re-seeing. So, ĝis actually means until, but by itself means bye.
Why is it "dankon" and not "danko"?

When you use an expression like “Thanks” in English you are actually shortening a full statement. As you will soon learn in Esperanto, -n indicates the object of the sentence as you can see in the examples below:

Dankon = Mi donas al vi dankon.
Thanks = I give you thanks. ("thanks" is the object of the sentence).

Saluton! = Mi donas al vi saluton.
Hi!/Hello!/Greetings! = I give you greetings. ("greetings" is the object)

Feliĉan novan jaron! = Mi deziras al vi feliĉan novan jaron! Happy new year! = I wish you a happy new year! ("happy new year" is the object)
Kiu

Kiu means "which person or thing". When used in relation to a person, it usually translates to "who".
Esperanto Names

People who speak Esperanto generally use their own names, but sometimes choose a name that is easier to pronounce in Esperanto, or an Esperanto nickname. Names for men in Esperanto generally end in -o, and nicknames in -ĉjo. A man named David could decide to use David, Davido, or the nickname Daĉjo. For a woman, Esperanto names can end in -a or -o, and nicknames end in -njo. A woman named Susan could use Susan, Suzana, Suzano, or the nickname Sunjo.



The accusative ending: -n

In Esperanto, a special ending is required to show that a noun is the direct object of a statement. Let's look at the English sentence "A man kisses a woman." To show that a particular noun is a direct object (receives the action), always add an -n to the end of that noun or pronoun. Thus, the most usual translation of this sentence would be Viro kisas virinon. Another way of thinking of this is to ask who or what is receiving the action, in this case the woman virinon.

Note that In English there is only one possible correct word order. However, due to Esperanto's accusative ending, all of the following are valid sentences:

Viro kisas virinon. (most usual)
Viro virinon kisas.
Kisas viro virinon.
Kisas virinon viro.
Virinon viro kisas.
Virinon kisas viro.

Note that an adjective modifying a direct object would also receive the -n ending. Thus, Viro kisas belan virinon. would mean "A man kisses a beautiful woman." As shown above, we could phrase this sentence as Belan virinon kisas viro, which would still mean the same thing with more emphasis on the beautiful woman.

Also, be aware that nouns after "estas" never take the accusative ending: Li estas knabo.

Pronouns

Note how regularly Esperanto pronouns change as compared to their English counterparts:
Esperanto Subject 	Esperanto Object 	English Subject 	English Object
mi 	min 	I 	me
vi 	vin 	you 	you
li 	lin 	he 	him
ŝi 	ŝin 	she 	her
ni 	nin 	we 	us
ili 	ilin 	they 	them


Language names

When you refer to a language, you must have la in front of it, because it is short for la ... lingvo. For example, English is la angla, short for la angla lingvo.

Exception: most planned and dead languages end in -o and therefore do not use "la" in front of them. Thus, you would say, Mi parolas Esperanton and not Mi parolas la Esperanton. And you would say: Mi ne parolas Latinon (I don't speak Latin).
Oni

Oni is the indefinite third person pronoun, equivalent to "one" in English. It is not used very often.
Ke

Ke must introduce a subordinate clause. In English, we can say: "He says that you speak Esperanto" or "He says you speak Esperanto". However, in Esperanto we must say : Li diras ke vi parolas Esperanton [not: Li diras vi parolas Esperanton.]


Color Names

Some colors have their own names: blua (blue), verda (green), bruna (brown). Others are based on the colors of specific fruit or flowers, and require the suffix -kolora :

    oranĝo (orange, the fruit) -> oranĝkolora (orange, the color)
    rozo (rose, the flower) -> rozkolora (pink, the color).

Ankaŭ

Ankaŭ (also / too) is usually placed immediately before the word it refers to, occasionally immediately after. It is never placed at the end of the phrase, as is common in English.

    Ankaŭ mi ludas multe = I play a lot, too. (Interpretation: There is someone who plays a lot, and I, too, play a lot.)
    Mi ankaŭ ludas multe = I play a lot, too. (Most likely interpretation: There is something that I do a lot, and I also play a lot.)

Note that in Esperanto, this distinction is made by the word order, whereas in English, we make this distinction by the word we emphasize when we speak. Say the above two English sentences, emphasizing the bold-faced word each time.
Esperanta

The adjective form of Esperanto is Esperanta. This can either be capitalized or not based on the preference of the author. Note that esperanta can also mean "hoping" as an adjective. The meaning of each specific usage of esperanta should be made clear by the context.

The Esperanto man
La Esperanta viro

The hoping man or The Esperanto man
La esperanta viro


Plurals

To make a word plural, always add -j, so hundo (dog) turns into hundoj (dogs), and granda (big) turns into grandaj (the plural form of big). Note that, contrary to English, adjectives always take the plural form when they refer to more than one object/person/concept.
Examples

Men are handsome.
Viroj estas belaj.

The man and the woman are beautiful.
La viro kaj la virino estas belaj.
(because belaj refers to both la viro and la virino)

Big cats catch pretty birds.
Grandaj katoj kaptas belajn birdojn.
Pronunciation

-oj is pronounced like the English oy, and the pronunciation of -aj is like the English eye.
Numbers

Unlike adjectives and nouns, the cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc.) do not take -j (plural) or -n (accusative) endings.
English 	Esperanto
one 	unu
two 	du
three 	tri
four 	kvar

I have three apples.
Mi havas tri pomojn.


Da and De

Use da when you're talking about quantity. Use de when talking about a property or possession. The direct object -n ending (accusative) is not used after da or de. For example:
Esperanto 	English
glaso da vino 	glass of wine (quantity)
glaso de vino 	wine glass (property)
la porko de la viro 	the man's pig (possession)
manko de mono 	a lack of money (property)
Kiom

Kiom or Kiom da means "how much" or "how many."

How much do you eat?
Kiom vi manĝas?

How much bread do you eat?
Kiom da pano vi manĝas?

How many apples do you eat?
Kiom da pomoj vi manĝas?
Kiom da

You need da when the sentence has an object. Also note that the object does not take the accusative -n, since this is already denoted by da.

Note that kiom de is never correct, because de never indicates a quantity.
Kiom aĝas

How old are you?
Kiom vi aĝas?
(Literally: How much you are-age?)

Kiom is used with age, since age is a quantity (of years).
Manko de

A lack of...
Manko de...

A lack of something is not considered a quantity, so one says manko de and never manko da.


Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns are words like "my" and "your" in English. Unlike in English, these words are completely regular in Esperanto. Just add -a to the end of a pronoun to turn it into its possessive form.
English pronoun 	English possessive 	Esperanto pronoun 	Esperanto possessive
I 	my 	mi 	mia
you 	your 	vi 	via
he 	his 	li 	lia
she 	her 	ŝi 	ŝia
it 	its 	ĝi 	ĝia
we 	our 	ni 	nia
they 	their 	ili 	ilia
one 	one's 	oni 	onia

Like other adjectives the possessives also take the -j (plural) and -n (accusative) ending when required.

