Introduction to Esperanto

Contents
About lernu!
About Esperanto
Introduction to the language
Sentences

Multilingual website to find out about and learn Esperanto.

About lernu!

Introduction

lernu: word in Esperanto which means "learn!"

General information

lernu!: a free website for getting to know and learning the international language, Esperanto.
It's also a sort of experiment in learning languages online, without a teacher, and without classes. We are open to working together and we would gladly exchange experiences and ideas!

Background

The idea of lernu! as a learning environment was born in connection with the first Esperanto@Interreto (E@I) seminar in Sweden in April 2000, and was solidified in October 2001 during the second E@I, also in Sweden.
In July 2002, the project received support from the foundation ESF, and we started work that August. The official launch happened four months later, in December 2002.
Over the years, many different people have contributed to the project and influenced it. You can help out too; here are some different ways to do it.

Supporters

The lernu! project is financially supported by the American research foundation "Esperantic Studies Foundation", ESF. The team which created this website is a part of the international workgroup Esperanto@Interreto, E@I.

Esperantic Studies Foundation

ESF was founded in 1968 by Humphrey Tonkin, Jonathan Pool, and E. James Lieberman, to support and stimulate the growth of English-language technical literature on Esperanto. Little by little, the use of Esperanto in education became one of the foundation's primary focuses, due in part to its affiliation with the North American Summer Esperanto Courses, NASK, which it supports financially and helps organize.

Esperanto@Interreto

E@I is a workgroup affiliated with the World Esperanto Youth Organization. It works on projects which help Esperanto speakers use the Internet to cooperate worldwide, become informed about Esperanto and teach it. The three main actions of E@I are creating websites, organizing seminars and informing about how Esperanto and the Internet can be used together to communicate worldwide easily and quickly!

Team

Introducing... THE LERNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Name: Bertilo WENNERGREN

Country: South Korea and Germany (with a Swedish passport)

Responsibilities: Programming and language advice

Introduction: I was born in 1956. I learned Esperanto in 1980 (after being interested in the language for many years). I am a programmer and musician, and a member of the Academy of Esperanto. I live together with my wife mostly in Seoul, South Korea, but for part of the year in Germany. Esperanto is our home language.

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Name: Erin PIATESKI

Country: United States

Responsibilities: Translates the lernu! website into English, helps with sound recording, and organises collaboration between lernu! and NASK.

Introduction: I was born in 1980, near the capital city of the United States. I started learning Esperanto in 1995 because I heard that Esperanto was an easy language, and I wanted to be able to fluently speak a foreign language. I didn't imagine at all at the time that you could travel using Esperanto. I am a mechanical engineer. In my free time I like to read and to cook vegetarian food from around the world.

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Name: Hokan LUNDBERG

Country: Sweden

Responsibilities: In lernu! helps with programming, courses, and planning.

Introduction: I was born in Sweden in 1972 and started with Esperanto as a 25-year old. Since then, I have been active in various Esperanto projects and organizations. In 2002 I went to live in Belgrade (Serbia) with Sonja Petrovic (another team member) and worked full-time on Esperanto projects, mostly lernu.net, for 3 years. Now I live in Stockholm (Sweden) and I teach programming at a high school.

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Name: Jevgenij GAUS

Country: Lithuania

Responsibilities: Is now the primary programmer of lernu!.

Introduction: I started my life in the year 1978. In 1999 I started to learn Esperanto and after several months of learning, started to teach it. Now I study law and at the same time, I am involved in Esperanto. I really like to keep busy with various international projects.

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Name: Neringa ZASAITĖ

Country: Lithuania

Responsibilities: Is occupied with the content of lernu!, creates exercises, works on the sections "Periodicals" and "Word of the day", helps with translation of lernu!.

Introduction: In the year 1984, destiny decided that I should begin to see the world, and I ... was born. I began to learn Esperanto in 2001 and little by little became busy with various E-projects. Now I dedicate much time to lernu! and to the Lithuanian language internet magazine "Esperanto mozaika". Aside from that I study computer science at a Lithuanian university.

