Esperanto at Stanford University

Lesson Zero - Endings

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Lesson Zero - Endings

To make words, Esperanto agglutinates (glues together) parts:

prefixes + roots + postfixes + endings

(Some roots can function directly as words, but the vast majority require some endings.)

All the possible endings in Esperanto:

Action (verb)	= root	+	i
		or	is or as or os
		or	us
		or	u
Thing (noun)	= root	+	o	(+j)	(+n)
Description of a thing (adjective)	= root	+	a	(+j)	(+n)
Description of action or other description word (adverb)	= root	+	e		(+n)

Examples of words built from parts:

am_			a root
amo	love	o	thing (noun)
amoj	loves (more than one love)	j	more than one thing (plural)
ami	to love	i	action (infinitive)
amis	loved	is	past (tense) action
amas	loves	as	present (tense) action
amos	will love	os	future (tense) action
amus	would love	us	conditional (tense) action
amu	love!	u	(imperative) influencing action
ama	loving	a	describes a thing (adjective)
ame	lovingly	e	describes an action (adverb)
amon	love (as a thing given)	n	thing acted upon (direct object)

More complex examples of words built from parts:

bird_		this is a root
birdo	a bird	noun
birda	birdlike	adjective
bela	beautiful	another root + adjective ending
bela birdo	beautiful bird	adjective + noun
blua birdo	blue bird	another adjectival root + noun
birdoj	birds	plural
rapide	rapidly	another root with an adverb ending
flugi	to fly	infinitive of another root
flugis	flew	past tense
flugas	flies (is flying, does fly) - all the same	presnt tense of an action
flugos	will fly	future tense
flugus	would fly	conditional
flugu!	fly!	command
birdo flugas rapide	a bird flies rapidly
birdo flugis bele	a bird flew beautifully
silenta birdo flugos	a silent bird will fly	another root
silente birdo flugas	silently a bird flies
birdo flugus	a bird would fly
silentu!	silence!

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