Your bears drink my beer.
Viaj ursoj trinkas mian bieron.
Kio, tio

Kio = what or what thing.
Tio = that or that thing.

Because kio and tio always refer to something indefinite, they never take the ending -j (plural), but take the ending -n (accusative) if they refer to a direct object.

What is that?
Kio estas tio?

What are you eating?
Kion vi manĝas?

We are eating that.
Ni manĝas tion.


The suffix -id (offspring)

-id is a suffix that means "offspring". In the context of animals and plants, it refers to young offspring.

kato (cat) + -id = katido (kitten)
hundo (dog) + -id = hundido (puppy)
The suffix -in (female)

When it comes to animals, the root form of the animal (i.e. bovo) is gender neutral. Therefore bovo can either be a bull or a cow. A bovino is specifically a cow. To make this unambiguously male, you need to add vir- in front of it, thus virbovo is a bull.
Esperanto 	English
bovo 	bull or cow
bovino 	cow (female)
virbovo 	bull (male)


There are two types of countries: those defined by their country and those defined by their ethnicity.
Country-based

A country defined by its country takes its own name as the root form (like Brazilo and Kanado) and a citizen of that country is formed by adding -an (member) in front of the ending -o. For example:

The Brazilian from Brazil = La brazilano el Brazilo
The Canadian from Canada = La kanadano el Kanado
Ethnic-based

A country defined by its ethnicity takes its ethnicity as the root form (like italo and franco) and its country name is formed by adding io in front of the ending -o. For example:

The Italian from Italy = La italo el Italio
The Frenchman from France = La franco el Francio

In general, countries in Europe and Asia follow the ethnic-based rule while other countries follow the country-based rule, although there are exceptions.
About America

Usono refers to the USA, while Ameriko refers to North and South America combined; so usonano is a US citizen, while amerikano is someone from North or South America.
-io vs -ujo

A country whose name is defined by its ethnicity usually ends in -io, but traditionally the ending is -ujo. Since the form -ujo is in the Fundamento it can never be considered wrong. The form -io is considered more modern, but -ujo is still in use today.
Modern 	Traditional
Italio 	Italujo
Germanio 	Germanujo
More accented letters

The following table shows the rest of the accented letters, which are also called ĉapel-literoj (hat letters).
Esperanto 	English equivalent 	Esperanto example
ĥ 	loch 	ĉeĥa (Czech)
ĵ 	pleasure 	ĵaŭdo (Thursday)
ŭ 	wet 	aŭ (or)

Note: ĥ is pronounced as a strongly aspirated "h", like the "ch" in the Scottish word "loch" (not pronounced "lock").


Meat Dishes

To talk about meat dishes, add -aĵ to the name of the animal that the dish is made from. For example, to talk about "pork" (meat from a pig), you use the word for "pig" (porko) and add the suffix -aĵ : porkaĵo.

In English you can say: "I'm eating beef", but in Esperanto you have to specify that you are eating "the meat of a cow, for example: Mi manĝas bovaĵon. The same sentence without -aĵ, Mi manĝas bovon, would mean "I'm eating a cow."
English Animal 	Esperanto Animal 	English Food 	Esperanto Food
a cow 	bovo 	beef 	bovaĵo
a pig 	porko 	pork 	porkaĵo
a fish 	fiŝo 	fish 	fiŝaĵo
a lamb 	ŝafido 	lamb 	ŝafidaĵo
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

matenmanĝo = breakfast, the morning meal
tagmanĝo = lunch, the midday meal
vespermanĝo = dinner, the evening meal
Prepositions

So far we have learned several prepositions, including sur, por, sen, and kun. Note that there is no accusative -n for nouns after prepositions except in specific instances, which will be introduced later.
Subject or object after "ol"

Ol (than), is a conjunction (a connecting word like "and") that functions as a comparison word. Either a subject or an object can follow it, just as in English:

Ni amas ŝin pli ol ilin.
We love her more than [we love] them.
(The object ilin follows ol.)

Li amas la hundon pli ol ili amas ĝin.
He loves the dog more than they love it.
(The subject ili follows ol.)
Jen

Jen means "here is" or "here are" like the following:

Jen la hundo. = Here is the dog.

Although less common, Jen may be followed by estas and a noun, for example:

Jen estas la hundo. = Here is the dog.
Kun and Kune
English 	Esperanto
with 	kun
together 	kune
together with 	kune kun
Correlatives

You may have noticed that all the question words start with ki-, except for ĉu.
English 	Question 	Esperanto
what 	what thing 	kio
where 	what place 	kie
how 	what way 	kiel
who 	what specific person 	kiu
which 	what specific thing 	kiu
how much 	what amount 	kiom

Question words can also be formed by changing the beginning.
English 	Question 	Esperanto
how much [of it] 	what quantity 	kiom
that much [of it] 	that quantity 	tiom
some [of it] 	some quantity 	iom
all [of it] 	the whole quantity 	ĉiom
none [of it] 	no quantity 	neniom

All of these words in both tables are part of a group in Esperanto called correlatives. 5 beginnings and 9 endings can be combined logically together to form 45 (5x9) basic words. Around ten percent of Esperanto text consists of correlatives, so it is critical to master them.


Pantalono

In Esperanto, the word for "pants" (US English) or "trousers" (UK English) is the singular noun pantalono. Thus pantalonoj is multiple pairs of pants.
Ŝtrumpo, ŝtrumpeto
Esperanto 	English
ŝtrumpo 	stocking (up to the knee)
ŝtrumpeto 	sock (up to the calf)

The suffix -et means "small,", so a sock is a small stocking (ŝtrumpeto)!
Mojosa

Mojosa (cool) is the most popular slang term in Esperanto. It originates from modern-jun-stila (modern-young-stylish). Reading out the first letter of each word gives Mo-Jo-So, which becomes mojoso (coolness). The adjective form is mojosa.


INFINITIVE

The ending -i indicates the infinitive, for example ami (to love). This is the neutral form found in a dictionary. It is most often used to complement the verbs povas (can), volas (want), devas (must), and ŝatas (like). For example:

Mi volas danci. = I want to dance.
Mi ŝatas manĝi. = I like to eat.
Ĉu vi povas fari tion? = Can you do that?
NEK ... NEK ...

nek means both "neither" and "nor" and follows English usage patterns. It is a conjunction like kaj and aŭ. For example:

Nek la rozo nek la vivo estas rozkolora.
Neither the rose nor the life is pink.

Nek la rozon nek la vivon mi aprezas.
I appreciate neither the rose nor the life.

La rozo estas nek rozkolora nek bela.
The rose is neither pink nor pretty.

SCII & KONI (TO KNOW)

Both scii and koni can be translated as "to know." While scii refers to intellectual knowledge, koni refers to knowledge gained by experience.

Mi scias la vojon.
I know the way [because I've studied it on a map].

Mi konas la vojon.
I know the way [because I've been there before].

