what is esperanto?
overview
With over 7000 languages on our Earth, communicating with one another can be a hassle, but don’t fret, that’s where Polish linguist Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof comes in with his creation of Esperanto.
Esperanto is a conlang, or constructed language, created by Zamenhoff in 1887 with the purpose of functioning as a sort of lingua franca, or common language. As it combines various European elements and roots (mostly of Romantic origin), Esperanto can feel similar to these languages in many ways.
Since its creation, Esperanto has grown significantly, and is estimated to have roughly 10,000 to 2 million speakers. In fact, some people have even begin raising their children with Esperanto as their first language. With this growing community in mind, let’s break down Esperanto!
alphabet // phonology
To start understanding a language, it’s important to start with the building blocks: letters. Esperanto has a handful of letters you may not recognize, so let’s break it down:
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
In comparison with the English alphabet, Esperanto has all of the same letters, excluding q, w, x, and y. However, Esperanto does have 6 unique letters: ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, and ŭ, where the first five have a circumflex over them and the last has a breve. Here are the pronunciations for these letters:
- ĉ is pronounced like English ch, as in chair.
- ĝ is pronounced like English j, as in jump. In Esperanto, the j is pronounced like English y.
- ĥ can be a bit tricky for English speakers, as it’s pronounced like Scottish ch, as in loch. This sound is sometimes replaced with h or k.
- ĵ is pronounced like the s in English vision, or the j in French jour.
- ŝ is pronounced like English sh, as in ship.
- ŭ is different from the other letters in the sense it is usually seen in diphthongs like aŭ or eŭ. It can be described as the English w in west.
All the other consonants sound similar to their English counterparts, with the exception of c, which is pronounced like ts (celo → tseh-lo). The 5 vowels also sound exactly how they are supposed to (ah, eh, ih, oh, and oo for English speakers).
Esperanto also has a collection of diphthongs: aj, aŭ, ej, eŭ, oj, and uj. These are pretty similar to to the actual vowels, but it is important to remember j has a y sound and ŭ is similar to w. Uj is also a little different to the others, where it is pronounced as “oo-ee,” but in one syllable. Similarly, eŭ is pronounced as “ey-oo,” also in one syllable.
morphology // syntax
Esperanto is very straightforward: one of the perks of making your own language I guess. All words follow the same pattern and Zamenhoff made sure to exclude any irregular words you would normally see in a natlang, or natural language. Here are some of the basics you should know if you plan on learning this language:
- Esperanto, like English, does not have grammatical gender
- The word for “the” is la, and nothing else. There is no word for “a”
- Nouns always end with the suffix -o
- The plural suffix is -j
- All adjectives end with the suffix -a
- Adverbs end with the suffix -e
- The infinitive of a verb always ends with suffix -i
- The stress of the word always falls on the second to last syllable
With this knowledge, you can immediately get a sense of what type of word something is by just looking at it. Granda? Must be an adjective. Kuko? Must be a noun. Kukoj? Must be the plural of kuko. This simplifies learning Esperanto by a lot, as all you really need to know is the root of a verb. For example, with the root tag (which relates to day), you will know tago means day (n.), taga means daily (adj.), tage means on a daily basis (adv.), and tagi means to become day, or to dawn (v.).
Esperanto also makes use of other various endings to express even more ideas. For example, inserting -ej- indicates the word is a place where something is done (kitchen is written as kuirejo, where kuir- indicates cooking, -ej- indicates a place, and -o indicates a noun). Using -ebl- is the possibility of something, like English -able or -ible. Using the suffix -n denotes the accusative case, which shows that the word is a direct object of the sentence.
If you struggle with the large number of conjugations verbs can have in languages, don’t be afraid! A neat and simple thing about Esperanto is the lack of different conjugations for every person or number. The only deciding factor for a verb’s suffix is the tense and mood. In fact, here is a comparison for the verb “to sing,” for English, Esperanto, and Spanish in the indicative present tense.
- I sing // mi kantas // yo canto
- you sing // vi kantas // tú cantas
- it sings // ĝi kantas // [it] canta
- we sing // ni kantas // nosotros cantamos
- they sing // ili / iŝi kantas // ellos / ellas cantan
Another fact you should know about Esperanto is its word order of SVO, or Subject — Verb — Object. Additionally, any adjectives come before a noun and after a definite article. These rules are the exact same in English, which means the sentence I eat the big cake can be translated word for word into Esperanto: mi manĝas la grandan kukon. Note how grandan kukon (big cake) is in the accusative form (extra -n suffix), as it is the direct object in the sentence.
Prepositions in Esperanto aren’t hard for English speakers either, almost always coming in the same place as it would in an English sentence. An important exception to this is the word antaŭ, meaning ago. You can see this difference in the phrase “antaŭ tri jaroj” meaning “three years ago,” but literally translates to “ago three years.” Another important thing to note about adjectives is the placement of the -n suffix on a noun if the preposition motions into a or towards a location.
where can i learn esperanto?
Now that I’ve given a brief overview of the language, some of you may wonder where you can start. Luckily, there are many locations you can begin learning Esperanto as an English speaker. The website linked explains some, but here is a quick list:
- Duolingo
- Lernu.net
- Esperanto in 12 Days
- The Universal Esperanto Method
Good luck on your journey learning Esperanto, and mi vidos vin venontfoje!
