Esperantido 123 differs from Esperanto in just the following rules:

• Use word order instead of "the accusative -n with a direct object" and do not replace prepositions with -n.
• Use "hi" for male persons (instead of "li") and use "li" as a neutral personal pronoun.
• Use the "iĉo" suffix to indicate masculinity (father = patriĉo) and consider any word without an "iĉo" or "ino" suffix neutral.

Letters

Each letter is pronounced and always in the same way. The letters Q, W, X and Y are not part of the alphabet. There are 6 additional letters: Ĉ, Ĝ, Ĥ, Ĵ, Ŝ and Ŭ. At lernu.net/gramatiko/skribo you can hear the pronunciation by clicking the letters.

When a word has two or more vowels, the stress is always at the second to last vowel. Because Ŭ is no vowel, you say, for example:

• Not aŬto but Aŭto (the vowels are AO, so the A is pronounced more strongly)
• Not apenAŭ but apEnaŭ (the vowels are AEA, so the E is pronounced more strongly)

Nowadays it's easy to type the letters Ĉ, Ĝ, Ĥ, Ĵ, Ŝ and Ŭ on a computer or smartphone. On smartphones you may just have to check the Esperanto keyboard in your settings - after that, long-pressing "s" displays the option "ŝ". On a computer, after installing a small program like Tajpi, you can type "sx" to get "ŝ" on your screen. If you can't or don't want to change any setting, you can use the online tool.

Pronouns

Verb conjugations

More example sentences and explanations can be found at lernu.net/gramatiko/verboj.

Nouns (O-vortoj)

Nouns end in "-o". When plural, a "-j" is appended.

Adjectives (A-vortoj)

Adjectives end in "-a". If the noun is plural, the adjective copies its "-j".

Adverbs (E-vortoj)

Adverbs end in "-e". Adverbs often describe a verb or an adjective. Adverbs don't copy the plural J.

Note: In Esperanto, in case of [infinitive + ESTI + description], such as "Kritiki estas facile/facila", only the E-word ("facile") is actually allowed, because it is a description of a verb. The sentence "Tio estis facila, sed fariĝi la mondĉampiono ne estis facile/facila." is intended to indicate that this can lead to strange sentences and that - in Esperantido 123 - you are also allowed to use an A-word.

"Little words" (vortetoj)

There are also "little words" that do not need an ending (such as "o", "a", "e", "i", etc.).

More about pli, plej, tre, tro:

They can be used in different contexts, just like some national languages use such words:

Sometimes "little words that don't need an ending" are used with an ending:

Usually an ending is not necessary:

If you come across such a word in a text, you can look up its meaning in the multilingual dictionary reta-vortaro.de. Even if you don't yet know how to type letters like "ŭ" on your device, you can do so in the search bar of that website: if you type "ux", you will see "ŭ". Click on the round logo to the right of the search bar to search and click on any of the search results to see example sentences (and translations to sometimes more than 90 languages).

Word orders part 1

Without having to think about it, people know which word orders are "correct" in their language and which are not. In English, for example, the sentences "I that do." and "Do that I." are strange, but "I do that." and "That I do." are allowed. Just an analysis:
I = the subject (subjekto) of the sentence.
do = the verb (verbo) of the sentence.
that = the direct object (rekta objekto) of the sentence.

Esperantido 123 defines fixed word orders - of the above 6, only 3 are allowed. The freedom you get in return: you don't have to think about the N.

The basic word order in Esperantido 123 is:

If you want to put the sentence "ŝi havas blua piedpilko" (she has a blue football) in a different word order, your can choose "Blua piedpilko ŝi havas". The second allowed word order is:

This word order is often necessary to refer back to what was mentioned before the comma.

In some cases you may want to make something clear about the subject of the sentence via a subordinate clause. Then you can put the subject at the end, followed by a comma, so that you can refer back to it:

The above rules are about sentences that have a subject. Below are rules about the position of the direct object in other cases:

Using all of the word orders above (and those from "Word orders part 2" later in this course) should feel natural after some practice.

