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Lesson 1

Summary

Lesson 1 will probably be the longest lesson I will make. It is basic a the portal into the Esperanto language. Please do not rush through it. Take your time, and take advantage of the links provided.

Alphabet

The best way to familiarize yourself with the sounds of Esperanto is to learn the alphabet.
These two webpages are the best online:
http://en.lernu.net/lernado/gramatiko/konciza/elparolo.php
http://en.lernu.net/enkonduko/lingvoprezento/alfabeto.php
Esperanto has 28 letters.
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, W, Z.
The name of each consonant ends with an O sound.
Do not bother learning any words in Esperanto until you memorize the alphabet and the sound of each letter. It makes learning Esperanto much easier.

Nouns

Nouns are names of things. All nouns end with O.
Examples of nouns:
komencanto-beginner
hundo-dog
urbo-city
domo-house
strato-street
viro-man

Plurals

To make a noun plural, just add a J to the end. This makes an oy sound.
komencantoj-beginners
hundoj-dogs
urboj-cities
domoj-houses
stratoj-street
viroj-men

Object

A direct object is that which is directly acted upon by the verb

In Esperanto, to show a direct object of a sentence you add an N at the end. Basically you can change around the words however you want, but as long as the N is there, the meaning will be clear.

Example:
La birdo amas la katon.-The bird loves the cat.
La katon amas la birdo.-Same meaning as above.
La kato amas la birdon. The cat loves the bird.

Adjectives

Adjectives are used to describe nouns(words that end with O).
All adjectives in Esperanto end with A.

pura-clean
nova-new
bela-beautiful
sana-healthy
varma-warm
facila-easy
granda-big
alta-tall/high

Prefixes

There are a total of 10 prefixes in Esperanto, but in this lesson we will only focus on 1, to get you used to the idea. Adding MAL to the beginning of a word gives it the opposite meaning.
malpura-dirty
malnova-old
malbela-ugly
malasana-sick
malvarma-cold
malfacila-difficult
malgranda-small
malalta-short/low

Suffixes

In Esperanto there are 31 suffixes, in this lesson we will only learn about 2. Suffixes makes new words in Esperanto, they usually go directly after the root word.

ET
The ET suffix is a dimunitive suffix, it makes things smaller.
varmeta-lukewarm
hundeto-small dog
urbeto-town
vireto-little man

IN
The IN suffix makes certain nouns females.
Virino-Female
Hundino-b***h
Instruistino-Female Teacher
Amikino-Female Friend


Verbs

Verbs are words that describe actions. They are simple to remember, but very important.

doni-to give
ludi-to play
ridi-to laugh
fari-to do/make
paroli-to speak
scii-to know
havi-to have
povi-to be able
vidi-to see
vivi-to live
fumi-to smoke
kuri-to run

Verb Forms

This is one of the most difficult parts in learning most language, but its extremely simple in Esperanto! There are no irregular verbs!

Lets talk about the verb forms in Esperanto.
Infinitives, as the ones mentioned in the previous section of this lesson end in I. In the present tense, verbs always end in AS, in the past in IS, and in the future in OS

Let's work on the verb form for esti:
mi estas- I am
mi estis- I was
mi estos- I will be

vi estas- you are
vi estis- you were
vi estos- you will be

li estas- he is
li estis- he was
li estos- he will be

ŝi estas- she is
ŝi estis- she was
ŝi estos- she will be

ĝi estas- it is
ĝi estis- it was
ĝi estos- it will be

ni estas- we are
ni estis- we were
ni estos- we will be

ili etas- they are
ili estis- they were
ili estos- they will be

There are two more verb forms, US for the conditional form and U for the command form
estus-would be
skribus- would write
ludus-would play
fumus-would smoke

estu silenta-be quiet!
skribu- write!
fumu- smoke!


Adverbs

Adverbs are words that describe verbs. Just like how adjectives describe nouns.

Adjectives become adverbs when you use the E ending instead.
aktive- actively
facile- easily
glate- smoothly
serioze- seriously
vere- truly
bone- well
fiere- proudly
rapide- quickly
silente- silently
zorge- carefully

Setances

Here is some review, and some new words so you get the feel of the language.

La virino parolas Esperanton- The woman speaks Esperanto.
La domoj estas belaj.- The houses are beautiful
Rikardo donis libron al Maria- Richard gave a book to Mary.
La amiko povos ludi en la granda urbo.- The friend will be able to play in the big city.

Homework

Create three original sentences in Esperanto.

That is slightly offensive. Esperanto is a real language, with native speakers, hundreds of thousands of fluent speakers, and 120 years of constant history with a culture. Historical writers include Leo Tolstoy, Henri Barbusse, and Ba Jin and it still is very much alive with many great writers. It is not in the top ten lists of spoken languages in the world at the moment but it is still a valid living language.

Thanks for the support. The main difference between Latin and Esperanto in classification is that Latin is a dead language, meaning it has no native speakers. Esperanto has native speakers and more people are able to speak it fluently, I believe.

It's still technically a conlang, but what makes it unique is that has thrived for over a century, and it's the only conlang I know(besides Hebrew) that has native speakers.

I would like to learn!

I didn't log in for a long time. I will make a new lesson by the end of tomorrow, probably will be ready today though.

ya I would like to learn too....