1.
Articles
2. Nouns
3. Adjectives
4. Numerals
5. Pronouns
6. Verbs
7. Adverbs
8. Prepositions
9. Pronunciation
10. Accent
11. Compound Words
12. Negatives
13. Direction
14. The Multipurpose Preposition
15. Borrowing Words
16. Elision
Some
Postnotes
1.
Word Order
2. Transitivity
3. Progression of Tenses
4. Desambiguation with -N
1. There is no indefinite ARTICLE
[English a, an]; there is only a definite article
la, alike for all genders, cases and numbers [English the].
Author's note: The use of the article is as in other languages.
People for whom use of the article offers difficulties [e.g.
speakers of Russian, Chinese, etc.]may at first elect not to use
it at all.
EXAMPLE
libro = book, a book
la libro = the book
The main difference between the use of the definite article in
Esperanto and in English is that in Esperanto the article, with
a singular noun, may be used to indicate an entire class.
EXAMPLE
la leono estas danghera besto = lions are dangerous animals
2.
NOUNS have the ending -o. To form the plural,
add the ending -j. There are only two cases: nominative
and accusative; the latter can be obtained from the nominative
by adding the ending -n. The other cases are expressed
with the aid of prepositions (genitive by de [English of],
dative by al [English to], ablative by per
[English by means of] or other prepositions, according
to meaning).
EXAMPLE
La hundo persekutis la katojn de la knaboj al la domo per bojado
= The dog chased the boys' cats to the house by barking.
3.
ADJECTIVES end in -a. Cases and numbers are as for
nouns. The comparative is made with the word pli [English
more], the superlative with plej [English most];
for the comparative the conjunction ol [English than]
is used.
EXAMPLES
La bruna hundo persekutas la nigrajn katojn
= The brown dog is chasing the black cats.
La bruna hundo estas pli granda ol la nigraj katoj
= The brown dog is larger than the black cats.
Sed la homo estas la plej granda el chiuj
= But the human being is the largest of all.
4.
The basic NUMERALS (not declined) are: unu, du, tri,
kvar, kvin, ses, sep, ok, naw, dek, cent, mil [English one,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, hundred,
thousand]. Tens and hundreds are formed by simple juxtaposition
of the numerals. To show ordinal numbers we add the adjective
ending; for multiples, the suffix -obl; for fractions [actually,
reciprocals], -on; for collectives, -op; for divisionals,
the word [particle] po. Noun and adverb numerals can also
be used.
EXAMPLES
Mil nawcent nawdek kvin = 1995.
La kvina trono = The fifth throne.
Duobla eraro = A double error.
Tri kvaronoj = Three quarters.
Duopo = A pair.
Mi donis al ili po tri pomojn
= I gave them three apples each.
The particle po causes many problems for beginning
speakers of Esperanto, particularly those whose native
language is English. First, there is a tendency to
put it in the wrong place:
EXAMPLE
*Mi rapidis cent kilometrojn po horo
= I was speeding along at a hundred kilometers an hour.
is wrong. po means at the rate of and, like the '@' sign in
English, should be placed as follows:
EXAMPLE
Mi rapidis po cent kilometrojn en horo
= I was speeding along at a hundred kilometers an hour.
Second, since the objects of prepositions generally don't
take the -n ending in Esperanto, there's a tendency to assume
that in a sentence like the example above the -n on the object
shouldn't be there:
EXAMPLE
*Mi donis al ili po tri pomoj
= I gave them three apples each.
Remember that po always takes as its object a numeral; any
associated noun takes whatever it would have if the po
weren't there at all.
5.
Personal PRONOUNS: mi, vi, li, shi, ghi (for an
object or animal), si, ni, vi, ili, oni [English I,
you, he, she, it, oneself, we, you, they, they-one-people];
the possessive pronouns are formed by addition of the adjective
ending. Declension is as for nouns.
EXAMPLES
Mi amas vin = I love you.
Mia hundo amas vian katon = My dog loves your cat.
Mi razas min kaj vi razas vin
= I shave myself and you shave yourself.
Sed la hispana barbisto razas sin
= But the Spanish barber shaves himself.
Oni diras, ke li amas shin
= It is said (people say) that he loves her.
