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Esperanto: A Complete and Comprehensive Grammar/Verbs

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Verbs

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Esperanto has four aspects, three tenses of indicative mood and three other moods, which can be easily determined by looking at the ending of a verb. Verbs are not conjugated for person or number, only tense or mood.

  • Present tense, with the ending -as. Mi kantas = I sing. Ili parolas = they speak.
  • Past tense -is. Mi kantis = I sang.
  • Future tense -os. Mi kantos = I will sing. Ŝi kuiros = she will cook.
  • Conditional mood -us. Se mi kantus = If I would sing.
  • Volitive mood -u. = Kantu! = Sing! Enlitiĝu! = Go to bed!
  • Infinitive mood -i. Kanti = To sing.

The volitive mood, although primarily used to give commands, is also used to indicate that the subject of the sentence has an obligation or should do something. For instance: Mi tajpu la leteron means "I should type the letter". Compare this to Mi devas tajpi la leteron, which suggests more urgency ("I must type the letter").

The active synthetic forms are:

Synthetic forms (active voice)
Aspect
Mood Tense Aoristic Progressive Perfect Prospective
Indicative Present mi kaptas
(I catch) 		mi estas kaptanta

or mi kaptantas

(I am catching)

mi estas kaptinta

or mi kaptintas

(I have caught)

mi estas kaptonta

or mi kaptontas

(I am about to catch)

Past mi kaptis
(I caught) 		mi estis kaptanta

or mi kaptantis

(I was catching)

mi estis kaptinta

or mi kaptintis

(I had caught)

mi estis kaptonta

or mi kaptontis

(I was about to catch)

Future mi kaptos
(I will catch) 		mi estos kaptanta

or mi kaptantos

(I will be catching)

mi estos kaptinta

or mi kaptintos

(I will have caught)

mi estos kaptonta

or mi kaptontos

(I will be about to catch)

Conditional mi kaptus

(I would catch)

mi estus kaptanta

or mi kaptantus

(I would be catching)

mi estus kaptinta

or mi kaptintus

(I would have caught)

mi estus kaptonta

or mi kaptontus

(I would be about to catch)

Volitive mi kaptu

(I should catch)

mi estu kaptanta

or mi kaptantu

(I should be catching)

mi estu kaptinta

or mi kaptintu

(I should have caught)

mi estu kaptonta

or mi kaptontu

(I should be about to catch)

Infinitive kapti

(to catch)

esti kaptanta

or kaptanti

(to be catching)

esti kaptinta

or kaptinti

(to have caught)

esti kaptonta

or kaptonti

(to be about to catch)

The passive synthetic forms are:

Synthetic forms (passive voice)
Aspect
Mood Tense Aoristic Progressive Perfect Prospective
Indicative Present mi estas kaptata

or mi kaptatas

(I am caught)

mi estas kaptata

or mi kaptatas

(I am being caught)

mi estas kaptita

or mi kaptitas
(I have been caught)

mi estas kaptota

or mi kaptotas

(I am about to be caught)

Past mi estis kaptata

or mi kaptatis

(I was caught)

mi estis kaptata

or mi kaptatis
(I was being caught)

mi estis kaptita

or mi kaptitis
(I had been caught)

mi estis kaptota

or mi kaptotis

(I was about to be caught)

Future mi estos kaptata

or mi kaptatos

(I will be caught)

mi estos kaptata

or mi kaptatos
(I will be being caught)

mi estos kaptita

or mi kaptitos
(I will have been caught)

mi estos kaptota

or mi kaptotos

(I will be about to be caught)

Conditional mi estus kaptata

or mi kaptatus

(I would be caught)

mi estus kaptata

or mi kaptatus
(I would be being caught)

mi estus kaptita

or mi kaptitus
(I would have been caught)

mi estus kaptota

or mi kaptotus

(I would be about to be caught)

Volitive mi estu kaptata

or mi kaptatu

(I should be caught)

mi estu kaptata

or mi kaptatu

(I should be being caught)

mi estu kaptita

or mi kaptitu

(I should have been caught)

mi estu kaptota

or mi kaptotu

(I should be about to be caught)

Infinitive esti kaptata

or kaptati

(to be caught)

esti kaptata

or kaptati

(to be being caught)

esti kaptita

or kaptiti

(to have been caught)

esti kaptota

or kaptoti

(to be about to be caught)

Verbal periphrasis are formed with the adjectival participles plus esti (to be) as the auxiliary verb. The participle reflects aspect and voice, while the verb carries tense or mood:

  • Present progressive: mi estas kaptanta (I am catching [something]), mi estas kaptata (I am caught, I am being caught)
  • Present perfect: mi estas kaptinta (I have caught [something]), mi estas kaptita (I have been caught)
  • Present prospective: mi estas kaptonta (I am going to catch / about to catch), mi estas kaptota (I am going to be caught / about to be caught).

These are not used as often as their English equivalents. For "I am going to the store", you would normally use the simple present mi iras in Esperanto.

The tense or mood of esti can be changed in these periphrastic constructions:

mi estis kaptinta (I had caught)
mi estus kaptonta (I would be about to catch)
mi estos kaptanta (I will be catching).

Although such periphrastic constructions are familiar to speakers of most European languages, the option of contracting [esti + adjective] into a verb is often seen for adjectival participles:

mi estas kaptinta or mi kaptintas (I have caught)
mi estis kaptinta or mi kaptintis (I had caught)
mi estos kaptinta or mi kaptintos (I will have caught).

Volitive and infinitive forms are also found. There is a parallel passive paradigm. A few of these forms, notably -intus and -atas, entered common usage, but most of them are very rare because they are difficult to understand.[1]

  1. ↑ Bertilo Wennergren, Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko, Nekutimaj kunmetitaj verboj
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