From: pfeiffer@cix.cict.fr (Daniel Pfeiffer) Subject: Understanding Esperanto Date: 29 Jul 91 13:08:00 GMT Esperanto is a very easy language, but you will only be able to understand it if you know the base mechanisms. The following tries to extract the essence of Esperanto's 16 _exceptionless_ grammar rules, enabling you to read my future annotated (word explanations) postings on European subjects. You may want to keep a printed copy of this (sections 1-6) handy next to your terminal. Those who would like to go further in actively learning this fascinating language will find some pointers in section 7. 0) THE ALPHABET Every letter has exactly one pronunciation, no matter what the adjacent letters are. The stress is always on the second last vowel (a, e, i, o, u). The letters ^c, ^g, ^h, ^j and ^s should have the circumflex on top, even in uppercase. The letter ^u has the lower half of a circle over it. Since then we have seen the advent of primitive computers which can only cope with letters Americans think they and others need. :-( [The following TeX-macro will correctly render these on paper without disturbing `^' in math mode: \let\potenco=^ \catcode`\^=\active \def^#1{\ifmmode\potenco{#1} \else\ifx#1u\u u\else\ifx#1U\u U% \else\ifx#1j\^\j \else\^#1% \fi\fi\fi\fi} ] For every letter if possible I have given an English equivalent, and where this may help also in other languages: a Argument, D: Albern b Bird c haTS, D: Zigeuner ^c CHicken, D: traTSCHen d Duck e D: Elend, F: E'le`ve f Fish g Give ^g Jungle, Ginger h Help ^h GR: KHi, Arab: KHartoum, D: aCHtung i bEE, F: sIlence j (the short `i' in diphtongs) lie [laj], toy [toj] ^j F: Journal, R: Dr. ZHivago k Kill, Copy l Laugh m Monday n No o D: hOlen, F: bEAU p Politics r (rolled `r', but don't worry :-) R: Rossija s Solitary, D: waSSer ^s SHip, D: SCHalter, F: CHic t Take u bOOt, F: pOUr, D: bUde ^u Water, D: aUtobahn v Very, D: Wasser z Zoo, D: Singen, F: beSoin 1) THE REGULAR WORDS Words in Esperanto consist of a radical which conveys some notion. When you know about 2000 of them (and many are already familiar to you) you master basic (non-scientific) Esperanto. To this may be appended affixes which modify the notion in a well defined way. The following table of word endings which say what kind of word it is, contains most of Esperanto's grammar: adjective -a -aj -an -ajn noun -o -oj -on -ojn adverb -e -en verb -i -u -is -as -os -us -int- -ant- -ont- -it- -at- -ot- alia (other), alie (otherwise, differently), alio (something else) bona (good), bone (well), bono (the good, advantage) devi (must), devo (obligation), deva (compulsory) diri (to say), diro (what is said) doni (to give), dono (a gift) esperi (to hope), espero (a hope) fari (to make), faro (a deed) havi (to have), havo (something one has) homo, homa (human) iri (to go), iro (a move) jaro (a year), jara (yearly, lasting one year) man^gi (to eat), man^go (a meal) multa, multe (much), multo (plenty) povi (to be able), povo (ability) preni (to take), preno (taking) scii [stsee`ee] (to know), scio (knowledge) tuta (whole), tute (wholly), ne tute (some), tute ne (not at all) veni (to come), veno (coming) vidi (to see), vido (a glance), vida (related to sight) voli (to want), volo (desire) Adjectives, which may be before or after the noun they describe vary with the noun: An added `-j' means plural. An added `-n' marks the direct object. It is also used to denote a direction (in adverbs as well): la bela a^uto the beautiful car bela a^uto blua a beautiful blue car (no indefinite article) belaj bluaj a^utoj beautiful blue cars la a^utoj belaj the beautiful cars en la domo in the house en la belan domon into the beautiful house hejme at home hejmen homewards The verb endings are respectively infinitive `drinki' (to drink); imperative or volitive `Iru for!' (Go away!) or `Mi skribu leteron.' (I must write a letter.); past `Li drinkis.' (He drank.); present `Ili vidas ion.' (they see somthing); future `^Si skribos.' (She will write.); conditional `Mi kisus ^sin.' (I would kiss her.) The six suffixes are used to form participles from verbs. Respectively active and passive in the same tenses as the corres- ponding verb endings. They can take adjective endings in which case you can use `esti' (to