Zamenhof also proposed a second-person-singular pronoun ci
[English thou]. It is occasionally used in poetry for effect,
and in the word cidiri -- to speak to someone in an intimate
fashion.
Some Esperanto speakers feel the need for a non-gender-specific
singular pronoun to refer in the third person to human beings.
Zamenhof recommended that the word ghi simply be used for this.
A few Esperanto speakers, however, primarily native speakers of
English, feel uncomfortable with this usage and have come up with
a new pronoun ri ("he/she"). It is rarely used and you are not
likely to encounter it. lishi, shili and shli have also been used
experimentally in this way. You won't encounter them, either.
Some other Esperanto speakers would prefer to have a specifically
female third-person plural pronoun. The word ishi has been used
for this. Again, you very likely will never encounter it.
6.
The VERB does not change for person or number. Forms of
the verb: present time takes the ending -as; past time,
-is; future time, -os; conditional mood, -us;
command mood, -u; infinitive mood, -i. Participles
(with adjectival or adverbial meaning): present active, -ant;
past active, -int; future active, -ont; present
passive, -at; past passive, -it; future passive,
-ot. All forms of the passive are formed with the aid of
the corresponding form of the verb esti [English to
be] and the passive participle of the required verb; the preposition
with the passive is de [English by].
EXAMPLES
Mi amas vin = I love you.
Mi amis vin
= I loved you
(but don't any longer, or it's irrelevant to what's happening now).
Mi amos vin
= I shall love you
(but haven't started yet, or it's irrelevant to what's happening now).
Se vi gajnus la loterion, mi amus vin
= If you were to win the lottery, I would love you
(but that's not likely).
Mi deziras, ke vi amu min; do amu min!
= I want you to love me; so love me!
Koni lin estas ami lin
= To know him is to love him.
It's probably worth noting that the Esperanto time-sense is
slightly different from that of English. If something as shown
in the present tense (-as), it is assumed to be happening, and
of interest, at the moment the sentence is expressed; if it is
shown in the past tense (-is), it is assumed to be either
completed or no longer of interest. If it is shown in the future
(-os), it is assumed to be either not yet begun or not yet of
interest. (This view of time and completion carries over into
the participles as well.) So in a few cases when in English
something might be expressed as having happened in the past,
in Esperanto it would be shown in the present, assuming that
it is still going on and still of interest.
EXAMPLE
Mi loghas chi-tie jam kvin jarojn
= I have been living here for five years already.
Participles are more accurately adjectives formed from
action roots than parts of the verb -- a situation somewwhat
different from that in English.
I use the term "command mood" instead of the more common
"imperative mood" to translate Zamenhof's modo ordona, since -u
covers a much wider range of uses than the traditional Western
imperative; in fact, it takes on many of the jobs ordinarily done
by the subjunctive (which does not exist as a separate entity in
Esperanto -- for which generations of Latin students may give
thanks!). Kalocsay and Waringhien refer to this form, in the
Plena Analiza Gramatiko, as the "volitive mood."
The Bulgarian Esperantologist Atanas Atanasov denies the existence
of passive verb forms in Esperanto -- and I find myself agreeing
with him. Use of the participial suffixes may be better understood
if you consider them as means of transforming verbs into
adjectives, not as parts of speech in themselves. The Western
passive voice is shown, as Zamenhof says, by coupling the verb
esti = "to be" with the "passive participles"; but these are not
really compound verb forms, merely the copula linked with an
adjective.
EXAMPLES
La sandvicho estis manghata
= The sandwich was (in a state of being) eaten.
La sandvicho estas manghita
= The sandwich is (in a state of having been) eaten.
La sandvicho estis manghita
= The sandwich was (in a state of having been) eaten.
La sandvicho estos manghota
= The sandwich will be (in a state of) going to be eaten.
Use of such forms is rare in Esperanto -- even rarer than it is
in English, where Strunk & White advise against them. Ordinary
passives can easily be converted into ordinary active sentences
in Esperanto, sometimes with the inversion that the -n ending
permits, and the pronoun oni makes translation of even agentless
passives as active very easy. William Auld, in his 100-page epic
poem La Infana Raso, doesn't use the passive once. Bureaucratese
is rare in Esperanto.
EXAMPLES
La katon persekutis la hundo
= The cat was chased by the dog.
