Esperanto Grammar

If you're trying to learn the most essential topics about Esperanto you will find some useful resources including a course about adjectives, adverbs, articles, gender (feminine, masculine...), negation, nouns, numbers, phrases, plural, prepositions, pronouns, questions, verbs, vocabulary, excercises... to help you with your Esperanto grammar Enjoy our courses!

Esperanto Lessons

Learning Esperanto can help you communicate with other people who speak Esperanto. The following courses will provide you with some help based on the lessons you choose. Here is a list of what we offer:

1      Plural Lesson

While in English, the plural is formed by adding -s to the singular, in Esperanto, to form the plural of nouns and adjectives we add -j . Here are some examples:

 

Unu amiko (a friend) becomes: Kelkaj amikoj (some friends)

Unu virino (one woman) becomes: Kelkaj virinoj (some women)

Tiu estas mia ruĝa aŭtmobilo (this is my red car) becomes: Tiuj estas miaj ruĝaj aŭtomobiloj (these are my red cars).

 

2      Adverbs Lesson

While in English adverbs are usually formed by adding (-ly) to adjectives. In Esperanto all adverbs are formed from adjectives, simply by replacing the ending -a by -e. Examples:

 

Publika (public) becomes publike (publicly);

Rapida (rapid) becomes rapide (rapidly);

Bona (good) becomes bone (well);

Perfekta (perfect) becomes perfekte (perfectly).

There are no exceptions.

 

3      Adjectives Lesson

While in English an adjective doesn’t change when the noun changes, in Esperanto an adjective should agree in case and number with the noun. For example:

a)    Singular to plural example:

Tiu estas mia blanka kato (this is my white cat) becomes: Tiuj estas miaj blankaj katoj (these are my white cats).

As you can see from the example above, the adjective takes the plural form.

b)    n-form example:

Tiu estas mia blanka kato (this is my white cat)  becomes: Mi amas mian blankan katon (I love my white cat).

Tiuj estas miaj blankaj katoj (these are my white cats) becomes: Mi amas miajn blankajn katojn (I love my white cats).

As you can see from the example above, the adjective takes the n-form.

 

4      Numbers Lesson

In Esperanto numbers from 1 to 10 are unique and therefore need to be memorized individually. Numbers from 11 and upwards are formed by using the following pattern: for example 21 can be formed by using 20 + 1 while connecting them. 21 = dudek-unu. 22 = dudek-du. 45 = kvardek-kvin. 17 = dek-sep. 77 = sepdek-sep. 71 = sepdek-unu.

 

 

5      Articles Lesson

Definite Article:

Like English, which has the definite article “the", Esperanto has the definite article “la":

la libro (the book),

la libroj (the books).

 

Indefinite Article:

While we have (a / an / some) in English as indefinite articles, there are no such in Esperanto .

In general, whenever (a, an) are used in English, you may leave them untranslated or use “iu” (anyone) to say the equivalent in Esperanto.

Hundo venis. (A dog came.)

Iu hundo venis. (Some dog came.)

Li mendis libron. (He ordered a book.)

 

Example: La libroj, kiujn mi havas, estas en domo de amiko. (The books I have are in a house of a friend.)

 

6      Verbs Lessons

·         Present Tense

In Esperanto, verbs take the ending -as to form the present tense:

Mi ludas, vi ludas, li/ŝi/ĝi ludas, ni ludas, vi ludas, ili ludas.

(I play, you play, he/she/it plays, we play, you play, they play.)

 

·         Past Tense

In Esperanto as well as in English the simple past tense (imperfect) is used to describe past events. The ending for the past tense verbs  is -is:

Mi ludis, vi ludis, li/ŝi/ĝi ludis, ni ludis, vi ludis, ili ludis.

(I played, you played, he/she/it played, we played, you played, they played.)

 

·         Future Tense

To form the future in Esperanto is very easy, just use the whole infinitive verb plus the ending -os. Example:

Mi ludos, vi ludos, li/ŝi/ĝi ludos, ni ludos, vi ludos, ili ludos.

(I will play, you will play, he/she/it will play, we will play, you will play, they will play.)

 

7      Asking a Question Lesson

In Esperanto, to ask a question to get a yes or no answer, use ĉu at the beginning of the phrase:

- Ĉu ŝi havas liberan tempon? (Does she have free time?)

 

You can also make a question by adding a tag question to the end of a statement.

- Ŝi havas liberan tempon, ĉu ne? (She has free time, doesn’t she)

 

8      Negation Lesson

 

In Esperanto, negation can be made simply by placing "ne" before the main verb. There is no double negative. 

Mi ne povas fari tion (I can't do this). 

Mi ne ŝatas tion (I don't like it).

Ili ne havas ion por fari (they don't have anything to do). 

 

 

9      Feminine Lesson

To form a feminine word from the masculine in Esperanto, you simply add (-in) to the word stem. Here are some examples:

 

Filo (son) becomes Filino (daughter), studento (student masc. or ĝeneral) becomes studentino  (student fem.), onklo (uncle) becomes onklino (aunt).

 

 

10   Pronouns Lesson

In English personal pronouns are (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they), and (me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them). In Esperanto, the personal pronouns are:

Mi (I), vi (you), li (he), ŝi (she), ĝi (it), 

Ni (we), ili (they).

Examples: mi lernas (I learn), vi lernas (you learn; same for singular and plural), li lernas (he learns), ŝi lernas (she learns), ĝi lernas (it learns), ni lernas (we learn), ili lernas (they learn),.

 

Possessive Pronouns:

Mia (mine), via (yours), lia / ŝia / ĝia (his, hers, its), nia (ours), via (yours), ilia (theirs).

 

Indirect Object Pronouns:

Indirect object pronouns are words that replace the indirect object, which is usually a person.

Min (me), vin (you), lin / ŝin / ĝin (him, her, it), nin (us), vin (you), ilin (them):

Examples: Vin mi amas (I love you). Legu ĝin (Read it).

We hope the lessons above helped you learn Esperanto. To learn other topics please check our homepage here: Learn Esperanto. Don't forget to bookmark this page.

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