Esperanto Grammar

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Esperanto Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Esperanto grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Esperanto and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Esperanto and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Esperanto.

Prepositions	Esperanto
and	kaj
above	super
under	malsupre de
before	antaŭ
after	post
in front of	antaŭ
behind	post
far from	for de
near	proksime de
in	en
inside	en
outside	ekster
with	kun
without	sen
about	pri
between	inter
but	sed
for	por, pro
from	de, el
to	al, por

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules	Esperanto
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun]	mi manĝas sen tranĉilo
she lives near the church [verb + preposition]	ŝi loĝas apud la preĝejo
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition]	li estas pli alta ol ŝi
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun]	li akompanis sian malgrandan hundon
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun]	ĉu vi povas akompani min?

Negation in Esperanto

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules	Esperanto
I understand you [affirmative form]	mi komprenas vin
I don't understand you [negation + verb]	mi ne komprenas vin
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective]	ĉi tiu ne estas la ĝusta vorto
don't leave me [imperative negation]	ne (for)lasu min
no problem [negation + noun]	senprobleme

Negative Sentences	Esperanto
I don't speak French [negation + present tense]	mi ne parolas la francan
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense]	ŝi ne vizitis germanion
he cannot see us [negative modal verb]	li ne povas vidi nin
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation]	ĉu ne povas ŝi ludi ŝakon?
we will not come late [negation + future tense]	ni ne venos malfrue

Questions in Esperanto

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English	Esperanto
how?	kiel?
what?	kio?
who?	kiu?
why?	kial?
where?	kie?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules	Esperanto
where do you live? [interrogative + verb]	kie vi loĝas?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb]	ĉu ŝi parolas la ĉinan?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition]	kiom estas la kosto de ĉi tio?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb]	per kio mi povas vin servi?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition]	kio estas via nomo?

Adverbs in Esperanto

It's time to learn the adverbs in Esperanto. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs	Esperanto
now	nun
yesterday	hieraŭ
today	hodiaŭ
tonight	ĉi-nokte
tomorrow	morgaŭ
soon	baldaŭ
quickly	rapide
slowly	malrapide
together	kune
very	tre
almost	preskaŭ
always	ĉiam
usually	kutime
sometimes	foje, kelkfoje, fojfoje
rarely	malofte
never	neniam

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules	Esperanto
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb]	ĉu vi komprenas min nun?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb]	mi bezonas helpon tuj
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective]	ŝi estas tre inteligenta
I will always love you [verb + adverb]	mi ĉiam amos vin
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question]	ĉu ni povas lerni la germanan kune?

Pronouns in Esperanto

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Esperanto. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns	Esperanto
I	mi
you	vi
he	li
she	ŝi
we	ni
they	ili

Object Pronouns	Esperanto
me	mi, min
you	vi, vin
him	li, lin
her	ŝi, ŝin
us	ni, nin
them	ili, ilin

Possessive Pronouns	Esperanto
my	mia
your	via
his	lia
her	ŝia
our	nia
their	ilia

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns	Esperanto
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb]	mi estas via amiko
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb]	vi parolas tre rapide
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb]	li havas tri hundojn
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb]	ŝi povas paroli la germanan
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun]	ni ne venos malfrue
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun]	ili aĉetis lakton kaj panon

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns	Esperanto
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun]	ĉu vi povas diri al mi vian nomon?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun]	mi donos al vi monon
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun]	ŝi skribis al li leteron
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun]	ili vizitis ŝin hieraŭ
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun]	ĉu ŝi povas helpi nin?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun]	li donis al ili manĝaĵon

Possessive Pronouns	Esperanto
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun]	mia nomo estas maja
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun]	via frato loĝas ĉi tie
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun]	ŝia patrino kuiras por ni
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun]	lia ŝatokupo estas la legado de libroj
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun]	nia revo estas viziti parizon
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun]	ilia domo ne estas fora (malproksima)

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns	Esperanto
this is my house	ĉi tiu estas mia domo
that restaurant is far	tiu restoracio estas fora
these apples are delicious	ĉi tiuj pomoj estas bongustaj
those stars are shiny	tiuj steloj estas brilaj

I hope you learned a lot about the Esperanto grammar in this lesson. If you have any question about this lesson please contact me here. The next lesson is below, have fun!

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