Free Esperanto Course

Lesson Two

Thanks for trying Lesson 1. By now you should have received corrections to the exercises of the first lesson. Here is the next lesson. Keep it up!

Let's review the "grammar-coding" for a second:

subject thing(s)	action	object thing(s)
-o	-as	-on
	-is
-oj	-os	-ojn

Two-thirds of the pattern so far deals with "things" (nouns). Now let's take a look at how to describe these things: good coffee, good tea (adjectives).

Something that describes, such as "good," is called an adjective. In Esperanto, adjectives are grammar coded with an "-a" ending.

As in some other languages (but not in English) the adjective ending ("-a") has to "agree" with the noun it describes. That is, if the noun is plural, the adjective must also be plural. If the noun is an object ("-n"), the adjective must also be an object.

subject thing(s)	action	object thing(s)
bona patro	havos	bonan filon
a good father	will have	a good son
bonaj patroj	havos	bonajn filojn
good fathers	will have	good sons

(Note: "aj" is pronounced like the English word "eye".)

Vocabulary: In each lesson we will introduce about twenty new words to you; learn these but remember to review the words in the previous lesson. Use the words below to practice what you've just learned. The exercises in this lesson are split into three parts.

Vocabulary, lesson two

Adjectives	Nouns	Verb Roots
bela (beautiful)	akvo (water)	am' (love)
granda (big)	butiko (shop)	lav' (wash)
nova (new)	limonado (lemonade)	pet' (ask, request)
sana (healthy)	papero (paper)	port' (carry, wear)
seka (dry)	plumo (pen)	renkont' (meet)
varma (warm)	taso (cup)	skrib' (write)

Ekzercoj, Leciono Du (parto unu)

1. A healthy boy drinks warm milk.
2. The new shop sells dry cakes.
3. The big teacher met the new friends.
4. The good friends will-make a beautiful cake.

Reminder:

-a	-o	-as	-an	-on
-aj	-oj	-is	-ajn	-ojn
		-os

We haven't been able to give you enough vocabulary to let us vary these exercises very much, but in Esperanto the system of regular word building (with prefixes and suffixes) lets us expand our vocabulary with little effort. For example, the "mal-" makes words of opposite meaning:

bona = good	malbona = bad
pura = clean	malpura = dirty
sana = healthy	malsana = ill, sick
am' = love	malam' = hate
amiko = friend	malamiko = enemy

and similarly the "-in-" makes words specifically female:

patro = father, patrino = mother,

kato = cat, katino = female cat.

The 'vir' prefix is the original way to mark something as explicitly male: virkato. Most people avoid using the root form as a 'male' form. It is rare that you have to mark sex - it is proper to say, for example, Sally estas instruisto, instead of saying Sally estas instruistino.

Ekzercoj, Leciono Du (parto du)

5. The small girl met the ugly sisters.
6. The old cup has new lemonade.
7. The new cup has old milk.
8. Mother will-wash the small cups.
9. The small boy carried the new bread.
10. Cold water washes a small boy.

"Ne" in front of any verb makes it negative, the action that doesn't happen, or didn't happen, or won't happen.

ne havas = doesn't (don't) have; ne faras = doesn't do

Here is just one verb ("to be") displayed in the usual way (all Esperanto verbs follow the same rule!):

General form (infinitive)	to be	esti
Present tense (-as form)	I am	mi estas
	you are	vi estas
	he is	li estas
	she is	ŝi estas
	it is	ĝi estas
	we are	ni estas
	you are	vi estas
	they are	ili estas
	one is	oni estas

est' is the verb root and always appears wherever the verb is used. Does this verb even have a root in English? (am, is, are)

In the above verb display, note:

• ŝi (she) is pronounced exactly like the English "she"

• ĝi (it) is pronounced like the English "gee!", as in "Jeep"

• vi (you) is both singular and plural, like the English "you."

  (There is a word "ci", singular, but it is used much as the English singular "thou" - not very often!)

La	patrino	lavas	la	knabon.	Ŝi	lavas	lin.
The	mother	washes	the	boy.	She	washes	him.

Now that we have learned the pronouns:

mi	vi	li	ŝi	ĝi	ni	vi	ili	oni
I	you	he	she	it	we	you	they	one

we can form the possessive adjectives:

mia	via	lia	ŝia	ĝia	nia	via	ilia (pronounced ee-lee-a)	onia
my	your	his	her	its	our	your	their	one's

which are really adjectives because they identify (describe) the nouns they are attached to. Mia plumo = my pen. The ending "-a" on possessive adjectives follows the same rules about agreement as adjectives:

Mia amiko amas mian fratinon.
Miaj amikoj amas miajn fratinojn.

Ekzercoj, Leciono Du (parto tri)

11. I forgot my pen.
12. We don't have paper.
13. My daughter requested warm milk.
14. Her old friend didn't write.
15. You will meet their old friends.
16. She will have the warm water.
17. Your new teacher forgot your sugar.
18. The boys hate our new teacher.
19. They sell tea and (kaj) coffee.
20. We will sell her cake and his pens.

Note: kaj (and) is pronounced like the ki in kite.

Don't forget to mail these exercises to your tutor, with subject: 'FEC ekz 2'.