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Name: Sonja PETROVIĆ

Country: Serbia and Montenegro (but now lives in Sweden)

Responsibilities: Official coordinator of lernu! projects, is occupied with a bit of nearly everything ;-).

Introduction: In the year 1998, as a 15-year old, I decided to learn Esperanto to experience countries other than the ex-Yugoslavia, where I was born. In retrospect, it was a good idea: thanks to Esperanto, I have done a lot of international travel, until 2004, when my daughter Iva was born. In 2005 we moved to Sweden, the home country of Iva's father, Hokan.
Aside from Esperanto projects and playing with the little one, I study and I enjoy reading, meeting friends, growing flowers and vegetables, and decorating our new home.

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Important team members

Aaron CHAPMAN

Provides voice and recording and was the chief visual designer of lernu!. He lives with his wife Charlene in Vancouver, Canada. Aaron is one of the first team members.

Allon ROTHFARB

A programmer from Israel. Helped with programming and making the Hebrew version (and other languages written right to left - RTL) of the site functional.

Chuck SMITH

The founder of the Wikipedia in Esperanto and Eklaboru. He helped translate and test lernu!.

Clayton SMITH

The first head programmer of the site. He is now occupied with server administration at lernu!

Cleve LENDON

Programmer from Canada who now lives in Tokyo, Japan. In lernu! he created the word separator for the dictionary and several games. As well as creating software and Esperanto homepages, Cleve enjoys Irish dancing.

Helen CLAESSON

Drew most of the illustrations on the site, including pictures for the courses "Gerda Malaperis", "Jen nia IJK", "Ana Pana", and "Ana Renkontas", pictures in the concise grammar, and all pictures with Maz the cat.

Henning VON ROSEN

Contributed much to the concept of lernu!, was one of the first team members. Helped create a picture dictionary for lernu!. Henning lives in Sweden.

Ingvar VON SCHOULTZ

He lives in Sweden. He helped lernu! with programming, primarily for the course "Vojaĝu kun Zam".

Oleg IZYUMENKO

Helped lernu! with translation into Russian, language tutoring, and implementation of Google technologies at the site. Also worked to obtain support from Google for lernu! and implement lernu!'s participation in Google's programs.

Radojica PETROVIC

Created exercises for the lernu! course "Jen nia IJK". Teaches computer science and teaching methods at a university in Ĉaĉak, Serbia and Montenegro. Radojica is the president of ILEI (the International League of Esperanto Teachers). Does a lot of work for project Interkulturo.

Vitaly MONASTYREV

A programmer from the Ukraine, now living in Germany. Helped with programming and the downloadable version of lernu!.

About Esperanto

Introduction

Hey, I'm Zam! This introduction will reflect how we in the lernu! team see Esperanto, based on our experiences. There are many worthwhile and interesting ways to use Esperanto, and that's what you'll find here!

What is Esperanto?

It's a language that is particularly useful for international communication.

Important traits of Esperanto

International: Esperanto is most useful for communicating among people of diverse nations who do not have a common mother tongue.
Neutral: It doesn't belong to one people or country, so it works as a neutral language.
Equal: When you use Esperanto, you feel more equal from a linguistic standpoint than when, for example, you speak Spanish with a native Spanish speaker.
Relatively easy: Thanks to the structure of Esperanto, it's usually much easier to master than other foreign languages.
Living: Esperanto evolves and lives just like other languages, and it can be used to express the most varied facets of human thought and emotion.

We created this website because we like using Esperanto. Everyday we use it to communicate with friends in different countries and continents, mostly online. We find Esperanto to be a good tool for making new friends and working together with people who speak different native languages.

The idea of Esperanto

The idea of Esperanto is: the foundation of a neutral language will help break down barriers between people and help everyone see each other as neighbors. [L. Zamenhof, 1912]

The basic idea of Esperanto is about tolerance and respect for people of diverse nations and cultures. Communication is indeed the essential part of understanding each other, and if that communication happens through a neutral language, that can help the feeling that we 'meet' on equal grounds and help create respect for one another.

