Introduction to Esperanto: Lesson 5
Look at any sentence. For example, cat eats Bob.
Eats is the action. What comes before "eats" is a subject (an agent) and what comes after "eats" is the object. How do you know? Well, if you switch them you get Bob eats a cat you get a totally opposite meaning: there is a huge difference between the cat eating Bob and Bob eating the cat. There is a difference for Bob, at the very least (note: this course does not endorse any form of violence against pets or people or any combination thereof).
So, again, who does the action is the subject and who the action is being done to is the object. If I hold the book, I am the holder so I am the subject and the book is the thing that is being held so it is the subject. In English, you don’t mark the difference except with words like he and him. For example, you say He sees the dog and then you say The dog sees him. He is the subject form of the word he and him is the object form (otherwise called the accusative form) of the word he. If you stop using him and start using Tim, you get The dog sees Tim and Tim sees the dog and there is no difference (you don’t say timm or something to mark objectivity).
Well, in Esperanto you always mark objectivity:
You add n to the word if it is an object of a sentence in Esperanto!
Having this is probably the most controversial concept in Esperanto. On one hand, this marking does not exist in some big languages of the world so beginner learners of Esperanto sometimes find it the concept a bit difficult to grasp, on the other hand, it frees up your hands in terms of word order.
Esperanto for to have is havi.
Again, I am not kidding.
The word for it is ĝi. If you want to say I have it, have is the action so you have I and it and a) it is on the right and b) there is a difference between me having it and it having me thus it must be the object. You mark the object by adding n to it, so, how would you say:
?I have it.|Mi havas ĝin.
Just because you have this n marker, you can have a free word order in Esperanto. You could say ĝin mi havas or mi ĝin havas and it’s clear what the object is.
So, what is the word for that?
?That|Tio
Tio is that when it’s not the object. If it is the object, it must get that n. How would you say:
?I want to have it.|Mi volas havi tion.
If you wanted to ask somebody what he has, you would use the word for what which is kio but you would need to mark objectivity on the word kio as well. How would you say:
?What do you have?|Kion vi havas?
?What do you study?|Kion vi studas?
Esperanto for to speak is paroli.
This word has the same root as the English words parol or parole. How would you say:
?I speak well.|Mi parolas bone.
If you wanted to say what you speak (which is, for example, Esperanto), you mark the word Esperanto because it is the object. Do it:
?I speak Esperanto.|Mi parolas Esperanton.
?I learn Esperanto.|Mi lernas Esperanton.
Let’s get back to studying, though. Imagine you study Physics:
Physics is fiziko in Esperanto.
How would you say:
?I study Physics.|Mi studas fizikon.
Remember that ist? Say:
?I am a physicist.|Mi estas fizikisto.
You might have one question: why is there no objectivity marking in the last phrase? Well, just look at it: you remove am because it is the action and you get I and a physicist. You could say I am a physicist or a physicist am I and apart from the second phrase sounding weird, the meaning of the phrase does not change so that means that the sentence has no object.
You can simply remember that phrases with estas have no object.
So, now you can say what you study (or work, want, have or learn).
The word for to say is diri.
The word for a greeting is saluto.
Think of salute to remember it.
If you wanted to greet somebody, you could say I say a greeting (to you). Say that:
?I say a greeting.|Mi diras saluton.
In essence, Esperanto does that but if you said that phrase every time you were greeting somebody, people would think that you were insane so in Esperanto you contract that phrase and simply say saluton which means hi. The same works for all the other greetings. Look at good day.
Day is tago in Esperanto.
It comes from the German Tag which also means day and is related to the English word day.
How would you say:
?A good day|Bona tago
?I say ’good day’.|Mi diras ’bonan tagon’.
You also contract that. Guess how would you greet somebody:
?Good day!|Bonan tagon!
Finally:
The word for thanks (as in gratitude) is danko.
Say:
?I say ’thanks’.|Mi diras dankon.
So what is the word for thank you in Esperanto?
?Thank you.|Dankon.
Alright, as we are finished. We have learnt the accusative which is probably the hardest Esperanto gets... so, in other words, we had quite a nice lesson today.
Let’s finally have a short conversation in Esperanto.
?Good day.|Bonan tagon.
?Hi!|Saluton!
?How are you doing?|Kiel vi fartas?
?I am doing well. And you?|Mi fartas bone. Kaj vi?
?I am doing badly. I am learning.|Mi fartas malbone. Mi lernas.
?What are you learning?|Kion vi lernas?
?I am learning history.|Mi lernas historion.
?Where are you from?|De kie vi estas?
?I am from France, and you?|Mi estas de Francio. Kaj vi?
?I am American. You speak Esperanto well.|Mi estas amerikano. Vi parolas Esperanton bone.
?Thanks. What is your work?|Dankon. Kio estas via laboro?
?I am a linguist. I study Esperanto.|Mi estas lingvisto. Mi studas Esperanton.
You can have and, more importantly, understand this conversation in 5 lessons. It’s up to you to make up your mind whether Esperanto is difficult or not now. Congratulations for having taken the course!
NOTE: You have finished this course. Well done! You can now check out some of the other courses we have:
| Introduction to Sambahsa-2 | a course of Sambahsa with 14 lessons produced by mundialecter |
| Arabic Alphabet | a course of Arabic with 14 lessons produced by CarlKenner |
| Introduction to Dutch | a course of Dutch with 5 lessons produced by Linas |
You can also return to the main page of the labs to see all of the courses we have here.