be) like an auxiliary verb; noun endings (a person doing something) or adverb endings referring to the subject of the verb while doing something. Some people even use them again as verbs. ridanta viro (a laughing man) La viro estis kurinta. (The man had run.) La viroj kurintos. (The men will have run.) la atakantoj (the attackers) Mar^sante ^si vidas lin. (While walking she saw him. She is walking!) kaptita fi^so (a caught fish) 2) PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES Affixes vastly multiply the number of possible words. Words may have one prefix (xx-) and several suffixes (-xx-) followed by one of the above word endings: bo- in-law bofrato (brother-in-law), bopatrino (mother-in-law) dis- dispersed distran^ci (cut to parts), diskuri (run in different directions) ek- sudden ekridi (to burst out laughing) eks- ex- eksprezidanto (expresident), eksamanto (former lover) fi- bad fihundo (nasty dog), fiulo (scoundrel) ge- both sexes gestudantoj (students), gepatroj (parents) mal- opposite malvarmega (cold), malgranda (small) mis- incorrect mislegi (to misread), misa^udi (to hear wrongly) pra- antique prapatroj (forefathers) re- repeated, back rediri (repeat words), resalti (jump back at) -a^c- worthless, bad droga^coj (drugs) -ad- long process lernado (learning), -a^j- thing akira^jo (acquisition), man^ga^jo (food) -an- member klubano (clubmember) -ar- set, group arbaro (forest), homaro (humanity) -ebl- possible videble (visibly), nefarebla (impossible) -ec- essence personeco (personality), ebleco (possibility) -eg- big/much varmega (hot) -ej- place telefonejo (phonebooth or corner), lernejo (school) -em- liking to parolema (talkative), timeme (fearfully) -end- a must pagenda (to be paid) -er- piece/part of monero (coin), diserigi (to split up) -estr-leader ^statestro (state's leader), grupestro (group's l.) -et- small/little dometo (hut) -id- offspring bovido (calf), re^gido (prince) -ig- make be bluigi (to colour blue), varmigi (warm up something) -i^g- become sidi^gi (to sit down), droni^gi (drown) -il- tool, means tran^cilo (knife), -in- female sinjorino (Mrs.), bovino (cow) -ind- worthwhile vidinda (worth seeing) -ist- professional bakisto (baker) -uj- container monujo (purse) fruittree pomujo (apple tree), oran^gujo (orange tree) country Skotujo (Scotland), Danujo (Denmark) -ul- person ri^culo (a rich man), belulino (beautiful girl) -um- (undefined) malvarmumo (a cold), komunumo (communitiy) 3) PRONOUNS Pronouns all end in `-i' (but they are not verbs). As direct object they take an `-n'. Posessive pronouns are formed by adding an adjective ending: mi (I), vi (you sing & plur), li (he), ^si (she), ni (we), ili (they) ^gi (it, a thing) ^Sajnas ke ^gi estas ru^ga. (It seems that it's red.) oni (one, impersonal they) Oni diras ke pluvos. (They say that it'll rain.) si (reference to the subject) Patro lavis sin. (Father washed himself.) Lia patro lavos lin. (His father will wash him.) mia (my), min (me), ^sia (her), ilin (them) 4) TABLEWORDS Esperanto has 45 correlatives and quite a few derived forms made up of only 14 elements: five word beginnings combined with nine word endings. Each of these elements has a base meaning and combined they form a word: ^ci- (all) i- (indefinite) ki- (question) neni- (none) ti- (that) -a(j)(n) (sort) -e(n) (place) -o(n) (thing) -u(j)(n) (person, reference) -al (reason) -am (time) -el (manner) -es (posession) -om (amount) All combinations of these are meaningful. The second line of endings can also be followed by the standard word endings and suffixes: ^ciam (always) ^cie (everywhere) ^ciu (every(body)) ^ciuj (all (persons)) ia (some kind of) ial (for some reason) kialo (reason) kiam (when) kie (where) kien (whereto) kio (what) kioma (how many'th) kiu (who, that) neniu (nobody) nenies (nobody's) tiel (like that) tiom (that much) 5) NUMBERS Numbers are simply stringed together by saying how many tens and units etc. there are. Ordinals are formed by adding an `-a', -on- forms fractions, -obl- multiplies by, -op- groups: nulo (0) unu (1) du (2) tri (3) kvar (4) kvin (5) ses (6) sep (7) ok (8) na^u (9) dek (10) cent (100) mil (1000) dek du (12) okcent (800) mil na^ucent na^udek unu (1991) dua (second) kvina (fifth) unuo (unit) duo (duo, duett) duono (half) kvarono (quarter) dekono (tenth) sep okonoj (seven eighths) duobla (double) triobla (treble) kvarobla (quadruple) multobla (manyfold) duope (two by two) triope (three by three) 6) ODD WORDS AND PARTICLES A few other words don't really fit anywhere, most of them are adverbs ending in `-a^u'. These assure that the language doesn't sound too monotonous. Standard word endings can often be stuck onto them: ajn ([what-/where-/who- etc.]ever), ajna (random), ie ajn (whereever) al (to) Mi pensas al vi (I think about you) almena^u (at least) anka^u (also) ankora^u (still) anstata^u (instead), anstata^ua (replacing) anta^u (before), anta^uo (front), anta^uen (forwards) a^u (or), a^u ... a^u ... (either ... or ...) ^cu (whether; turns an assertion into a question) ^Cu varmas? (Is it warm?) Mi ne scias ^cu ... (I don't know whether ...) da (quantity of), glaso da akvo (glass of water) de (of), glaso de akvo (glass for water) e^c (even if/...), mi e^c legis ke ... (I even read that ...), e^c mortante (even while dying), e^c se li venkus ... (even if he won) ekster (outside), eksterlandano (foreigner), eksterulo (medical extern) el (from), el la domo (from the house), elirejo (exit) en (in), en la a^uto (in the car), en la domon (into the house) ^gis (until), ^gis pluvas (until it rains), ^gis la domo (upto the house) hiera^u (yesterday), hiera^ua (happening yesterday) hodia^u (today), hodia^ua (happening today) ja (used for emphasis) je (any preposition), je la sepa (at seven), je la strato (in the street) jen (there), jene (thus) jes (yes), jesa (consenting), jesi (reply positively) kaj (and) kvankam (even though) kvaza^u (as though) morga^u (tomorrow), morga^ua (happening tomorrow) ne (no), nea (negative), nei (deny) ol (than), pli ri^ca ol ^si (richer than her) plej (most), plej granda (biggest), plej rapide (most rapidly) pli (more), pli varma (warmer), pli la^ute (louder) po (each), po unu ekuo (one ecu each) por (for), mi laboras por li (I work for him) post (after, behind), posta (posterior), poste (later) preska^u (almost) pro (because of), pro manko da mono (for lack of money) sen (without) tuj (immediately), tuja (immediate) 7) MORE ABOUT ESPERANTO / PLI PRI ESPERANTO You can email the letter body "send esperanto esper.tex" to the language server to get a more complete introduction (needs LaTeX) (ask me for this file if they're still down) or simply the lines "help" and "send esperanto Description" if you want to know more about what's available. Here should be a pointer to a free network course, but I have been asked not to publish it since they are overloaded. Folks on newsgroup soc.culture.esperanto or mailing lists (subscribe with ) and (send "SUB ESPER-L Your Real Name" to ) will surely be glad to help you. If you have access to French Minitel you can try 36.15 ESPERANTO which informs about current events worldwide. 36.14 PING is an online chat and mailbox service in four languages. The following all sell Esperanto courses, literature, music etc., some of which they themselves publish. UEA (Universal Esperanto Association) is the UN of Esperanto, they are made up of all national Esperanto groups. Rival SAT (Nationless Worldwide Association) was founded by the turn-of-the-century international workers' movement. They publish the authoritative PIV (Plena Ilustrita Vortaro -- Complete Illustrated Dictionary). FEL (Flemish Esperanto League) publishes the truly international monthly newsmagazine MONATO. You can also look in the phone book to see if there's a local Esperanto group or ask in a big bookshop or library if they have anything to get you started. Universala Esperanto Asocio Nieuwe Binnenweg 176 NL-3015 BJ Rotterdam Sennacia Asocio Tutmonda 67 avenue Gambetta F-75020 Paris Flandra Esperanto Ligo Frankrijklei 140 B-2000 Antwerpen There are many specialised groups (railroaders, tourism ...) and in the scientific sector we have ISAE (International Esperantist Science Association) and the San Marino based AIS (International Academy of the Sciences) which also gives Doctor-titles (Ph.D.) in any of four other languages. Internacia Scienca Asocio Esperantista Ringstr. 13 CH-8172 Niederglatt prof. Helmar Frank Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj Kleinenbergerweg 16b D-4790 Paderborn