The Alphabet:
| A |
B |
C |
Ĉ |
D |
E |
F |
|
| G |
Ĝ |
H |
Ĥ |
I |
J |
Ĵ |
| K |
L |
M |
N |
O |
P |
R |
| S |
Ŝ |
T |
U |
Ŭ |
V |
Z |
Every letter has only one sound and is always pronounced. Accent is always on the next- to-last syllable. All consonants are pronounced as in English except:
|
|
C as "ts" in "bits"
Ĉ as "ch" in "church"
G as in "get"
Ĝ as "j" in "jet"
H as in "hat"
Ĥ as "ch" in "loch"
J as "y" in "yes"
Ĵ as "s" in "measure"
R is trilled as in Spanish. Think of señorita or burrito.
S as in "said"
Ŝ as "sh" in "shed"
Ŭ as "w" in "water"
|
Vowels are always pure, never diphthongs as is common in English. They are pronounced as follows:
|
|
A as in "father"
E as in "get"
I as in "machine"
O as in "mote"
U as "oo" in "boot"
|
The parts of speech are formed by adding endings to root words.
O is the noun ending
instruisto (teacher)
|
adjectives end in A
new = nova
|
|
J is added to form plurals
|
direct object adds N
|
Inteligentaj personoj lernas la internacian lingvon.
(Intelligent people learn the international language.)
Esperanto havas facilajn regulojn.
(Esperanto has easy rules.)
|
The ending of an adjective always agrees with the ending of the noun
that it modifies.
Verb endings
| Infinitive |
Present |
Past |
Future |
Imperative |
Conditional |
| I |
AS |
IS |
OS |
U |
US |
| vidi |
vidas |
vidis |
vidos |
vidu |
vidus |
| to see |
sees |
saw |
will see |
see! |
would see |
The ending is the same regardless of number or gender.
Adverbs end in E.
e.g. libere (freely)
Numbers :
| 1 unu |
5 kvin |
9 naŭ |
| 2 du |
6 ses |
10 dek |
| 3 tri |
7 sep |
100 cent |
| 4 kvar |
8 ok |
1000 mil |
| |
Examples:
12 dek du
278 ducent sepdek ok