Scii

Facts, however, as in "I know that ..." will always be translated as "Mi scias, ke ...". For example:

Mi scias, ke Francio estas en Eŭropo.
I know that France is in Europe.

Koni

Typically, koni will be used to know a person or a thing. For example:

Mi konas ilin.
I know them.

Ŝi konas vian krokodilon.
She knows your crocodile.


ĈU?

As covered in Basics 2, ĉu is used at the beginning of a sentence to form a question with specific answers, such as a yes/no question. For example:

Ĉu vi volas danci? = Do you want to dance?
Ĉu vi amas ŝin aŭ min? = Do you love her or me?
In the middle of a sentence, ĉu means "whether" in a statement. For example:

Ŝi demandas min ĉu mi volas danci.
She asks me whether I would like to dance.

Ŝi volas scii ĉu mi parolas Esperanton.
She wants to know whether I speak Esperanto.

In English "if" can be used interchangeably with "whether", but se means "if" only in the sense of "given the circumstances." For example:

Mi volas danci se vi ankaŭ volas danci.
I want to dance if you also want to dance.

CORRELATIVES ENDING IN -U

The correlatives ending in -u (kiu, tiu, etc.) usually come before a noun. Notice how they take -j and -n endings just like adjectives. For example:

Kiun libron vi legas?
Which book are you reading?

Mi ankaŭ volas legi tiujn librojn.
I also want to read those books.

They appear without a noun only if the context makes what is being talked about clear. For example:

Jen kelkaj bonaj libroj. Kiun [libron] vi volas legi?
Here are some good books. Which [book] would you like to read?

Without other information, assume that kiu and tiu (and any other correlative ending in -u) refer to a person. For example:

Kiu venas? = Who is coming?

Tio/Tiu (Kio/Kiu)

In Esperanto the difference between tio (that thing) and tiu (that one/that person) is a matter of the unkown (or undefined) - tio - vs. the known (or defined) - tiu -.

Esperanto	English	Explanation
tio	that; that thing	that unknown thing/concept
tiu	that one; that person	that one (out of several things/concepts/people that are known as a group)
Tio (unkown) estas libro. = That is a book.
Jen kelkaj libroj en Esperanto. Tiu (known) estas mia plej ŝatata. = Here are some books in Esperanto. This one is my favorite.
Tiu (known) libro estas dika. = That book is thick.
The question forms of tio and tiu, kio? (what; what thing) and kiu? (which one; who) function in exactly the same way:

Esperanto	English	Explanation
kio	what; what thing	what unknown thing/concept
kiu	which one; who	which one (out of several things/concepts/people that are known as a group)
ĈI

The word ĉi expresses closeness or proximity and is used with the ti-words, either before or after them. We can roughly translate them like this:

Esperanto	English
tie	there
tie ĉi / ĉi tie	here
tiu	that one, that person
tiu ĉi / ĉi tiu	this one (here), this person (here)
tio	that, that thing
tio ĉi / ĉi tio	this (here), this thing (here)
KIEN?

Kien means "to which place". In English, we no longer distinguish between "where" and "to which place"; we use the word "where" whether there is a movement towards the place involved or not. In Esperanto, however, if there's a movement towards the place you're talking about, you have to use kien.

Esperanto	English
Kien vi iras?	Where are you going [to]?
Kie vi estas?	Where are you?


VERBS AND OBJECTS

In Esperanto, there are basically two types of verbs: those that take a direct object, and those that don't.

The word sendi (to send), for example, requires a direct object.

Mi sendas la leteron. (I send the letter.)
is a perfectly correct sentence, while just saying "Mi sendas (I send)" seems weird and incomplete. Verbs like sendi, that need a direct object to be complete, are also called transitive.

The word sidi (to sit), on the contrary, is complete without any object.

Mi sidas. (I sit.)
is a perfectly correct sentence, while saying something like "Mi sidas la seĝon (I sit the chair)" doesn't sound natural. Verbs like sidi, that are complete without any object, are also called intransitive.

Differences between Esperanto and English

Please note that the rules concerning verbs and objects are often more strict in Esperanto than in English.

In English, we know a lot of verbs that can be used both with and without a direct object. Take for example the verb "to close". It is usually used with an object: "I close the shop". But it is also possible to say "The shop closes", which we understand to be more or less equivalent of "The shop is being closed" or maybe "The shop closes itself".

In Esperanto, upon hearing "La butiko fermas -- (The shop closes --) we immediately ask ourselves: The shop closes what? And how can a shop even close something? It does not make sense. The verb fermi requires a direct object. (= "fermi" is transitive).

Let's look at another example: the transitive verb komenci (to begin, to start).

correct: Mi komencas la laboron. (I begin the work.)
also correct: Li komencas kuri. (He starts to run.)
incorrect: La tago komencas --. (The day begins --.)
While in English it is fine to say "The day begins", in Esperanto we would immediately ask ourselves: The day begins what? - and this makes no sense. [Therefore, to express the idea of "The day begins" in Esperanto, we have to use the suffix -iĝ that we will encounter later in this course. "The day begins" = "La tago komenciĝas".]

How about sentences with transitive words that do seem perfectly fine even without an object? Although manĝi is transitive, as in Mi manĝas kukon (I eat/am eating cake), it is perfectly fine to say Mi manĝas (I eat/am eating) as we can easily imagine that I am eating, well, some kind of food. (We can, however, hardly imagine anything that a shop might be closing!)

TWO MEANINGS OF THE VERB ATENDI

The first meaning of atendi is "to wait"; the second meaning is "to expect". There are other words to describe expectation, but atendi is the most generally accepted one.


PREPOSITIONS

Try to think of the most literal sense of a preposition to discover the correct word to use in Esperanto. Thus, you would say that you travel "in the train", not "on the train" (which would be quite dangerous if you think about it!).

In general, nouns following a preposition are not considered direct objects so do not take the -n ending. One notable exception to this rule is the directional -n (see below!).

antaŭ can mean "in front of" or "before", depending on the context. In conjunction with time it can mean "ago".

kontraŭ means "against", but also "at the cost/price of"; and can be used in the context of taking a medicine in order to treat an illness ("against" an illness).

PRO VS POR

Pro = on account of, looks towards the past.
Por = for, on behalf of, is forward looking.
In “thanking for” both danki pro and danki por are correct with a slightly different nuance.

Mi dankas pro : I’m thanking on account of a past action.
Mi dankas por : I’m thanking in exchange for an action, in the same way that in a financial transaction one “pays for” (pagas por).
KROM

Krom has two different meanings in Esperanto. It can mean either "except (for)" or "in addition to" depending on the context.

THE DIRECTIONAL -N

In addition to its use for the direct object, the -n ending is also used to show direction:

Ŝi saltas sur la tablo. = She jumps (up and down) on the table.
Ŝi saltas sur la tablon. = She jumps onto the table (from another location).
VERŜI AND ŜUTI

Verŝi means to pour a liquid such as water or oil, while Ŝuti means to pour a non-liquid such as sand or sugar.