As an ordinary speaker of Esperanto, you don't often think about the "foundation of a neutral language" and those kinds of fancy expressions. You just enjoy having the ability to express yourself freely in conversations with people from other countries and cultures.

L. Zamenhof 1859-1917

Zamenhof grew up in a multi-ethnic city, Byalistok (which lies in what is now Poland) where he often saw quarrels between different ethnic groups. This is why he became interested in creating a new language which could work as a bridge between the diverse ethnicities. In his youth, he kept working on his language project and at the age of 27, he presented it under the pseudonym "Doctor Esperanto." Zamenhof was a Jew, worked as an eye doctor and had a family with many children. He also tried to create a 'neutral religion' Homaranismo, but that project never really became popular. Esperanto has no relation to any religion or sect.

History of Esperanto

The beginning

Esperanto was initiated by L. Zamenhof at the end of the 19th century through a book called Lingvo Internacia. People who wanted to have international contacts started to learn and use the language. This is how Esperanto came into being. After a while it became stable and evolved into the language which is used and enjoyed by people in many countries.

First hundred years

Zamenhof presented the language in 1887 and during the first one hundred years it has been spreading around the world. The basic principles of grammar, word creation and speaking have not changed, except for the meanings of some words. Also, many new words have entered the language. One hundred years is not a long time for a language! But many people have already learned and used the language and have therefore contributed to its natural evolution.

The future of Esperanto depends on you and me! Everyone who uses Esperanto and is interested in it will contribute to its evolution.

Uses for Esperanto

There are many ways we use Esperanto. The most common ways are listed below.

Travelling It's very interesting to travel 'in' Esperanto. You can stay in the home of other Esperanto speakers (usually for free) and in this way you get an insider's view of the country/region. The Pasporta Servo book, which has addresses of hosts in more than 80 countries, is published every year (Click on the picture if you want more information.)

International meetings

Different kinds of meetings regularly go on in Esperanto. Some examples are: International Youth Congress (meeting with generally 400 young people), Esperanto@Interreto seminars (seminars about the Internet), Universal Congress (the largest convention, normally with more than 1500 participants) and the Internacia Seminario (a large New Year's Party in Germany)

Online

If you like to use e-mail, instant messengers or newsgroups, then you will have plenty of possibilities to use Esperanto to talk about anything and everything. In fact, the Internet and Esperanto go well together! (Click on the picture if you want to read more.)

Culture

Esperanto has its own culture: music, literature, plays, etc. Here you can get a taste of it.

Music

Here are some popular groups. (Click on the picture to hear the songs from the CD.)

Our heartfelt thanks to Eurokka (Esperanto-Universala-Rok-Organizo, Kolektiva Komunik-Asocio) - whose purpose is to develop and spread the culture of Esperanto music, and the bands and artists who sing in Esperanto, both inside and outside of the Esperanto movement - for help in getting rights to use the music at lernu!.

Here you will find introduction to several bands, their songs in mp3 format, and texts from the songs.

Literature

There are many books in Esperanto, both original and translated. Here are some covers:

"Even the first brochure about Esperanto had a poem in it. From the beginning, people saw how richly and beautifully they could express themselves in Esperanto; it's indeed a language in which you feel free. So, they started to use it as an art. This is how literature was born that was richer than that of many languages in the first century of their existence." (Claude Piron)

You will find some very interesting stories in the library.

Esperanto FAQ

Here are the answers to some common questions about Esperanto. If you have a question that isn't answered here, you're welcome to write to demando@lernu.net.

How many people speak Esperanto?
Nobody really knows. There aren't many speakers compared to the "big" languages, but there are enough that you can use the language in lots of ways. For a few concrete examples, check out the page on Fields of Use.

What languages are closest to Esperanto?
It depends how you look at it... Many of the root words come from European languages, but the grammar of Esperanto has many traits that are atypical for European languages, which make it somewhat similar to perhaps Turkish, Swahili or even Chinese.

