Lesson One

Language is all about things (nouns) and their actions (verbs) of energetic things:  

One thing...		Acts on...		Another thing
birdo		kaptas...		insekton.
a bird		catches...		an insect.
subject noun		verb object		noun

Esperanto is "grammar-coded" - you can tell what part each word plays in a sentence from the word endings:  

-o single subject noun		-on   single object noun
-oj plural subject noun		-ojn plural object noun

To show when the action takes place, the verb tense (time) is changed by putting these endings on the verb roots:  

present tense		--as		describes it as it happens
past tense		--is		shows an action completed
future tense		--os		action still to begin
Birdoj		kaptis		insektojn.
Birds		caught		insects.
Birdoj		kaptos		insektojn.
Birds		will-catch		insects.

Every noun and every verb follows the above rules without exception.

In Esperanto, things have no gender (they are not male or female, as in many other languages.) There is only one word for 'the', no matter if the noun is singular or plural, subject or object. Therefore:

La birdoj kaptas la insektojn.
La birdo kaptis la insekton.

In Esperanto the word order matters less than in English. All the following sentences describe the same action (only the emphasis is changed):

Viro legas libron. Viro libron legas.
Libron legas viro. Libron viro legas.
Legas viro libron. Legas libron viro.

A man reads a book.

Here are some words in Esperanto (the apostrophe indicates an incomplete word, a root):  

Nouns		Verbs (roots)		More nouns
amiko (friend)		far' (do, make)		kafo (coffee)
filo (son)		forges' (forget)		kuko (cake)
frato (brother)		hav' (have)		lakto (milk)
instruisto (teacher)		trink' (drink)		pano (bread)
knabo (boy)		vend' (sell)		sukero (sugar)
patro (father)		vid' (see)		teo (t ea)

Each Esperanto letter has only one sound, always. Here is a guide to some of the sounds. The stress is always on the next-to-last syllable of a word.  

A		E		I		O		U
palm		there		three		glory		too

c = ts (in lots);
oj = oy (in boy);
G = g (in go)
kn are always pronounced separately: k-nabo

Study Aid for Lesson One

Read Lesson 1 thoroughly, but before trying the exercises below, try these translations and check your answers with ours.

(We have supplied some words and endings to help you get started).

1. The friend will-sell milk.
                                    lakton.

2. Mother drinks coffee with milk and sugar.
    Patrino                  -n   kun         kaj

3. The teachers forgot the tea.
                      -j                  -n.

4. The boys will-make the cake.
                                              -n.

5. La knabinoj vidos la instruiston. [knabinoj = girls]

6. La instruisto vidis la knabinojn.

7. La filoj trinkas teon sen lakto. [sen = without]

8. La birdoj vidis la insektojn.

After checking these sentences, do the exercises of Lesson 1. If there is anything you do not understand, be sure to ask your tutor.

We will try to be prompt, but be patient, and most of all: Bonvenon al Esperanto (Welcome to Esperanto)!

Answers to the above exercises
1. La amiko vendos lakton.
2. Patrino trinkas kafon kun lakto kaj sukero.
3. La instruistoj forgesis la teon.
4. La knaboj faros la kukon.
5. The girls will see the teacher.
6. The teacher saw the girls.
7. The sons drink tea without milk.
8. The birds saw the insects.

Ekzercoj, Leciono Unu (Exercises, Lesson One)

Your name:
Email:

Take your time and translate the following sentences into Esperanto. Type your answers between the questions.

Examples:
The men sold cakes. La viroj vendis kukojn.
The man sold a cake. La viro vendis kukon.

[Note: the word 'a' does not exist in Esperanto; the simple noun is enough. Also, a dash indicates that the two English words are translated by one Esperanto word.]

1. Father makes a cake.
   
2. The boy will-have the sugar.
   
3. The son forgot the milk.
   
4. The boys drink tea.
   
5. The friend sold the bread.
   
6. The teacher sees a boy.
   
7. The son has a friend.
   
8. The brother made bread.
   
9. The boys will-have cake.
   
10. Father forgot the sugar.
    
11. The boys had friends.
    
12. The sons saw the bread.
    
13. The brothers sell sugar.
    
14. The teacher forgets the boy.
    
15. The friend will-drink milk.
    
16. The sons are-making cakes.
    
17. Father will-sell the cake.
    
18. The friend had bread.
    
19. The boys will-see the teachers.
    
20. The teachers drink coffee.
    

Comments or Questions?:

 

Well, we hope we haven't scared you off in this first meeting with Esperanto. Just remember - the language ability you used in the above exercises might take months to reach in secondary school French or Spanish.

The Free Esperanto Course begins simply, but by Lesson 10 you will understand sophisticated Esperanto with complex syntax.

Upon satisfactory completion of the series of ten lessons, you will receive a framable 'Certificate of Completion'.

While waiting for a reply from your tutor, you can learn some numbers and colors:

0 nulo (say: noo-lo) 1 unu (say: oo-noo)  2 du (say: doo)  3 tri (say: t-ri) 4 kvar 5 kvin 6 ses 7 sep 8 ok 9 naux (say: now) 10 dek 11 dek unu ...  20 dudek  21 dudek unu ...  30 tridek  31 tridek unu ... 100 cent (say: tsent)

flava (FLAH-vah) yellow  verda (VER-dah) green blua (BLOO-ah) blue blanka (BLAN-ka) white nigra (NEE-gra) black griza (GREE-zah) grey bruna (BROO-nah) brown rugxa (ROO-djah) red ("gx" as in "gem", "gentle")

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