A CRASH COURSE IN ESPERANTO GRAMMAR

Esperanto is probably the easiest language ever. It was designed to be easy. It is not a natural language. It was created with the intention of everyone in the world learning it as a second langiage for international understanding.
See for yourself.
But first things first:

Pronunciation

Esperanto vowels should sound like their Italian or Spanish

Parts of speech

4- The prefix for the opposite is mal- . MALJUNO = OLD AGE MALJUNA = OLD This eliminates the need to learn huge numbers of words. 5- A suffix to amplify the meaning of a word is -eg- JUNEGA = VERY YOUNG MALJUNEGA=EXTREMELY OLD 6- A suffix to indicate a person is -ulo JUNULO = YOUNG MAN MALJUNULO OLD MAN
  • All verbs end in -i in their dictionary form called the infinitive.
  • All verbs in the present tense end in -as, in the past in -is, and in the future in -os. Let's see how this works in practice - Most vocabulary comes from European languages, which some people critisize. English is also a European language which became the current international language based on its colonial past. Esperanto belongs to no country, no national culture, but has developed,its own culture amongst like-minded people over the years.

    ASKING QUESTIONS

    1. turn a sentence into a yer-or-no question, just add the word '' at the beginning of the sentence.
    This is like ma? at the end of a Chine sentence or ka at the end of a sentence in Japnaese.
    That is delicious. Tio estas bongusta. Is that delicious? Ĉu tio estas bongusta?

    THE ACCUSATIVE

    This is a tough point for many Esperanto learners that don't uses the accusative in their native tongue.
    The accusative is formed by adding an -n at the end of adjective or a noun
    In most cases, it is when it is the direct object.
    Examples: The boy sees the dog. La knabo vidas la hundoN.
    the normal word for dog is 'hundo', but since the dog is the direct object of the verb, it dakes the -n ending.
    In English and in many other languages, the word order makes this clear, but in Esperanto, the following sentence also means, 'The boy sees the dog.' La hundon vidas la knabo.

    Many, including myself have often argues that this is an unecessary complication of the language that is supposed to be simple. But it does allow for much more creativity in writing literature and lyrics to songs that rhyme to have the flexibility in word order. But, if you speak English or French, Spanish, Italian etc. you really do use something like the accusative for pronouns. He sees me and I see him.(the direct object form of 'he' is 'him.' In Esperanto: Li vidas min kaj mi vidas lin. French: Il me vois et je le vois.

    2. The -n ending is also used to indicate a motion in a direction as opposed tro a fixed location.
    Example:
    I am there now. Mi estas tie nu.
    I am going there now. Mi iras tien nu.

    THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

    The definite article is a fancy way to say 'the.'
    Not all languages feel the need for one, and others feel the need for many.
    No male or female.
    No neutral.
    Just 'la.'

    And there is no indefinite article (a, a,) 'domo' means both 'house'and 'a house.'

    PLURALS

    Instead of using an -s ending for plurals like in many European languages, Esperanto uses a -j ending, and the 'j' is pronounced like the 'y' in 'boy.'

    boy - knabo boys - knaboj (the second syllable sounds like 'boy.'

    This plural ending is also used for adectives (which always end in 'a' and the resulting sound of -aj sounds like 'the Scottish 'aye' or the pronoun 'I.'
    granda domo - a big house
    grandaj domoj - big houses
    This -j ending can be followedby the -n suffix for he accusative
    I see the big houses - Mi vidas la grandajn domojn.

    VERBS

    The infinitive or dictionary form of verbs always ends in -i. The present tense ends in -as.
    • Mi venas. I come.
    • Vi vidas. You see.
    • Li volas. He wants.
      • The past tense ends in -is.
      • Mi venis. I came.
      • Vi vidis. You saw.
      • Li volis. He wanted.
      The conditional ends in -us.
        Mi venus. I would come. Vi vidus. You would see. Li volus. He would want.
      The imperitive ends in -u!
      • Venu! Come!
      • Vidu! See!
      • Volu! Want!
      The imperitive used with Ni (We) means Let's...
      • Ni vidu! Let's see!
      • Ni iru! Let's go! (iri-to go)µ

      Interested in learning more?

      • There is a free course on the Duolingo app which will get you started.
      • There are other apps for learning Esperanto, such as
        • Lingvo
        • Drops
        • Clozemaster
        • Tatoeba.
      • The website langsites.com