Is it easy to learn Esperanto?
Compared to other languages, certainly. But as with learning any language, some find it easier than others. You're certainly at an advantage if you already speak another foreign language.

Why is the language called Esperanto?
In the beginning, it was called Lingvo Internacia - the international language. When Zamenhof introduced the language, he used the name Dr. Esperanto (it means 'doctor who hopes'). Some people started to call it "the language of Dr. Esperanto", which was eventually shortened to just "Esperanto", which is the most common name today.

Are there any symbols of Esperanto? Yes, a few in fact. The green star has traditionally been used as a symbol of Esperanto, and it's a part of the Esperanto flag. The color green is a sign of hope, and the five points of the star symbolise the five continents.

Links to interesting webpages

Here you can find more information about Esperanto, in many languages. Happy surfing!

Organisations

Worldwide Organisation of Young Esperantists: www.tejo.org
Universal Esperanto Association: www.uea.org
Esperantic Studies Foundation: www.esperantic.org
Esperanto@Interreto: www.ikso.net

Information pages

Links to Esperanto pages in other languages: www.esperanto.net
Panorama of Esperanto pages: www.esperanto-panorama.net
Complete calendar of Esperanto events: www.eventoj.hu
For and about linguistic equality: www.lingvo.org
Internet Information Centre: www.ikso.net/ric

Partner websites

Service for teachers and students of Esperanto: www.edukado.net
Fun and educational about languages: www.lingvo.info
For intercultural exchanges: www.interkulturo.net

Newspapers

La Esperanta Gazetejo: www.gazetejo.org
El Popola Ĉinio: www.espero.com.cn
Juna Amiko: www.lernu.net/biblioteko/gazetoj/juna_amiko/index.php
Komencanto: www.komencanto.narod.ru/komencanto.htm
Kontakto: www.lernu.net/biblioteko/gazetoj/kontakto.php
La Espero: www.esperanto.se/espero
La Gazeto: www.osiek.org/lagazeto
La Ondo de Esperanto: www.esperanto.org/Ondo
Litova Stelo: www.esperanto.lt/lstelo.html
Pola Esperantisto: www.hejme.com.pl
REGo: www.reu.ru/rego
Tejo-tutmonde: www.lernu.net/biblioteko/gazetoj/tt.php

Other courses

Great course you can download at: www.ikurso.net
Correspondence course: www.pacujo.net/esperanto/course

Chat Rooms

Ĝangalo-Babilejo: www.gxangalo.com/babilejo2
Babilejo.org: www.babilejo.org
Senlima Babilejo: www.home.scarlet.be
Esperanto babilejo: www.gportal.hu/portal/babilejo
Babilanto: www.ludanto.org/babilanto

Radio Stations

Radio Verda: www.radioverda.com
Guide to Radio in Esperanto: www.bongo.ne.jp
Eŭroponto: www.europonto.org/esperanto/radio_eo.htm

Why should I learn?

Yeah, why? Or, why not?... Below you will see how one of the lernu! team members answered this question.

