Esperanto/Traveling

Table of Contents
Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3

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Verb Conjugation

Infinitive: -i Present: -as Past: -is Future: -os Command: -u Conditional: -us

In lesson 1, we learned that the base form of a verb – the infinitive, which ends in -i – is translated "to verb". The present tense of any Esperanto verb ends in -as and is translated "I verb", "I am verb'ing", or "I do verb". Note that "I" is only an example and can be replaced with anything.

Now we will learn the future and past tenses, the command form of a verb, and even how to form verbs that lack tense altogether.

Future Tense

The future tense is formed by replacing the -i ending of the infinitive with -os. These can be translated "I will verb" or "I will be verb'ing".

Past tense

The past tense is formed by replacing the -i ending of the infinitive with -is. These can be translated "I did verb" or "I verb'ed".

Imperative

The imperative is the form one would use when they are telling somebody what to do, and is therefore sometimes called the command form. For example, in the sentence "Bob, please run to the store", "run" is an imperative. In Esperanto, these are formed by replacing the -i of the infinitive with -u.

Conditional

This form is used when a verb lacks a tense and refers to something that could potentially happen or have happened, and it is not really a tense, as such. For example, "Bob would run if Jim were to tell him." Bob may not have run yet, and Jim has not necessarily asked him to. All we know is that Bob would run if Jim would tell him to. Esperanto has no word for "would", but the meaning of it is reached by replacing the -i of the infinitive with -us.

These are all the forms of the active voice, that is, when the subject is the one "doing the verb". The passive voice, when the subject is "being verb'ed" by something else, will be covered later.

Be sure to memorize the "theme vowels" for each tense: a for the present, o for the future, and i for the past. They show up in many places within the language, particularly the participles, which are explored in the next section.

Participles

Participles are adjectives formed from verbs, and are used to describe somebody who did, is doing, or will do a verb. The English language has two types of participles: the present active participle and the past passive participle.

• The present active participle is an adjective describing somebody who is doing something in the present. For example, "The running boy will soon arrive home." "Running" is a participle.
• The past passive participle describes somebody who, at some time in the past, had the verb done to them by something else. For example, "The torn and crumpled paper was thrown in the trash." The paper is torn because, in the past, somebody tore it, and it's crumpled for the same reason. In English, the passive participle usually looks the same as the past form of the verb, as is the case with "crumpled" ("he crumpled it", "it is crumpled"), but not for "torn" ("he tore it", "it is torn").

Esperanto, however, has eight participles. Since English only has two participles, these don't always have perfect translations. Take a look at the table of forms below. If not already obvious, they are formed by replacing the final -i of the infinitive with these forms. Those in yellow exist in English, the rest have imperfect translations.

	Present	Past	Future	Conditional
Active	-anta (verb'ing)	-inta (was-verb'ing)	-onta (will-be-verb'ing)	-unta (would-be-verb'ing)
Passive	-ata (being-verb'ed)	-ita (verb'ed)	-ota (will-be-being-verb'ed)	-uta (would-be-verb'ed)

Because four of the participles have imperfect translations, they will have to be rephrased when translated into English.

Esperanto	Rough English (as in gloss)	Rephrased English
Knabo kurinta falos.	The was-running boy will fall.	The boy who was running will fall.
Arbo haketota alta estas.	The will-be-being-chopped tree is tall.	The tree which will be chopped down is tall.

At the same time, the English sentence "The tree which will be chopped down is tall." can be translated "Arbo haketota alta estas." instead of the more literal "Arbo, kiu estos haketata, alta estas."

Vojaĝado (Travelling)

Vocabulary / Vortlisto
Esperanto	English
aĉeti	to buy
veturo	journey
bileto	ticket
voli	to want
kiu	which
urbo	city, town
Parizo	Paris
bone	okay, well
aviadilo	airplane
ekflugi	to take off
el	from
Berlino	Berlin
al	to
post	after
dudek	twenty
minuto	minute
dankon	thank you, thanks
iri (al)	go (to)

Buying a plane ticket / Aĉeti veturo-bileton

• Ludoviko: Saluton, mi volas aĉeti veturo-bileton.
• Vendisto: Al kiu urbo?
• Ludoviko: Al Parizo.
• Vendisto: Bone, la aviadilo ekflugos el Berlino al Parizo post dudek minutoj.
• Ludoviko: Dankon.