A note about prepositions: phrases that start with a preposition are ignored when asking for word order (SVO, OSV, VOS), for example:
“Mi faris tio en Francio.” (SVO)
“En Francio mi faris tio.” (SVO)
“Tio mi faris en Francio.” (OSV)
“En Francio tio mi faris.” (OSV)

There are even more phrases that you can ignore in word order analysis.

Akuzativo - part 1

Esperanto probably has greater cultural appeal. Think of poems, music and reading books.
Esperantido 123 might have greater appeal for exact science and technology in the future.

Suffixes

Below the heading "Nouns" we saw that patro = parent, patriĉo = father, patrino = mother. The suffixes IĈ/IN make a neutral word masculine/feminine.

At lernu.net/gramatiko/sufiksoj you will see all the suffixes that apply in Esperanto and Esperantido 123.

Two common suffixes are "igi" (to do/make/let become) and "iĝi" (to become, pasive):

Do you understand the following words?

Because there are so many words that can be invented using suffixes and prefixes, some of them simply do not appear in dictionaries such as reta-vortaro.de. If you come across an unknown word in a text that is "not in the dictionary", remove a prefix or suffix. Also note that verbs can only be found with the "i" ending.

Prefixes

At lernu.net/gramatiko/prefiksoj you can find information about prefixes. The most notable prefix is MAL.

Examples: "malfeliĉa" = "unhappy", "malsana" = "unhealthy".

This prefix in itself is not that remarkable in meaning, as there are many national languages that have such a prefix. What is special is that it is used so often. Originally there was not even a word for "left", because people only used "maldekstra". (The word "dekstra" means "right".)

For almost all "mal" words there is an alternative now. For example:

• "aperta" = "malfermita" (open, the opposite of closed)
• "liva" = "maldekstra" (left, the opposite of right)

When you drive together, you should of course choose what works best for the driver. Does the driver want you to emphasize the A in MAL ("mAldekstra") instead of saying "maldEkstra"? Do that. Does the driver want you to use "liva"? Do that. Of course, hand gestures are also an option.

Word formation

To create new words from words you already know, it is useful to know the precise meaning of the word roots ("radikoj").

For more information, see: lernu.net/gramatiko/vortfarado.

Table words

The table below is, after all the time-saving things we learned about above, another genius design choice that makes learning Esperanto and Esperantido 123 easier than other (think: "national") languages. The regularity makes it a lot easier to remember these 45 words.

Together with the word "tie" (there) or "tiu" (that), one uses "ĉi" to indicate proximity. So, "ĉi tie" (or "tie ĉi") means "here" and "ĉi tiu" (or "tiu ĉi") means "this".

For example sentences in which table words are used, see:

• lernu.net/gramatiko/tabelvortoj
• lernu.net/gramatiko/subfrazoj

Questions

To ask questions to which the answer is yes/no, start the sentence with the word "ĉu". For other questions, use table words starting with "ki-":

Numbers

unu (1), du (2), tri (3), kvar (4), kvin (5), ses (6), sep (7), ok (8), naŭ (9), dek (10), cent (100), mil (1000)

Nulo (zero), miliono (million) and miliardo (billion) are nouns and get a "-j" when plural.

Tens and hundreds are written together. Thousands are separate and pronounced that way (stress).

Ordinal numbers

You can read more about the use of numbers on lernu.net/gramatiko/nombraj_vortoj.

Akuzativo - part 2 - Direction

Esperanto also uses the N-ending to indicate that something is moving toward... for example, "home": "Mi iras hejmen." (= "I'm going home.")

In Esperantido 123 it was decided to avoid all N-endings, so we use the Esperanto word "al" (= to): "Mi iras al hejme.". Here "al hejme" acts like a single adverb and says something about the verb "iri". You can also say "Mi iras al mia hejmo".