Because	Concrete example
It's fun to learn a new language that's more regular and flexible than other languages usually are.	When I had to learn English in school, I sometimes started to cry when I ran into all of the irregularities and strange rules. That didn't happen when I learned Esperanto.
It's good for self-confidence to master a foreign language.	For more than ten years, I continually tried to master English but didn't succeed! When after three years of sporadic Esperanto study, I freely expressed myself with it, I was very pleased with myself.
It helps you learn about the general functioning of languages.	For example, I didn't know what an adverb was until I started studying Esperanto.
It will be easier to learn another language later, if you want to.	At least, that's what I heard from friends who learned other languages after Esperanto... However, personally, I'm too lazy to learn a national language.
With Esperanto, you will support a good idea that is based on a neutral lingual foundation and aims to remove the walls between the peoples, and create friendship between all people.	It feels good to support a really concrete project for peace, even though it's difficult to remember to always be personally peaceful.
With it, you will get access to the culture surrounding the language Esperanto.	One of the most interesting books that I ever read was originally written in Esperanto.
With it, you will get access to an alternative international source of information.	I really like CNN, but sometimes it's worthwhile to speak with a "local" and hear how they experienced the event before forming my own opinion.
With it you can gain access to foreign cultures relatively easily.	To eat with a family in Beijing, ski with a good friend in Poland, live with my girlfriend in Belgrade - I certainly wouldn't have done that without Esperanto.
With Esperanto you can communicate on the same level with people from other countries.	When I occasionally spoke in English with Argilo from Canada (a programmer at lernu!) I felt that I was in a lesser position. Using Esperanto with him, I feel that we are both at the same level, at least from a lingual point of view.
When you speak Esperanto you can go to interesting and fun events all over the world.	In the summer, I plan to go to a huge youth meeting in Russia, and in that case, also to a seminar in China. I'm already excited!
You can usually stay as a guest for free with Esperanto speakers around the world.	Why pay for a hotel if you can stay with an Esperanto speaker? I have done this a lot during my trips and saved a lot of money.
Thanks to knowledge of Esperanto, you can travel cheaply to various training seminars.	I think that I participated in or arranged more than ten training seminars and almost always, TEJO paid the travel and lodging costs.
When you speak the language, you can become active in international organizations, learn a lot about how those organizations work, and organize stuff yourself.	For me it has been a very pleasing and important experience to be in various boards, organize seminars, arrange festivals, etc.
With Esperanto you can become experienced in international and intercultural relations.	When you often communicate and relate with people from other countries and cultures, it's completely natural that you learn from that, although sometimes only after multiple misunderstandings and surprises.
With it you will find new friends in a various countries.	After a few years in the world of Esperanto, I immediately noticed that I have a lot more friends abroad than in my home country.
This is the only way that you can check out whether Esperanto is a good language or not, and see if the points above are true!	Don't just believe me, try for yourself.

(Answered by Hokan LUNDBERG)

What next?

Do you want to learn Esperanto, but aren't sure how you can use it later? Or maybe you think that Esperanto isn't used anywhere? With this article, we want to prove to those who have doubts about the usefulness of the international language, that Esperanto lives and can be useful for a lot of things. Are you ready? So let's start...

Almost every person probably dreams about many interesting travels across the whole world. Travelling with Esperanto is very interesting, because you can contact local Esperantists and become friends with them. There is also a special service for people who like to travel, which is called Pasporta Servo. It is a booklet with many addresses of people all over the world. These people are ready to accept travellers in their homes for one or several nights, completely free of charge. If you travel without using Esperanto, you usually just visit a lot of scenic places and learn little about the true daily lives of the local people, but if you travel with Esperanto, you can become more deeply acquainted with a country and learn about the traditions and customs of the local inhabitants, with the help of local Esperantists. In that way, by knowing Esperanto, you have friends in every country, who are ready to help you. If you like to bicycle, you can contact the Biciklista Esperantista Movado Internacia [International Esperantist Bicyclist Movement] and travel together with other members of the organization.

Are you a timid person who finds it difficult to get to know other people? Or maybe you're very outgoing and have many friends, but want to have even more? In both cases, Esperanto is for you. With this language, any kind of person can easily find new friends. It's possible to do that, for example, by correspondence. In various Esperanto-language newspapers and magazines, and online, you can easily find addresses of people who want to correspond. So why not write to them? By corresponding with them, you will not only find new friends, but also find out a lot about their countries and traditions. In addition, it's fun to have a lot of friends and to be able to meet them later during various Esperanto events. We especially recommend the correspondence service of Edukado.net.