Asking and Answering Questions

Asking questions in Esperanto is very easy to accomplish with the help of a few question words.

Yes/No Questions

Asking Yes/No Questions

In Esperanto, all questions that require "yes" or "no" as an answer begin in "Ĉu"; no other change is made to the sentence. For example, "Do you eat?" would be said "Ĉu vi manĝas?".

In English, "It is a dog." would be asked "Is it a dog?". You may notice that the only change is that "it" and "is" switch places. This is not true of Esperanto: all you have to do is put "Ĉu" at the beginning of the sentence. That's it. ("Ĉu ĝi estas hundo?" means "Is it true that it is a dog?" or more simply "Is it a dog?".)

Answering Yes/No Questions

Answering Yes/No questions is very easy: "jes" means "yes" and "ne" means "no".

Other Types of Questions

Here is a list of several basic question words:

Vocabulary / Vortlisto

Esperanto	English
Kiu?	Which?/Who? (Which person?)
Kio?	What?
Kiam?	When?
Kie?	Where?
Kial?	Why? (For what reason?)
Kiel?	How?
Kiom?	How many?

These words may be useful in answering questions that use the above words:

Vocabulary / Vortlisto

Esperanto	English
Tiu	That/That person
Tio	That (thing)
Tiam	Then
Tie	There
Tial	For that reason
Tiel	Thus/In that way
Tiom	That many

Notice how all these words are linked to the question word that has same ending. This system of words, called the correlatives, will be dealt with in a later chapter.

Vocabulary / Vortlisto

Esperanto	English
Ĉar	Because
Per	Through means of
Pro	On account of

Examples

Esperanto	English
Kio estas tio? Tio estas hundo.	What is that? That is a dog.
Kiu estas tiu? Tiu estas mia amiko.	Who is that? That is my friend.
Kiam vi venos? Mi venos baldaŭ.	When will you come? I will come soon.
Kie vi estas? Mi estas en Usono.	Where are you? I am in the USA.
Kial vi estas en Usono? Ĉar mi loĝas en Usono!	Why are you in the USA? Because I live in the USA!
Kiel vi venos al Eŭropo? Mi venos per aviadilo.	How will you come to Europe? I will come by airplane.

Exercise: Translation

Vocabulary / Vortlisto
Esperanto	English
Helpi	To help
Bagaĝo	Luggage, bag
Edzino	Wife
Misloki	To misplace
Povi	To be able
Trovi	To find
Havas	to have
Jam	Now, already
Bonega	Very good
Feliĉega	Very happy
Apud	Near, next to
Stranga	Strange
Se	If
Mono	Money
Pagi	To pay
Sinjorino	Ma'am, Miss, Mrs.
Reveni	To return

• Ludoviko: Min helpu!
• Virino: Jes?
• Ludoviko: Mi bagaĝojn de mia edzino mislokas. Ĉu vi povas trovi ĝin?
• Virino: Jes, mi havas ĝin jam.
• Ludoviko: Bonege! Mia edzino feliĉega estos. Kie vi trovis ĝin?
• Virino: Tie, apud mia bagaĝon.
• Ludoviko: Estas strange. Se mi havus monon, mi vin pagus. Dankon, sinjorino, kaj adiaŭ!
• Ludoviko revenis lian edzinon.
• Edzino: Ludoviko! Ĉu vi havas mian bagaĝon?
• Ludoviko: Jes, ĝi trovita de virino bona estas.

What You Need to Know

• To change a standard sentence into a yes or no question, place the word "ĉu" in front of it.
• The Table of Correrlatives in Appendix H, in order to ask questions.
• The forms and uses of infinitive, imperative, and conditional verbs.
• The forms of the past and future tenses.
• The forms of the six participles and how to use and translate them.

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Table of Contents
Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3