Oni pafis la hundon
= The dog was shot.
7.
ADVERBS end in -e; comparison is as for adjectives.
EXAMPLES
La kato rapide kuris
= The cat ran fast.
La hundo pli rapide kuris ol la kato
= The dog ran faster than the cat.
Sed la gepardo plej rapide kuris el chiuj
= But the cheetah ran fastest of all.
8.
All PREPOSITIONS take the nominative.
EXAMPLES
La libroj de la knabo
= The boy's books (the books of the boy).
Mi faris tion por vi
= I did that for you.
Floroj kreskas chirkaw mia domo
= Flowers grow around my house.
Prepositions of location may also take objects with the -n ending
to show motion to that location; this follows from rule 13.
EXAMPLES
La muso kuris sub la tablo
= The mouse ran (around) under the table.
La muso kuris sub la tablon
= The mouse ran (to) under the table.
While the particles anstataw (instead of) and krom (besides, in
addition to) are generally classified (by analogy with their
equivalents in Western languages) as prepositions, their behavior
is more like that of coördinating conjunctions such as kiel.
So many Esperanto speakers will add the -n ending to the objects
of these "prepositions" when they coordinate with another word
that has an -n ending.
EXAMPLES
Mi amis shin anstataw li
= It was I, not he, who loved her.
Mi amis shin anstataw lin
= I loved her, not him.
9.
Every word is read as it is written.
The original Esperanto alphabet is :
A B
C C^ D E F G G^ H H^ I J J^ K L M N O P R S S^ T U U^ V Z
but
on this site the "fundamenta helpalfabeto" is used
(except
for u^ => w instead of u) :
A B
C Ch D E F G Gh H Hh I J Jh K L M N O P R S Sh T U W V Z
Letters always represent the same sound, and have values as in
english except in the fallowing list :
a, smash ; c, ts ; e, hey ; g, ground ; gh, joy ; hh, spanish "j" ;
i, machine ; j, yes ; jh, plesure ; r, spanish "r" ; u, you.
10.
The ACCENT always falls on the next-to-last syllable [vowel].
When accenting a noun with an elided -o, the accent always falls
where it would if the -o were still there. For elision, see rule 16.
11.
COMPOUND WORDS are formed by simple juxtaposition of words
(the main word stands at the end); the grammatical endings are
also viewed as independent words.
Depending upon the sound produced when the two words are put
together, the speaker may wish to insert a vowel between the
two. If this is done, the vowel should be an o if the leading
word is an object, or an i if the leading word is an action.
Purists might also wish to put in an n if the trailing word is
an action acting on the leading word, but this is not mandatory.
EXAMPLES
shipo (ship) + veturi (travel)
= ship(o)veturo (a journey by ship).
ami (to love) + plena (full)
= am(o)plena (full of love)
pagi (to pay) + povi (to be able)
= pag(i)pova (able to pay)
nenio (nothing) + fari (to do)
= neni(o[n])fara (doing nothing)
12.
When another NEGATIVE word is present, the word NE [English
no, not] is omitted.
EXAMPLES
Mi ne faris tion
= I didn't do that.
Mi neniam faris tion
= I never did that.
13.
To show DIRECTION, words take the accusative ending.
The n ending is used to show the destination of a motion or the
direct recipient of an action. To show the accusative (direct
object) case is only one of its uses.
EXAMPLES
La reghino iris Londonon
= The queen went to London.
La kato saltis sur la tablon
= The cat jumped onto the table.
When an action and a movement occur in the same expression and
confusion is otherwise unavoidable, the n ending is used only for
the action, while the preposition al is used for the movement.
EXAMPLES
Mi jhetis la katon sur la tablon
= I threw the cat onto the table.
(preposition does away with any confusion)
Mi sendis al li la leteron
= I sent him the letter.
(Mi sendis lin la leteron would be confusing)
14.
Every preposition has a definite and permanent meaning, but if
we have to use a preposition and the direct meaning doesn't tell
us what preposition we should take, then we use the preposition
JE, which has no independent meaning. Instead of je
the accusative without a preposition may be used.
EXAMPLES
Li vetas je la chevaloj
= He bets on the horses.
Mi alvenos je la oka horo
= I'll arrive at eight o'clock (the eighth hour).
Li vizitos nin je lundo
= He'll visit us on Monday.