If Esperanto events have already been mentioned, we should tell more about them. Almost every day in various parts of our world, congresses, festivals campouts, and other large or small events for Esperantists take place. To understand how useful Esperanto can be, it's worthwhile to try to participate in at least one of these events. Imagine an event, attended by several hundred people from several dozen countries, and each person carries with them a piece of their culture. In all truth, it's hard to write about it, you really have to experience it for yourself. The largest Esperanto events are the IJK (International Youth Congress) and the UK (Universal Congress), which happen each year, in a different country each time. There is one other type of event - seminars, which are usually organized by TEJO (Worldwide Esperanto Youth Organization), and E@I (Esperanto at Internet). People who want to gain experience in various topics attend seminars. Usually 2-4 seminars happen each year, and by attending them it's possible to gain experience in topics like human rights, project management, active citizenship, internet techniques, etc. During these seminars ideas for new international projects are proposed. For example, the idea for lernu! was born during one of these seminars.

You can also try to become involved with organization of various events. You can organize an event in your country and invite Esperantists from other countries to it. By doing that, you gain unique experience, which you can make use of later in various aspects of your life. You can also try to participate in some international projects as a helper. For example, the lernu! project always needs help in translation or correction of errors.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to participate in various events. But don't despair - find out about local Esperanto clubs in your country. It could be that even in your own city there is such a club. During the club meetings you can exchange news, improve your knowledge of Esperanto, chat, and pass some time with friends in other enjoyable ways.

Does your city not have a club? In that case, create one. :-) To achieve that, teach Esperanto to other people. Arrange a course in Esperanto and spread information about it in your city.

Read in Esperanto. It's very easy to do that, because Esperanto has quite a rich literature. There are a lot of interesting original works, which exist only in Esperanto. You can also read translations from national literature. Almost all famous works have already been translated into Esperanto.

Subscribe to publications in Esperanto. There are several dozen paper Esperanto periodicals that you can subscribe to, and in which you'll find a lot of interesting information. If you use the internet a lot, you can find magazines, bulletins, newsletters, and mailing lists online.

If you are interested in increasing the richness of Esperanto literature, you can start to compose or translate. Try to do that and perhaps thanks to Esperanto, you will discover in yourself yet one more skill - the talent of an author. And if you like to translate, you can also easily do that. You can translate from Esperanto to your national language, or vice versa.

Don't like to read much? In that case, try to listen to radio broadcasts. There are several radio stations which regularly broadcast their programs. With them you can not only learn something new, but also simply relax, listening to Esperanto music.

You can study with Esperanto. For example, in The International Academy of the Sciences in San Marino one of the official languages is Esperanto.

You can make use of Esperanto also in your profession. Simply contact Esperantists who have the same profession as you, or who are interested in the same topic, and exchange ideas and experiences with them. If you want to, you can even start up an international business. Learn about existing Esperanto organizations for various topics. It could be that an organization already exists that links together people who are interested in the same thing as you. In addition, there are many online mailing lists for diverse topics. Choose those, that interest you, and subscribe to them.

You and your friends can use Esperanto as a secret language. :-) Sometimes it's useful to be able to speak with someone so that no one else can understand you. However, be careful and make certain that no one around you understands Esperanto. :-)

Many Esperantists use Esperanto as a family language. That happens when two Esperantists meet, fall in love, and later get married, but each one speaks a different language. So which language should they speak within the family??? In Esperanto, of course. :-) In that way children appear, whose first language is Esperanto.

Not all of the uses of Esperanto are listed in this article, because it would be difficult to list and discuss them all. You can only be certain of one thing - with Esperanto you can have many new and interesting experiences, and in that way, enrichen your life. Using this language, you can do anything at all - have fun, be sad, fall in love, work, gain experience, travel, read, get married, etc.

Introduction to the language

Introduction

Hi! I'm Zam! I'd like to show you some things about the international language, Esperanto.

Alphabet

Here is the Esperanto alphabet. Each letter always makes the same sound, and spelling is perfectly regular. Click the examples to hear how they're pronounced!

