2. Alphabet
Stressalwayson secondtolastsyllable
Letter Sound (IPA and
Example)
A /ɑ/ (au in autopsy)
B /b/ (second b in baby)
C /ʦ/ (tes in mites)
Ĉ (or CX) /ʧ/ (ch in China)
D /d̪/ (th in the, except
less air)
E /e/ (a in ate)
F /f/ (f in favor)
G /g/ (g in give)
Ĝ (or GX) /ʤ/ (j in juice)
H /h/ (h in hope)
Ĥ (or HX) /X/ (J in Javier)
I /i/ (eye)
J /j/ (y in your)
Ĵ (or JX) /ʒ/ (sh in cashmere)
Letter Sound (IPA and
Example)
K /k/ (k in skulk)
L /l/ (l in lip)
M /m/ (m in mine)
N /n/ (n in not)
O /o/ (o in or)
P /p/ (p’s in happy)
R /r/ (Spanish r)
S /s/ (s in sell)
Ŝ (SX) /ʃ/ (sh in shell)
T /t̪/ (th in thing, except
less air)
U /u/ (oo in loon)
Ǔ /ʊ/ (second w in wow)
V /v/ (v in vehicle)
Z /z/ (z in zit)
3. Numbers
Numeral Name
1 Unu
2 Du
3 Tri
4 Kvar
5 Kvin
6 Ses
7 Sep
8 Ok
9 Naǔ
10 Dek
100 Cent
1000 Mil
12 Dek du
278 Ducent sepdek ok
4. Pronouns
Singular Pronunciation Translation Plural Pronunciation Translation
Mi /mi/ (Like me) I Ni /ni/ (like knee) We
Vi /vi/ (like veer) You Vi /vi/ (like veer) You (all)
Li /li/ (like lee) He
Ili
/ˈili/ (like eel
lee)
TheyŜi /ʃi/ (like she) She
Ĝi /ʤi/ (like geez) It
In order to make a pronoun take the Accusative (Direct Object) Case, an –n is added
For possessive pronouns (Genitive Case), add an –a.
For using both of the above, the a comes before the n.
When a noun is plural, a –j is added (after the a and before the n if necessary)
Pronoun Pronunciation Translation
Oni /oni/ (like Oh knee) One/People/They (indefinite
gender)
Si /si/ (like sea) Self (reflexive pronoun)
5. Nouns/Adjectives/Adverbs
• Nouns always end in o (vido, “sight”)
• Adjectives always in a (vida, “visual”)
• Adverbs always in e (vide, “visually”)
• Nouns and adjectives made plural with a –j (amikoj, “friends”)
• Made Accusative with an –n (amikon, “friend” as the object of an action)
• Nouns made Genitive with –a, a.k.a. the adjective marker (amika, “friend’s”)
• No indefinite article (a/an) (amiko=“friend,” or “a friend”)
• Definite article always La, even with plurals (La amiko(j), “the friend(s)”)
• Noun or adjective may come first, it doesn’t matter
• Adjectives take Accusative when the noun they describe is Accusative
[vidi means “to see”; infinitives end in –i ]
[No gender]
6. Verbs
Form When to use the
form
Ending Example Translation
Infinitive Basic form; “to
____”
-i Esti To be
Present
Indicative
To say something
happens
-as Mi estas I am
Past Indicative To say something
happened
-is Mi estis I was
Future Indicative To say something
will/shall happen
-os Mi estos I will/shall be
Present Active
Participle
To say something
is happening
-anta Mi estanta I am being
Past Active
Participle
To say something
was happening
-inta Mi estinta I was being
7. Verbs, cont’d
Tense When to use the
form
Ending Example Translation
Future Active
Participle
To say something
will be
happening
-onta Mi estonta I will be being
Present Passive
Participle
To say something
has happened
-ata Mi estata I have been
Past Passive
Participle
To say something
had happened
-ita Mi estita I had been
Future Passive
Participle
To say something
will have
happened
-ota Mi estota I will have been
Jussive To say you want
someone to do
something
-u Estu ____! Be ____!
Conditional To say something
would happen
-us Mi estus I would be
8. Verb Tense Usage Examples
“The basic principle of the participles may be illustrated with the verb fali (to
fall). Picture Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff. Before gravity kicks in (after all,
this is a cartoon), he is falonta (about to fall). As he drops, he is falanta (falling).
After he impacts the desert floor, he is falinta (fallen).
Active and passive pairs can be illustrated with the transitive verb haki (to chop).
Picture a woodsman approaching a tree with an axe, intending to chop it down.
He is hakonta (about to chop) and the tree is hakota (about to be chopped).
While swinging the axe, he is hakanta (chopping) and the tree hakata (being
chopped). After the tree has fallen, he is hakinta (having chopped) and the
tree hakita (chopped).