VERBS: PAST & FUTURE

Use the following markers to change the time of a verb:

-is = past
-os = future
Past	Present	Future
La kato dormis. (The cat slept.)	La kato dormas. (The cat sleeps.)	La kato dormos. (The cat will sleep.)
There are no exceptions to this rule!

Note: In English, sometimes part of a sentence is expressed in the present tense, even though both actions/events/states actually occur in the future. In Esperanto, both parts of the sentence are in the future tense, when they actually occur:

Kion vi faros, kiam vi estos gepatroj? = What will you do when you are parents?
INDIRECT SPEECH

In Esperanto, you use the same tense with indirect speech as you would with direct speech:

Petro diris: “Mi volas doni ion al vi.” (Peter said: "I want to give something to you.")
Petro diris, ke li volas doni ion al mi. (Peter said that he wanted to give something to me.)
ONE WORD SENTENCES

There are a few verbs in Esperanto that can form a complete sentence on their own, without a subject. Most of these verbs are relating to weather:

Pluvas. = It is raining.
Neĝas. = It is snowing.
POST KIAM

The preposition post means "after". Being a preposition, it is usually followed by a noun:

post la matenmanĝo = after breakfast
post la oka horo = after eight o'clock
If you want to use post with a verb, you have to insert kiam (short for: tiam, kiam) between the two:

Post kiam ni matenmanĝis ... = After we [had] had breakfast ...
Post kiam mi laboris, mi dormis. = After I [had] worked, I slept.
The preposition antaŭ (before; in front of) equally needs an addition in order to be used with verbs.

Ni manĝis antaŭ ol li alvenis. = We ate before he arrived.


CARDINAL NUMBERS

Regular, or cardinal numbers such as 1, 2, 3 (unu, du, tri) never take any endings.

ORDINAL NUMBERS

Unua, dua, tria... (first, second, third...) end in -a and function as adjectives, so they take the accusative -n and plural -j just like other adjectives.

FRACTIONAL NUMBERS

Duono, triono, kvarono... (half, third, fourth...) are nouns which take regular noun endings, and which can be transformed into adjectives by substituting -a for the last -o. Notice that -on is a word particle (affix) that means a fraction of the whole.

ONE WORD OR TWO?

11-19: two words: dek unu, dek du ... dek naŭ
20, 30, ... 90: one word: dudek, tridek, ... naŭdek
200, 300, ... 900: one word: ducent, tricent, ... naŭcent
2000, 3000, ... 9000: two words: du mil, tri mil, ... naŭ mil
For ordinal numbers, use hyphens between all the words in the number: ducent-okdek-sepa

MILIARDO, BILIONO

In English the meaning of "billion" changes between America and Europe. In Esperanto:

miliono = 1 million (1,000,000)
miliardo = 1000 million (1,000,000,000), while
biliono = 1 million millions (1,000,000,000,000)
PO

Po is a word that is close to the English word "each". However it goes before the item being distributed, not after: Ili trinkas po unu glaso = They drink one glass each. (Note: no -n on glaso after po).

-N ENDING FOR LENGTH, QUANTITIES, PRICE, DISTANCE AND MEASURES

Besides being used to indicate a direct object ("La infano manĝas pomon = The child eats an apple), the -n ending is also used to indicate length, quantities, price, distance and measures:

La ŝtofo estas 2 metrojn longa. = The fabric is 2 meters long.
La domo kostas multan monon. = The house costs a lot of money.
Ili marŝis dudek kilometrojn. = They walked twenty kilometers.
NOMBRO VS NUMERO

Esperanto distinguishes between nombro and numero although both are translated as “number” in English.

Nombro = a number that signifies quantity;
la nombro de personoj = the number of people

Numero = a number that shows sequence;

la numero de la domo = the house number
la lasta numero de la gazeto = the last number (edition) of the newspaper.


IMPERATIVE: THE -U ENDING.

The -u ending is used when ordering / inviting someone else to do something -- or when telling or suggesting to ourselves what to do!

Esperanto	English
Manĝu!	Eat!
Iru!	Go!
Ni iru!	Let's go!
Ni vidu!	Let's see!
Mi pensu!	Let me think!
IMPERATIVE + INFINITIVE

An imperative may be followed by an infinitive:

Bonvolu manĝi!
Please eat!
(NOT: Bonvolu manĝu. Do not use two imperatives one after the other in that way).

QUESTIONS WITH -U

In questions, the -u ending generally means "shall" :
Ĉu ni iru?
Shall we go?

Ĉu mi legu tiun libron?
Shall I read that book?

THE -U ENDING IN SUBORDINATE PHRASES

We also use the -u ending in subordinate phrases starting with ke, when the verb in the preceding, main part of the sentence expresses a want, desire, demand or preference:

Esperanto	English
Mi volas, ke vi iru.	I want you to go.
Li preferas, ke mi ne donu al vi monon.	He prefers that I not give you money.
Ŝi postulas, ke la infanoj studu.	She demands that the children study.
This grammatical usage is also called the "subjunctive".



SPECIAL CONVENTIONS TO EXPRESS TIME

Esperanto	English
dimanĉo	Sunday
dimanĉon	on Sunday / next Sunday
dimanĉe	every Sunday
The -e ending is used when talking about a reoccurring event.

La renkontiĝo okazas sabate. = The meeting happens on Saturdays / every Saturday.
The -n ending is used when talking about the upcoming or past occurrence of a specific event:

Mi alvenos sabaton. = I will arrive (on) Saturday.
Ni venos la dek-kvinan de oktobro. = We will come (on) the 15th of October.
The -n ending is also used to express duration:

Mi restis unu horon (= dum unu horo). = I stayed for one hour.
Li vojaĝos la tutan tagon (= dum la tuta tago). = He will travel all day (the whole day).
SPELLING CONVENTIONS FOR MONTHS AND DAYS OF THE WEEK

Upper Case or Lower Case?
Months can either start with a lower case or capital letter: januaro, februaro; Januaro, Februaro. In this course, we have chosen to present the lowercase form.
Days of the week always are in lower case: lundo, mardo.

TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS

A transitive verb (objekta verbo) is a verb that requires a direct object. An intransitive verb (senobjekta verbo) is a verb that does not take an object. With an intransitive verb, the subject plus the verb can form a complete sentence. Komenci and komenciĝi, below, are examples of transitive and intransitive verbs

Komenci, komenciĝi: what is the difference?

Komenci (transitive) means to start or begin something, and takes a direct object with an -n ending:
Mi komencas la manĝon. = I am starting/beginning the meal.
Komenciĝi (intransitive) includes the -iĝ affix and means to begin or start on its own. It does not take a direct object:

La manĝo komenciĝas. = The meal is starting/beginning.
A more detailed explanation of transitive / intransitive verbs can be found in the notes for the module Verbs Present. You will learn more about the -iĝ affix in a module dedicated to both the -iĝ and the -ig affix.