A		ami - to love	B		bela - beautiful	C		celo - goal
Ĉ		ĉokolado - chocolate	D		doni - to give	E		egala - equal
F		facila - easy	G		granda - big	Ĝ		ĝui - to enjoy
H		horo - hour	Ĥ		ĥoro - choir	I		infano - child
J		juna - young	Ĵ		ĵurnalo - newspaper	K		kafo - coffee
L		lando - country	M		maro - sea	N		nokto - night
O		oro - gold	P		paco - peace	R		rapida - fast
S		salti - to jump	Ŝ		ŝipo - ship	T		tago - day
U		urbo - city	Ŭ		aŭto - car	V		vivo - life
Z		zebro - zebra

Nouns

All nouns in Esperanto end with O. (Nouns are names of thıngs.)

amiko - friend	arbo - tree
birdo - bird	domo - house
hundo - dog	kato - cat
libro - book	strato - street
urbo - city	viro - man

Plural

To make a noun plural, add a J. This makes the ending sound like oy.

amikoj - friends	arboj - trees
birdoj - birds	domoj - houses
hundoj - dogs	katoj - cats
libroj - books	stratoj - streets
urboj - cities	viroj - men

Object

In Esperanto, we show the direct object of a sentence by adding an N. This lets us change the order of the parts of the sentence without changing the meaning. (A direct object is that which is directly acted upon by the verb)

La hundo amas la katon. - the dog loves the cat

La katon amas la hundo. - means the same thing because the N is still on the same noun.
Moving the N will change the meaning.

La kato amas la hundon. - the cat loves the dog.

Adjectives

All adjectives in Esperanto end with A. (Adjectives are used to describe nouns.)

alta - tall/high	bela - beautiful
facila - easy	granda - big
longa - long	nova - new
pura - clean	sana - healthy
seka - dry	varma - warm

Prefixes

Check this out! Adding MAL to the beginning of a word gives it the opposite meaning.

malalta - short/low	malbela - ugly	malfacila - difficult
malgranda - small	mallonga - short	malnova - old
malpura - dirty	malseka - wet	malvarma - cold

MAL is an example of a prefix. Prefixes go in front of words to make new words. In Esperanto there are 10 different prefixes.

Suffixes

There are also many ways to make new words using special suffixes. For example, ET makes something smaller.

dometo - cottage	libreto - booklet	beleta - cute
varmeta - lukewarm	urbeto - town	hundeto - small dog

ET is an example of a suffix. Suffixes go on the end of words to make new words. In Esperanto there are 31 different suffixes.

Verbs

Verbs, of course, are very important. But you'll find they're also very simple in Esperanto. (Verbs are action words.)

doni - to give	fari - to do/make	havi - to have
ludi - to play	paroli - to speak	povi - to be able
ridi - to laugh	scii - to know	vidi - to see

Verb forms

Infinitives end in I. In the present tense, verbs always end in AS, in the past in IS, and in the future in OS. There are no irregular verbs!

esti
mi estas - I am vi estas - you are li estas - he is ŝi estas - she is ĝi estas - it is ni estas - we are ili estas - they are		mi estis - I was vi estis - you were li estis - he was ŝi estis - she was ĝi estis - it was ni estis - we were ili estis - they were		mi estos - I will be vi estos - you will be li estos - he will be ŝi estos - she will be ĝi estos - it will be ni estos - we will be ili estos - they will be

There are two more verb forms, US for the conditional form and U for the command form. In Grammar you'll find more information about them.

Adverbs

Adjectives become adverbs when you use the E ending instead. (Adverbs are words that descrıbe verbs.)

aktive - actively	bone - well
facile - easily	fiere - proudly
glate - smoothly	rapide - quickly
serioze - seriously	silente - silently
vere - truly	zorge - carefully

Sentences

Here are some sentences based on what you've learned so far. Can you understand them?

La viro parolas Esperanton. - The man speaks Esperanto.
La amiko povos ludi en la granda urbo. - The friend will be able to play in the big city.
Rikardo donis libron al Maria. - Richard gave a book to Maria.
Mi malfacile vidis la birdetojn. - I saw the small birds with difficulty.
La katoj estas belaj. - The cats are beautiful.
La hundo estas en la malnova domo. - The dog is in the old house.

Basic phrases