Adjectival participles agree with nouns in number and case, just as other
adjectives do:
ili ŝparis la arbojn hakotajn (they spared the trees that were to be chopped
down).”
-Wikipedia, the free encyclodpedia
9. Negation
• Ne=“not”
• Negation placed before object of negation
• Mi ne estas princo. I am not a prince.
• Ne mi estas princo. It is not I who is a prince.
• Mi estas ne princo. It is not a prince that I am./I am something
besides a prince. (slight semantic difference)
10. Influences
• Vocabulary: Romance (mostly) and Germanic
• Semantics: Slavic
• Grammar:
• Case system: Dumbing down of Indo-European cases
• Word order: Loose, but seemingly completely synthetic
• Theories exist of Greek and Hungarian influences, but it could
very well be a coincidence
12. Further Knowledge
• The most popular site for Esperantists globally:
http://en.lernu.net/index.php
• Download the twelve lesson program many Esperantists have used
to begin their journeys in the language here:
http://www.kurso.com.br/index.php?en. There is also lots of
information on Esperanto on the website
• The 16 rules of Esperanto grammar:
http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/rules.html
• A whole book available for everyone through the internet, including
chapters about grammar and structure, as well as history and
challenges faced by Zamenhof himself:
http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/eaccess/eaccess.book.html
• The book itself by the man himself, Dr. Esperanto’s International
Language, Introduction & Complete Grammar by Ludovic Lazarus
Zamenhof: http://www.genekeyes.com/Dr_Esperanto.html
13. JRR Tolkein, on Esperanto
J. R. R. Tolkien: "Back Esperanto loyally."
J.R.R. Tolkien, most famous as the author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (both available in Esperanto translation), was also a noted
scholar of languages, both modern and ancient. Among his interests was the International Language, Esperanto, a language that today boasts
over a million speakers all over the world. In the essay below, Professor Tolkien reflects on Esperanto and his interest in the International
Language.
A PHILOLOGIST ON ESPERANTO, by J. R. R. Tolkien
I take an interest, as a philologist, and as every philologist should, in the international-language movement, as an important and interesting
linguistic phenomenon, and am sympathetic to the claims of Esperanto in particular. I am not a practical Esperantist, as it seems to me on
reflection an adviser should at least in some measure be. I can neither write nor speak the language. I know it, as a philologist would say, in
that 25 years ago I learned and have not forgotten its grammar and structure, and at one time read a fair amount written in it, and, since I am
trained to that sort of thing, I feel competent to have an opinion concerning its defects and excellencies. That being so, I feel that I could make
no useful contribution, except as a philologist and critic. But it is precisely my view of the international language situation, that such services,
however good in theory, are in practice not wanted; in fact, that a time has come when the philological theorist is a hindrance and a nuisance.
This is indeed the strongest of my motives for supporting Esperanto.
Esperanto seems to me beyond doubt, taken all round, superior to all present competitors, but its chief claim to support seems to me to rest
on the fact that it has already the premier place, has won the widest measure of practical acceptance, and developed the most advanced
organisation. It is in fact in the position of an orthodox church facing not only unbelievers but schismatics and heretics — a situation that was
foretold by the philologist. But granted a certain necessary degree of simplicity, internationality, and (I would add) individuality and euphony —
which Esperanto certainly reaches and passes — it seems to me obvious that much the most important problem to be solved by a would-be
international language is universal propagation. An inferior instrument that has a chance of achieving this is worth a hundred theoretically
more perfect. There is no finality in linguistic invention and taste. Nicety of invention in detail is of comparatively little importance, beyond the
necessary minimum; and theorists and inventors (whose band I should delight to join) are simply retarders of the movement, if they are willing
to sacrifice unanimity to “improvement.”
Actually it seems to me, too, that technical improvement of the machinery, either aiming at greater simplicity and perspicuity of structure, or at
greater internationality, or what not, tends (to judge by recent examples) to destroy the “humane‚” or aesthetic aspect of the invented idiom.
This apparently unpractical aspect appears to be largely overlooked by theorists; though I imagine it is not really unpractical, and will have
ultimately great influence on the prime matter of universal acceptance. N**, for instance, is ingenious, and easier than Esperanto, but hideous
— “factory product” is written all over it, or rather, “made of spare parts” — and it has no gleam of the individuality, coherence and beauty,
which appear in the great natural idioms, and which do appear to a considerable degree (probably as high a degree as is possible in an artificial
idiom) in Esperanto — a proof of the genius of the original author...
My advice to all who have the time or inclination to concern themselves with the international language movement would be: “Back Esperanto
loyally.”
— J. R. R. Tolkien
from The British Esperantist, May 1932