CORRELATIVES (TABELVORTOJ)

All the question words we have learned so far start with ki-, which has the general meaning of "what":

Esperanto	English
kiam	at what time, when
kio	what
kie	at what place, where
kiel	in what way, how
kiu	what specific person or thing, who or which
kiom	what amount, how much
Similar words starting with ti- (general meaning of "that") are related to the question words:

Esperanto	English
tiam	at that time, then
tio	that thing
tie	that place, there
tiel	in that way
tiu	that person or specific thing
tiom	that quantity, that much
And words starting with ĉi- (general meaning of "all") are also related:

Esperanto	English
ĉiam	at all times, always
ĉio	everything
ĉie	at all places, every place, everywhere
ĉiom	all of it, the whole amount
All of these words (and more that we will learn as the course progresses) are part of a group of words in Esperanto called Correlatives (Eo: korelativoj). In Esperanto they are also called tabelvortoj because they can easily be arranged in one big table / chart.

In this module we learn iam (at any time, sometimes, ever) and neniam (at no time, never) to round out the words ending with -am that relate to time.

Esperanto	English	English paraphrase
kiam	when	at what time
tiam	then	at that time
iam	sometime	at some/any time
ĉiam	always	at all times
neniam	never	at no time
Finally, here's an overview of all the correlatives that you have learned so far:

_	-U	-O	-E	-EL	-AM	-OM
KI-	kiu	kio	kie	kiel	kiam	kiom
TI-	tiu	tio	tie	tiel	tiam	tiom
I-					iam	iom
ĈI-		ĉio	ĉie		ĉiam	ĉiom
NENI-					neniam	neniom



GENDER MARKERS RELATED TO FAMILY MEMBERS, FRIENDS AND PROFESSIONS:

As mentioned in the Family lesson notes, nouns not relating to family have no base gender:
amiko : a male or female friend
dentisto : a male or female dentist

In these cases, you may choose to explicitly make a noun feminine by adding -in :
amikino = a female friend
dentistino = a female dentist
Choosing to do this is more common in Europe than in the US, probably due to differences between English and various European languages. In this course, we will not routinely present the feminine form of professions. However your responses using the feminine form when appropriate will be accepted as correct.

STUDENTO AND LERNANTO

Studento - a student enrolled in a college or university, or an adult learner.

Lernanto - a pupil, a student in a primary school, middle school or high school.

FARIĜI

Fariĝi (to become) contains the -iĝ affix so nouns following it do not take the -n ending, as they are not considered direct objects. We will learn more about the -iĝ affix in later lessons.

ŜAJNAS KE

Ŝajnas ke... means "It seems that..."


AFFIXES

One of the greatest advantages of Esperanto is its flexible system of word particles that can be attached either in front of a word (prefixes) or at the end of a word (suffixes). There are 10 prefixes and 31 suffixes, which can be used to modify any word. The rule is that it's a valid word if it makes sense. When you finish the Affixes 3 module, you will know all of them! In this lesson, you'll review one prefix (mal-) and learn many suffixes:

Affix	Definition	Example	Translation
mal-	opposite	malfacila	difficult
-eg		big			bonega		excellent
-et		little		dormeti		to nap
-uj		container	sapujo		soapbox
-ej		place		lernejo		school
-ul		person		riĉulo		rich person
-il		tool		fotilo		camera
-ebl	possible	komprenebla	understandable
-an		member		klubano		club member
-ar		group		arbaro		forest
See how these affixes affect the word varma:

Esperanto	English
varma		hot
varmega		very hot
varmeta		warm
malvarma	cold
malvarmega	ice cold
malvarmeta	cool
Affixes as 	roots

Note that even though affixes in Esperanto are usually attached to a root word, they can also be used as roots themselves, for example:

Esperanto	English
la ejo	the place
tiuj iloj	those tools
la mala direkto	the opposite direction
la etulo	the little person
ĉu eblas?	is it possible?


ADJECTIVES

An adjective takes the -a ending and has to agree in number with the noun it modifies:

bona homo = a good person
bonaj homoj = good people
Homoj estas bonaj. = People are good.
An adjective that modifies an object also takes the -n (direct object) ending:

Mi manĝas belajn kukojn. = I eat beautiful cakes.
In summary, an adjective's ending must match the ending of the noun it modifies.
WORD ORDER

In normal word order the adjective(s) come before the noun. In literature you may also see a few adjectives after the noun in order to create emphasis. It is best in general to try to stick to the normal word order.

ADJECTIVES INTO VERBS

In Esperanto, adjectives are easily transformed into verbs, and are frequently used that way in conversations and in written texts . The most common form, however, is still estas + adjective :
Mi estas preta = Mi pretas = I am ready.
Mi estas malsata = Mi malsatas = I am hungry.

MAL-

The prefix mal- simply means “opposite”. It does not mean “bad” as in some romance languages.
granda = big, large
malgranda = small, little
Mal- can be used anytime you need to express a true opposite. Beware of classifying situations as opposites which logically aren't:
nigra kaj blanka = “black and white”. These are not opposites. (Don't say malnigra)
knaboj kaj knabinoj= “boys and girls”. These are not opposites. (Don’t say malknaboj)
PAIRED CONJUNCTIONS:

Esperanto	English
kaj....kaj....	both....and.....
nek....nek....	neither....nor.....
aŭ....aŭ....	either....or.....
CORRELATIVES WITH -IA

Correlatives with -ia refer to a kind, sort, or type of something. They are adjectives and take the -j and -n endings where needed.

Esperanto	English
kia(j)(n)	what kind(s) of
tia(j)(n)	that/those kind(s) of
ia(j)(n)	some kind(s) of
ĉia(j)(n)	every kind of/all kinds of
nenia(n)	no kind of


COMPOUND WORDS

Combining two words to make a new word is very common in Esperanto. The vowel ending of the first word may be dropped, and this is what people usually do, unless it makes the pronunciation too difficult. Some examples:

Eo	lito + tuko = litotuko (or: littuko)
En	bed + cloth = sheet
Eo	vesto + ŝranko= vestoŝranko
En	garment + cabinet/cupboard = clothes closet
Eo	lito + kovrilo= litkovrilo (or: litokovrilo)
En	bed + cover = bedspread
Eo	bano + tuko = bantuko
En	bath + cloth = towel
PURIGI

Pur-ig-i means to clean (to make something clean), and comes from the adjective pura (clean). We will learn more about the affix -ig in future modules.

MANĜILARO

This is an example of a word with two affixes, and illustrates how easy and straightforward it is to build words in Esperanto:
Manĝ + -il + -aro =manĝilaro
Eat + tool + group = silverware

LOĜI AND VIVI

Esperanto	English
loĝi	to live, to reside, to dwell (in a specific place)
vivi	to live, to be alive (the state of being)
English speakers usually use the verb “to live” for both meanings. However you should aim to make the distinction and use loĝi and vivi correctly in Esperanto, so that you will be reliably understood.