Li lundon vizitos nin
= He'll visit us on Monday.
Since this rule gives us permission to use the -n ending instead
of the preposition je, some Esperanto speakers also assume that it
permits us to use the preposition je instead of the -n ending.
This is a convenience when we encounter a word (such as a proper
name) which doesn't lend itself well to taking a regular Esperanto
ending.
EXAMPLES
Mi ja konas Glazunovski-on
= I do know Glazunovski.
Mi ja konas je Glazunovski
= I do know Glazunovski.
An honorific can also be used to get around this problem.
EXAMPLE
Mi ja konas sinjoron Glazunovski
= I do know Mr. Glazunovski.
15.
The so-called FOREIGN WORDS, i.e. those taken by the majority
of languages from one source, are used in Esperanto without change,
taking on only the orthography of this language; but for different
words from a single root it is better to use without change only
the basic word, and form the rest from this latter according to
the rules of Esperanto.
EXAMPLES
lakso = diarrhoea
konstipo = constipation <-- borrowed
mallakso = constipation <-- internally created
bona = good
mava = bad <-- borrowed
malbona = bad <-- internally created
komputi = to compute
komputero = computer <-- borrowed
komputilo = computer <-- internally created
arbo = tree
forsto = forest <-- borrowed
arbaro = forest <-- internally created
ami = to love
hati = to hate <-- borrowed
malami = to hate <-- internally created
dis = in various directions (prefix)
separi = to separate <-- borrowed
disigi = to separate <-- internally created
There has been much dialectic about this topic during the history
of Esperanto. For two good polemical accounts (from opposite
sides) see Claude Piron's La Bona Lingvo (The Good Language) and
Fernando de Diego's Pri Esperanta Tradukarto (On the Art of
Translation in Esperanto). What Zamenhof means by "the majority
of languages" is no longer as clear as it was a hundred years ago.
16.
The FINAL VOWEL of the noun and the article may be dropped
and replaced by an apostrophe [without effect on stress].
EXAMPLES
L' espero, l' obstino kaj la pacienco...
= Hope, stubbornness and patience...
Ho, mia kor', ne batu maltrankvile...
= Oh, my heart, do not beat nervously...
N.B. The noun ending may be elided only if it does not have a
plural or accusative ending attached to it!
Postnotes
Here
follow some comments on grammar that fall outside the explicit
descriptions of the basic 16 rules.
Word
Order
Rules
2, 3, 6 and 7 above show one of Esperanto's fundamental differences
from English: its use of grammar-coding for showing the roles
that words play in a sentence. English does the same thing, but
not with the same consistency (the common adverbial ending -LY
occasionally shows up in adjectives, as friendly, and conversely
the ending -WISE is often used today); and furthermore the primary
English grammatical ending (-S, often pronounced -Z) is heavily
overloaded, being used for the plural, the genitive case, and
the third person present singular of the verb. For all intents
and purposes these endings in English are fossilized, and could
be lost without much loss of meaning; English depends heavily
on word order to give a sentence proper meaning.
Speakers of Esperanto often brag that their language has been
freed from the chains of word order. This is an exaggeration.
Rule 8, for instance, implies that nouns are sometimes linked
together by prepositions, and the very name preposition
indicates that its noun object must follow the preposition,
as in English (though not Japanese, where postpositions
are used, and the object of the postposition must precede
the postposition). Similarly, Esperanto adverbs, which can modify
a variety of different types of words, should always precede
the word they modify; this is particularly important for such
words as ne, ankaw, nur, ech and
one or two other particles usually (and perhaps incorrectly) described
as adverbs which can be associated with nouns as well as the usual
verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.
But the claim still contains much truth. There are two basic forms
of word order that are much freer in Esperanto than in English.
The first of these is the order of a noun and its adjective modifiers.
An adjective in English must be placed before the noun
it modifies (with the occasional exception, as when you are trying
of a "pseudo-archaic" atmosphere). An adjective in Esperanto
may be placed before or after the noun it modifies, and
can even be separated from it by other words, if this will not
cause any ambiguity; as an example, while the object of a preposition
must follow the preposition, in Esperanto as in English, adjectives
modifying that object may even be placed before the preposition,
as in the following translation from the poetry of Matthew Arnold:
