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. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!