MEM

Mem means [my,your,his,her]-self, or [our, them]-selves.
It is used for emphasis:
Esperanto	English
mi mem	I myself
vi mem	you yourself, you yourselves
li mem	he himself
ŝi mem	she herself
ni mem	we ourselves
ili mem	they themselves


THE CONDITIONAL

Use the verb ending -us to talk about non-real, imagined situations, or to make polite requests.

Non-real situations

Non-real situations are the topic of "if...then" sentences, like this one:

Se mi estus sana, mi laborus. = If I were healthy, I would work.
Notice that Esperanto, unlike English, uses the -us form in both parts of the sentence - since both parts are non-real.

We also talk about non-real situations when we express our wish for something to be different from what/how it actually is:

Se li nur estus iom pli bela! = If only he was a bit more handsome!
The -us ending does not carry any temporal information. Thus, it is possible to use the -us ending for events in the past as well. When doing so, context usually indicates that we are talking about the past:

Se Zamenhof scius la ĉinan, Esperanto estus malsama. = If Zamenhof had known Chinese, Esperanto would be different.
Se vi dirus tion al mi jam hieraŭ, mi ne farus la eraron. = If you had told me this already yesterday, I would not have made the mistake.
Polite requests

The -us form can also be used to express polite requests.

Ĉu vi povus doni al mi la buteron? = Could you pass me the butter?
Mi ŝatus iom pli da sukero. = I would like a little more sugar.
REVIEW OF -N FOR DIRECTION

Remember to use the -n ending when talking about a movement towards a certain place. For example

Metu la dosierojn en dosierujon! = Put the files into a folder!
RETPOŜTO VS. RETMESAĜO

Retpoŝto means email in general; the service that allows you to send and receive electronic messages. A message sent by retpoŝto (email) is most often called retmesaĝo (email).


Adverbs : the -e ending

Adverbs typically end in -e. An adverb describes or modifies a verb. We have already seen several examples of adverbs:
Esperanto 	English
bone 	well
nokte 	nightly, at night
multe 	a lot
rapide 	rapidly, quickly, fast
malrapide 	slowly
kune 	along with
ofte 	often
Adverbs can modify adjectives

Tio estas vere bela : That is truly beautiful.
Adverb after Estas

After estas, when there is no subject of the sentence, use an adverb, not an adjective.
Esperanto 	English
Estas bone. 	It is good.
Estis varme. 	It was warm.



Tiel...kiel

Tiel...kiel is a way of expressing a comparison:
Esperanto 	English
Li estas tiel laca kiel mi. 	He is as tired as I (am).
Ŝi estas tiel kontenta kiel ili. 	She is as content as they (are).
Reflexive verb: senti

Please note that senti [to feel] in Esperanto is reflexive. For example:

    Mi sentas min feliĉa. = I feel happy.
    Kia vi sentas vin? = How do you feel?


The -n ending for direction

The -n ending is used to show direction, when describing movement toward or away from something. However, it is not used after the prepositions ĝis, al or el, as they already show direction:
Esperanto 	English
Ni vojaĝu norden al Kanado! 	Let's travel north to Canada!
Mi iras ien, sed kien? 	I am going somewhere, but where?
La birdo flugis en la arbon. 	The bird flew into the tree.
Ni iru al Londono! 	Let's go to London!
Mi kuris de la lago al la montoj. 	I ran from the lake to the mountains.
Mia filino marŝis ĝis la fino de la strato. 	My daughter walked to the end of the street.
Eniri, eliri

Eniri and eliri are good examples of a common way to build new verbs in Esperanto: combine a preposition with an existing verb:
Esperanto 	English
en + iri = eniri 	to go + into = to enter
el + iri = eliri 	from/ to go + out of = to exit
Ajn

Ajn means any or ever, and may be combined with various ki- and i- correlatives, usually for emphasis:
Esperanto 	English
Mi volas iri ien. 	I want to go somewhere.
Mi volas iri ien ajn. 	I want to go anywhere at all.
Kien vi iros, mi iros. 	Where you go, I will go.
Kien ajn vi iros, mi iros. 	Wherever you go, I will go.
Troviĝi

Troviĝi means to be found or located. It comes from the verb trovi, to find. Because it contains the -iĝ affix, it is intransitive and does not take an object.
Correlatives with -ie and -ien
Eo 	English 	Eo 	English
kie 	where, what place 	kien 	(to) where
tie 	there, that place 	tien 	(to) there
ie 	somewhere, some place 	ien 	(to) somewhere
ĉie 	everywhere, all places 	ĉien 	(to) everywhere
nenie 	nowhere, no place 	nenien 	(to) nowhere



Correlatives with -u

-u words relate to a particular person or thing. They cannot be used to refer to something unknown or unspecified.
Esperanto 	English
kiu 	who; which
tiu 	that (particular) person or thing
iu 	someone, somebody; some particular thing
ĉiu 	every person or every particular thing
neniu 	no one, nobody; no particular thing
Correlatives with -es

-es words relate to possessing something.
Esperanto 	English
kies 	whose
ties 	that person's
ies 	someone's
ĉies 	everyone's
nenies 	no one's

Ties does not have a one word translation in English and means "that person's" or " that one's". It is used to clarify a sentence that might be ambiguous in English. "He went to a restaurant with his cousin and his wife." Whose wife was it, the cousin's or his own?

    Li iris al la restoracio kun sia kuzo kaj sia edzino = He went to the restaurant with his cousin and his own wife.
    Li iris al la restoracio kun sia kuzo kaj ties edzino. = He went to the restaurant with his cousin and his cousin's wife.



-ig

The -ig affix expresses an action that causes change. The meaning of -ig can be paraphrased as "make something become ...". The result of the change is expressed in the word part before -ig. Take for example the adjective senforta (weak). By adding the -ig affix, we can create the verb senfortigi (to make something become weak, to weaken something). The subject of the sentence is that which causes the change, while the object of the sentence is that which is changed. Verbs with the -ig affix require a direct object. (They are transitive.)

    La longa malsano senfortigis lin. = The long illness "made him weak" / weakened him.
    Ŝi beligis mian vivon. = She made my life beautiful.

Note that -ig can be used with verbs as well as adjectives:

    Vi manĝigis la infanon. = You "made the child eat" = You fed the child.
    Ili daŭrigis la diskuton en la drinkejo. = They "made the discussion last" in the pub. = They continued the discussion in the pub.

-iĝ

The -iĝ ending expresses the changing of a state. The meaning of -iĝ can be paraphrased as "become ...". The result of the change is expressed in the word part before iĝ. Take for example the adjective senforta (weak). By adding the -iĝ affix, we can create the verb senfortiĝi (to become weak, to weaken). The subject of the sentence is that which is changed. Verbs with the -iĝ affix can not take a direct object. (They are intransitive.)

    Li senfortiĝis. = He became weak. = He weakened.
    Ŝi beliĝis. = She became beautiful.

Note that -iĝ can be used with verbs as well as adjectives. When added to intransitive verbs, it can be paraphrased as "make oneself ..."

    Li sidiĝis sur la sofo. = He "made himself sit" on the sofa. = He sat down on the sofa.
    La hundo kuŝiĝis sur la planko. = The dog "made itself lie" on the floor. = The dog lay down on the floor.