As you can see in the examples, you can also use "al" before a preposition: al antaŭ, al malantaŭ, al apud, al ĉe, al ĉirkaŭ, al ekster, al en, al inter, al post, al sub, al super, al sur, al trans, etc.

Be careful when driving if someone speaks Esperanto and you speak Esperantido 123...:
"Iru al dekstre!" (= "Turn right!") sounds very similar to "Iru maldekstren!" (= "Turn left!").
Perhaps it is better not to use the word "al": "Dekstre!".

Esperanto uses the word "supren" for "up" and "malsupren" for "down". In Esperantido 123 you would then use "al supre" and "al malsupre". The literal meaning of "al supre"/"supren" is "towards the top", because "supro" means "top". If you find that disturbing, there is an alternative: the Esperanto dictionary reta-vortaro.de also contains the words "sor/sob" as synonyms for "supren/malsupren", so you could use that too. Notice the symmetry:

Tenses

How participles can be used is described in detail at lernu.net/gramatiko/participoj.

Make sure that you know how to form words like "lernanto" and "manĝante".

Esperanto speakers and writers usually use the simplest tense, for example "Mi legis tiu libro!" ("I read that book!") instead of "Mi estas leginta tiu libro!" ("I have read that book!"). If precision is not necessary to be understood, then the more specific tenses do not need to be used.

Instead of "Hi estis naskita en Januaro" (= "He was born in January") one often says "Hi naskiĝis en Januaro", using the suffix "IĜ" (see lernu.net/gramatiko/sufiksoj). You will often encounter this use of "-iĝis". Also, "-iĝas" is used, for example in "uziĝas" instead of "estas uzata" (= "is used").

Also sometimes "volintus" is used instead of "estus volinta", or for example "uzatas" instead of "estas uzata".

Word orders part 2

At bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/pasivo/bazaj_reguloj you can read how to rewrite "La knabino vidas la domo" into "La domo estas vidata de la knabino". Then, using the theory from the previous section on "Times", we can rewrite "estas vidata" into "vidiĝas". The sentence "La knabino vidas la domo" can therefore be rewritten as "La domo vidiĝas de la knabino". So we have found a way to switch subject and direct object* without having to switch to a more specific tense with ESTI.

This is useful when the direct object refers to a previous sentence and the subject is followed by a subordinate clause:

*Gramatically there is no direct object, because it is a passive sentence.

Finally, an introduction to some special word orders:

• The word "necesas" means "estas necesa" (="is necessary"). With the word "necesas" there can be no direct object. (Note that "necesigi" = "to make necessary" will have a direct object.) Yet Esperanto contains sentences such as "Kion necesas fari por...". That's because "tio(n)" from "fari tion" is moved to the left and into the interrogative form ("tion" -> "kion"). In Esperantido 123 you will probably also just say "Kio necesas fari por..." even though the word order "IO" is ignored here.
• In Esperanto you can say "Kion signifas la vorto "arbaro"?". The subject is la vorto "arbaro" and the direct object is "its meaning", in this case in interrogative form "Kio(n)". In Esperantido 123 you will probably also just say "Kio signifas la vorto "arbaro"?" even though the word order "SVO" is ignored here.

On the main page these word orders are called "Neriproĉeblaj vortordo-eraroj". That actually means: sometimes you can make a conscious word order mistake if you are quite sure other speakers will find this the most pleasant way of speaking.

Akuzativo - part 3

Fiĉjo kaj Finjo

Learn more?

If this mini course was interesting for you, you could continue learning by following the Esperanto course La teorio Nakamura online for free. Piece by piece you read the story about a boy, Filipo, who travels to the future in a time machine, and you complete varied assignments in between. The course is best taken on a laptop, because moving the mouse pointer over the Esperanto text will display the translation (per sentence) - on some phones and tablets this may not work properly. Each part of the story can also be read aloud (with voices of different people)... good for training listening skills!

After you have built up some vocabulary, come back to the main page of this website and click through to read the book La bona lingvo (bilingual) or the children's book La eta princiĉo for further exploration of both languages!