Esperanto (Esperantlingva)

Introduction

Zamenhof

Esperanto Logo

Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed (or artificial) international language. A constructed language is one whose phonology, grammar and vocabulary are artifically designed rather than having evolved naturally over time. Constructed languages tend to be very regular because they did not undergo historical changes that normally occur in natural World Map languages.

The name Esperanto derives from Doktoro Esperanto, the pseudonym of a Polish linguist, Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof who created Esperanto in the late 1870s and early 1880s. His goal was to devise a universal second language that would help combat nationalism and promote internationalism. The first Esperanto grammar was published in 1887 in Warsaw, Poland. The first world congress of Esperanto speakers was held in France in 1905. Since then well-attended world congresses have been held every year, interrupted only by the the two World Wars.

The phonology, grammar, and vocabulary of Esperanto are based on Indo-European languages. In a way, Esperanto is not a truly an international language, but more like an Indo-European language with no national affiliation. Speakers of non-Indo-European languages will find it as easy or as difficult to learn as any other European language.

Esperanto has been in continuous use since its creation, even though it is not recognized as an official language by any country. According to Ethnologue , there are 2 million second-language speakers of Esperanto, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, and South America.

There are over 25,000 original and translated books in Esperanto and over a hundred Esperanto magazines. Many Esperanto speakers use the language for travel throughout the world using the Pasporta Servo, a hospitality service for speakers of Esperanto. Others have pen pals in many countries around the world using services such as Esperanto Mondo. Every year, several thousand Esperanto speakers meet for the World Congress of Esperanto (Universala Kongreso de Esperanto).

Esperanto Congress

Structure

Sound System

Since Esperanto is spoken as a second language, its pronunciation varies depending on the first language of its speakers.

Vowels
Like many European languages, Esperanto has five vowels /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/, /u/.

Consonants
Esperanto has the following consonants, all of which are typical of European languages.

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stops	p-b	.	t-d	.	k-g	.
Fricatives	.	f-v	s-z	sh-zh	x	h
Affricates	.	.	ts	ch-dzh	.	.
Nasals	m	n	.	.	.	.
Laterals	.	.	l	.	.	.
Tap	.	.	r	.	.	.
Semi-vowel	.	.	.	j	.	.

Stress
Stress always falls on the next-to-last (penultimate) syllable, just like in Polish, Zamenhof's native language.

Click here to listen to some common phrases in Esperanto.

Grammar

Grammar
Esperanto grammar is thoroughly European. It is an agglutinative language, i.e., words are formed by adding prefixes and suffixes to roots.

Noun phrase

All nouns end in -o.
All adjectives end in -a.
Nouns and adjectives have two cases: nominative and accusative. The accusative is formed by adding -n to the nominative.
Demonstrative and personal pronouns also have a genitive case.
All other relationships are expressed by prepositions. All prepositions take the nominative case, e.g., de mia patrino "my mother's."
There are two numbers: singular and plural. The plural is formed by adding -j to the singular.
Adjectives generally agree with nouns in case and number.
There is a single definite article la which is similar to the English the. It always has the same form.

Verb phrase

Verbs are not marked for person or number.

Verbs have the following endings:

Indicative
Present	-as
Past	-is
Future	-os
Conditional	-us
Imperative	-u
Infinitive	-i

The passive is expressed by the appropriate form of esti "to be" + past passive participle of the verb.

Word order
The word order of Esperanto is typically Subject- Verb- Object. Adjectives precede the nouns they modify.

Click here to learn more about the basic rules of Esperanto grammar.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of Esperanto comes mainly from Latin by way of Greek, and Romance and Germanic languages. As a result, most of its words look familiar to speakers of Western European languages or to anyone who knows a Romance language. Here are the kinship terms of Esperanto:

Masculine	Feminine
edzo husband	*edzino* wife
*filo* son	*filino* daughter
*nepo* grandson	*nepino* granddaughter
*patro* father	*patrino* mother
*avo* grandfatjer	*avino* grandmother
*onklo* uncle	*onklino* aunt
*nevo* nephew	*nevino* niece
*kuzo* male cousin	*kuzino* female cousin

Below are the numbers 1-10 in Esperanto:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
*unu*	do	*tri*	*kvar*	*kvin*	*ses*	*sep*	ok	*nau*	*dek*

Writing

The Esperanto alphabet has 28 letters. 22 of them are the same as in English. There are no letters Q, W, X, and Y. There are six letters that do not exist in English: Ĉ, Ĝ, Ĥ, Ĵ, Ŝ, Ŭ.

Take a look at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Esperanto. Do you think you could read it without a dictionary?

Universala Deklaracio de Homaj Rajtoj
Artikolo 1
Ĉiuj homoj estas denaske liberaj kaj egalaj laû digno kaj rajtoj. Ili posedas racion kaj konsciencon, kaj devus konduti unu al alia en spirito de frateco.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Click here to learn more about the Esperanto alphabet.

Resources

Click here to find out where Esperanto is taught in the United States.

Resources for the study of Esperanto
Esperanto Access
Esperanto Resources
Esperanto Learning Aids
Online Esperanto Dictionaries
Esperanto-English Glossary
Esperanto on the Web: Links and Resources
Virtual Esperanto Library