-iĝ added to transitive verbs can be paraphrased as "... oneself / by oneself".

    La pordo fermiĝis = The door closed [itself / by itself].
    La hundo denove leviĝis. = The dog "raised itself" again. = The dog got up again.
    La leciono jam komenciĝas. = The lesson is already beginning [by itself].

Remember that while in English many verbs can be used both with an object (transitively) and without an object (intransitively), many verbs in Esperanto are transitive, and need the -iĝ affix to be used intransitively:
x 	Esperanto 	English
transitive 	La instruisto komencas la lecionon. 	The teacher starts the lesson.
intransitive 	La leciono komenciĝas. 	The lesson starts.


Rompi and rompiĝi, okupi and okupiĝi

We have already encountered the intransitive -iĝ affix when learning fariĝi and komenciĝi. Similarly, rompi means to break something, while rompiĝi means to become or get broken. And okupi means to occupy something, while okupiĝi means to be occupied.
Esperanto 	English 	Esperanto 	English
fari 	to do or make 	fariĝi 	to become
komenci 	to start something 	komenciĝi 	to begin
rompi 	to break something 	rompiĝi 	to get broken
okupi 	to occupy something 	okupiĝi 	to be occupied
Kiel eble plej

Kiel eble plej..... followed by an adverb is an expression similar to the English expression "as .... as possible." For example:
Esperanto 	English
kiel eble plej multe 	as much as possible
kiel eble plej baldaŭ 	as soon as possible
kiel eble plej ofte 	as often as possible
kiel eble plej rapide 	as rapidly/fast as possible
Dolori al iu....

In Esperanto, we use dolori al to say that a particular part of the body hurts a person. Because the person who is hurting is specified (dolori al mi, dolori al ŝi), a possessive marker is optional for the body part:
Doloras al mi la kapo. OR "La kapo doloras al mi. OR Doloras min la kapo. OR La kapo doloras min.
My head hurts. (Head is the subject)
La brako doloras al ŝi. OR La brako doloras ŝin.
Her arm hurts. (Arm is the subject).
It is also possible to say Mia kapo doloras. (My head hurts.) or Ŝia brako doloras. (Her arm hurts) as we do in English. In these cases the al mi or min is left out but understood.
-n can take the place of certain prepositions
With preposition 	With -n
La kapo doloras al mi 	La kapo doloras min.
Ni iras al Londono 	Ni iras Londonon.
Kontraŭ

Here we learn another use for the word kontraŭ, previously taught in its primary meaning of "against" or "opposite". In a medical setting, kontraŭ can mean "for" as in "for the purpose of treating or curing":
Mi prenis medikamenton kontraŭ febro.
I took a medication for fever.
Correlatives with -ial

-ial words refer to causation.
English 	Esperanto
kial 	why, for what reason
tial 	that's why, for that reason
ial 	for some reason
ĉial 	for every reason
nenial 	for no reason
kialo

Kialo means "reason", and comes from the correlative kial, why.
Ekzerci sin: the reflexive form

In English, we use special pronouns, the so-called reflexive pronouns, if the object of a phrase refers to the same person(s) as the subject.

    I see you (you is a regular pronoun)
    You see yourself (yourself is a reflexive pronoun - it is used here because the person being seen is the same as the person who is seeing.)

Esperanto doesn't have reflexive pronouns for I/me, you or we/us.
Non-reflexive 	Reflexive
Ŝi amas min - She loves me 	Mi amas min - I love myself
Ŝi amas nin - She loves us 	Ni amas nin - We love ourselves
Ŝi amas vin - She loves you 	Vi amas vin - You love yourself

Esperanto only has one reflexive pronoun, si, used for he/him, she/her, and they/them.

Ŝi vidas sin ("She sees herself"; the person who is being seen is the same as the person who is seeing.) -Ŝi vidas ŝin ("She sees her"; the person being seen is not the same as the person who is seeing.)

Si is gender-neutral and works for both singular and plural.
Non-reflexive 	Reflexive
Ŝi amas ŝin - She loves her (another female person) 	Ŝi amas sin - She loves herself
Li amas lin - He loves him (another male person) 	Li amas sin - He loves himself
La suno levas ĝin- The sun lifts it (another object) 	La suno sin levas - The sun rises ("lifts itself")
Ili amas ilin - They love them (another group of people) 	Ili amas sin - They love themselves


JU (MAL)PLI...DES (MAL)PLI

This is an expression equivalent to "the more... the more" or "the less...the less" in English. The two parts of the expression can also be interchanged, but ju always comes before des :

Ju pli da mono, des pli da zorgo. (The more money, the more worry.)
Ju pli frue, des pli bone. (The earlier, the better.)
Ju malpli mi laboras, des malpli mi volas labori. (The less I work, the less I want to work.)
Ju pli li atentas, des malpli li komprenas. (The more he pays attention, the less he understands.)
Ju malpli da vortoj, des pli bone. (The fewer words, the better.
CORRELATIVES WITH -IEL

-iel words refer to "how" or "in what way".

English	Esperanto
kiel	how, in what way
tiel	so, in that way
iel		in any way
ĉiel	in every way
neniel	in no way

VETURI AND VOJAĜI

Vojaĝi means to travel, and is a general term. Veturi is more specific, and means to travel by any means of transportation other than your own feet:
Kiam vi vojaĝos al Ĉinio? = When will you travel to China?
Ni preferas veturi al Berlino per aŭto. = We prefer to travel to Berlin by car.
Note: Veturilo means vehicle. Any mobile machine that transports people or cargo is a veturilo, for example: aviadilo (aircraft), motorciklo (motorcycle), aŭto (car).

TIEL...KIEL

When paired, tiel and kiel can mean as...as:
Vi estas tiel inteligenta kiel ŝi. = You are as intelligent as she (is).

tiel alone can also be used for emphasis, as "so":

Kial vi estas tiel kolera? = Why are you so angry?
-N AFTER TRANS AND TRANSIRI

Trans means "across", in the sense of movement to the other side of something or someplace, or "on the other side of", which is static. Similarly, transiri means to go across. The -n after trans is used only when movement in a direction is being described:
Ni iras trans la riveron. = We are going across the river (to reach the other side).
Mia domo troviĝas trans la strato. = My house is located across the street.
Kial la koko transiris la straton? = Why did the chicken cross the street?
VENDEJO AND BUTIKO

Vendejo is a more general term than butiko as it can mean any place where anything is sold, including a wholesale warehouse. Butiko refers to a retail store. However they are often used interchangeably when referring to retail locations.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have learned all the correlatives! Here's an overview of them all.

