Esperanto At a Glance
The Alphabet:
A | B | C | Ĉ | D | E | F | |
G | Ĝ | H | Ĥ | I | J | Ĵ | |
K | L | M | N | O | P | R | |
S | Ŝ | T | U | Ŭ | V | Z |
Every letter has only one sound and is always pronounced. Accent is always on the next- to-last syllable. All consonants are pronounced as in English except:
C as "ts" in "bits" Ĉ as "ch" in "church" G as in "get" Ĝ as "j" in "jet" H as in "hat" Ĥ as "ch" in "loch" J as "y" in "yes" Ĵ as "s" in "measure" R is trilled as in Spanish. Think of señorita or burrito. S as in "said" Ŝ as "sh" in "shed" Ŭ as "w" in "water" |
|
Vowels are always pure, never diphthongs as is common in English. They are pronounced as follows: | |
A as in "father" E as in "get" I as in "machine" O as in "mote" U as "oo" in "boot" |
The parts of speech are formed by adding endings to root words.
O is the noun ending instruisto (teacher) |
adjectives end in A new = nova |
J is added to form plurals | direct object adds N |
Inteligentaj personoj lernas la internacian lingvon. (Intelligent people learn the international language.) Esperanto havas facilajn regulojn. (Esperanto has easy rules.) |
The ending of an adjective always agrees with the ending of the noun
that it modifies.
Verb endings
Infinitive | Present | Past | Future | Imperative | Conditional |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
I | AS | IS | OS | U | US |
vidi | vidas | vidis | vidos | vidu | vidus |
to see | sees | saw | will see | see! | would see |
The ending is the same regardless of number or gender.
Adverbs end in E.
e.g. libere (freely)
Numbers :
1 unu | 5 kvin | 9 naŭ |
2 du | 6 ses | 10 dek |
3 tri | 7 sep | 100 cent |
4 kvar | 8 ok | 1000 mil |
Examples:
12 dek du
278 ducent sepdek ok