_		-U		-O		-E		-EL		-AM		-OM
KI-		kiu		kio		kie		kiel	kiam	kiom
TI-		tiu		tio		tie		tiel	tiam	tiom
I-		iu		io		ie		iel		iam		iom
ĈI-		ĉiu		ĉio		ĉie		ĉiel	ĉiam	ĉiom
NENI-	neniu	nenio	nenie	neniel	neniam	neniom

PASPORTA SERVO

Pasporta Servo is a hospitality network founded in 1966 and published by the Tutmonda Esperantista Junulara Organizo (TEJO). Free lodging is offered by over a thousand hosts in over 90 countries. Some Esperanto speakers use this network to travel cheaply while others use it to meet interesting people from around the world by hosting them in their own home. In 2009, this service made its transition online and can be found at www.pasportaservo.org.


Now's time to add more affixes to the mix to multiply your vocabulary even further! Remember the rule: you can add an affix to an Esperanto word as long as it makes sense.

Affix	Definition		Example		Translation
ek-		start			ekdormi		fall asleep
mis-	wrongly			miskompreni	misunderstand
re-		again			relerni		relearn
-aĉ		awful			domaĉo		shack
-ad		continual		paroladi	talk for a long time, continuously talk, keep talking
-aĵ		thing			glaciaĵo	ice cream
-em		inclination		ludema		playful
-ind	worthy			fidinda		trustworthy



PARTICIPLES

This is an introduction to participles, which are important to recognize and start to learn, but which are not needed for most everyday interactions in Esperanto.
Participles are formed from verbs. There are two categories of participles: active and passive. Each category has present, future and past tenses.

Tense	Active participle ending	Passive participle ending
past	-int	-it
present	-ant	-at
future	-ont	-ot
Active participles

Active participles present an action or state as a description of its subject. Let's take the example of a sleeping cat: La kato (subject) dormas (verb).

Tense	Example (Eo)	Translation
present = during the act	kato dormanta	a sleeping cat
past = after the act	kato dorminta	a cat who has slept
future = before the act	kato dormonta	a cat who will sleep
Passive participles

Passive participles present an action or state as a description of its object. As we don't have an object in our sleeping cat, let's imagine that the cat is reading a book now: La kato (subject) legas (verb) libron (object).

Tense	Example (Eo)	Translation
present = during the act	libro legata	a book that is being read
past = after the act	libro legita	a book that has been read
future = before the act	libro legota	a book that will be read
Participles are like adjectives

Participles end in -a like adjectives. In fact, they are used in the same way as adjectives, which means that they agree in number and case with the noun that they belong to:

Mi estas skribanta. = I am (in the process of) writing.
Ni estas skribantaj. = We are (in the process of) writing.
La libro estas legita. = The book has been read.
La libroj estas legitaj. = The books have been read.
Mi vidis viron kurantan. = I saw a man who was running / I saw a running man.
Mi trovis du poŝtelefonojn rompitajn. = I found two mobile phones that had been broken / I found two broken mobile phones.
Participles can be combined with past, present and future tenses of esti to more precisely define the time of the action.

Participles + -o ending

An o-ending on an active participle signifies the person performing the action:

la leganto - the reader
la skribanto - the writer
la gvidonto - the future guide
LA CAN TAKE THE PLACE OF POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

When taking about relatives, la can take the place of a possessive pronoun--for example:

La bebo imitas la gefratojn. = The baby imitates [his/her/its] siblings.


Congratulations, after this lesson, you'll know all of Esperanto's 10 prefixes and 31 suffixes! With a little practice, you'll be able to combine these affixes into words with ease, giving you an amazing ability to express yourself unlike any other foreign language.

Since this is the most advanced affixes lesson, you'll also end up learning some lesser-used affixes, so definitely don't feel like you need to use them all in everyday conversation!

Affixes			Definition				Example			Translation
dis-			dispersal				dissendi		broadcast
eks-			former					eksedzo			ex-husband
fi-				immoral					fipolitikisto	corrupt politician
pra-			ancient					prahomo			caveman
-er				tiny piece of			panero			breadcrumb
-um				(no definite meaning)	brakumi			to hug
-end			must be done			lernenda		must be learned
-ing			holder					kandelingo		candlestick
-obl			multiplication			duobla			double
-op				group					triopo			trio


SUFFIX -ECO

English uses various suffixes to create abstract nouns which in Esperanto end in -eco:
boneco - goodness
patrineco - motherhood
libereco - freedom
amikeco - friendship
egaleco - equality
English also has abstract words where it is no longer obvious that part of the word is or was a suffix:
saneco - health (from hale)
riĉeco - wealth (from weal)
LA BEFORE SOME ABSTRACT NOUNS

When we speak of some normally specific or concrete nouns in the abstract sense, we use the definite article la, though it is not required:

la amo - not one specific person's love for another, but love in the abstract sense
la kulturo - not one specific culture, but culture in the general or abstract sense
la espero - not my hope to receive a gift tomorrow, but the idea of hope in the abstract
DEPENDAS DE...

To depend on... is translated in Esperanto as dependi de (io).

LABORI PRI...

To work on... is translated in Esperanto as labori pri (io) or prilabori (ion).


IRI, MARŜI, PAŜI

There is some overlap in meaning between these three verbs. Here is a table to help clarify the differences:

verb	primary meaning	secondary meaning
iri	to go	to walk
marŝi	to walk	to march
paŝi	to step	to walk
REVIEW OF THE CORRELATIVES

KI-	TI-	I-	ĈI-	NENI-
-A	KIA(J)(N)	TIA(J)(N)	IA(J)(N)	ĈIA(J)(N)	NENIA(J)(N)
-AL	KIAL	TIAL	IAL	ĈIAL	NENIAL
-AM	KIAM	TIAM	IAM	ĈIAM	NENIAM
-E	KIE	TIE	IE	ĈIE	NENIE
-EL	KIEL	TIEL	IEL	ĈIEL	NENIEL
-ES	KIES	TIES	IES	ĈIES	NENIES
-O	KIO(N)	TIO(N)	IO(N)	ĈIO(N)	NENIO(N)
-OM	KIOM	TIOM	IOM	ĈIOM	NENIOM
-U	KIU(J)(N)	TIU(J)(N)	IU(J)(N)	ĈIU(J)(N)	NENIU(N)

ĴURNALO, REVUO, GAZETO, ETC

Esperanto	English
ĵurnalo	daily newspaper
gazeto	newspaper, magazine, review
revuo	magazine, periodical
gazetaro	the press
ĵurnalisto	journalist


USE OF ADVERB AFTER INFINITIVE OR INFINITIVE PHRASE

Lasi la hundon en la auto estas kruele. (NOT kruela)
To leave the dog in the car is cruel.

Lerni lingvojn ne devas esti malfacile. (NOT malfacila) Learning languages does not need to be difficult.

-N ENDING AFTER RILATE, INKLUZIVE

Instead of rilate al, one can use the -n ending on the object. Instead of inkluzive de, one can also use the -n ending on the object:

Mi ŝatas manĝi fruktojn, inkluzive oranĝojn. Mi ŝatas manĝi fruktojn, inkluzive de oranĝoj.
I like to eat fruits, including oranges.
Kion vi sentas rilate min?
Kion vi sentas rilate al mi?
What do you feel about me?