What is Esperanto?

It's a language that is particularly useful for international communication.

"The internal idea of Esperanto is: the foundation of a neutral language will help break down barriers between peoples and help people get used to the idea that each one of them should see their neighbors only as a human being and a brother."

L.L.Zamenhof, 1912

The language was initiated by Ludwig Lazar Zamenhof, who created the grammar on the basis of European languages with a minimal quantity of exceptions. The vocabulary is mostly based on Romance languages, although there are also words from Germanic and other languages. The new language, the first textbook of which appeared in 1887, attracted a community of speakers and began a normal process of language evolution within a community who used it in many environments and created a culture associated with the language. Two decades later, the first children speaking in Esperanto with their parents were born, the first native speakers of the language. Thus, one can say that it is a language created for international communication, which later became creolized and is nowadays the language of a diaspora of Esperanto speakers.

It was created on the basis of the vocabulary of Indo-European languages, but was intended to be easy to learn. For this reason, its grammar is agglutinative, a characteristic feature of Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages, and at a deeper level it is isolating, as in Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese. This means that its morphemes can be used as independent words. It has a completely regular grammar and allows the creation of a large quantity of words by combining lexical roots and about forty affixes (for example from the radical san- (healthy), it is possible to create words such as: malsana (“sick”), malsanulo (“sick person”), gemalsanuloj (“sick people of both sexes”), malsanulejo (“hospital”), sanigilo (“medicine”), saniĝinto (“person who has recovered”), sanigejo (“curing place”), malsaneto (“little illness”), malsanego (“extreme illness”), malsanegulo (“very sick person”), sanstato (“health state”), sansento (“health feeling”), sanlimo (“health limit”), malsankaŭzanto (“pathogen”), kontraŭmalsanterapio (“therapy against sickness”)…). The main parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) have consistent endings that always allow the recognition of all parts of speech. Its regularity makes it particularly easy to learn, and its streamlined capacity to create new words make it one of the most productive languages, with a potentially unlimited number of words, it is capable of expressing all new ideas or states. For example, it is possible to write a novel about fictional table-shaped Martians and to call them tablo (“table”), tablino (“female table”), tablido (“table offspring”)… We can imagine a man who walks backwards ( inversmarŝanto , “reverse-walker”), a remedy against dogmatism ( maldogmigilo , “undogmatizer”), etc.

Important traits of Esperanto

The basic idea of Esperanto is about tolerance and respect for people of diverse nations and cultures. Communication is indeed the essential part of understanding each other, and if that communication happens through a neutral language, that can help the feeling that we 'meet' on equal grounds and help create respect for one another.

International

Esperanto is most useful for communicating among people of diverse nations who do not have a common mother tongue.

Neutral

It doesn't belong to one people or country, so it works as a neutral language.

Equal

When you use Esperanto, you feel more equal from a linguistic standpoint than when, for example, you speak Spanish with a native Spanish speaker.

Relatively easy

Thanks to the structure of Esperanto, it's usually much easier to master than other foreign languages.

Living

Esperanto evolves and lives just like other languages, and it can be used to express the most varied facets of human thought and emotion.

Just

Everyone who learns Esperanto has a good chance of reaching a high level in it, and later, from a linguistic standpoint, of speaking it on a similar level as others, independently of linguistic background.

History

1878

The first primitive version of Esperanto, which Zamenhof named Lingwe Uniwersala, is completed. However, it differs considerably from modern Esperanto.
1887

Zamenhof with his wife's help publishes Unua Libro, the book introducing modern Esperanto.

Wikimedia Commons
1889

The first Esperanto magazine, La Esperantisto, is published in Nurenberg, and the first Esperanto club is founded.

Wikimedia Commons
1905

The first Universala Kongreso (World Congress) is held in Boulogne-sur-Mer, with 688 participants.
The Fundamento de Esperanto is published.
1908

Universala Esperanto-Asocio, the World Esperanto Association, is founded.
1954

UNESCO establishes consultative relations with the World Esperanto Association. First UNESCO resolution.
1985

Second UNESCO resolution. UNESCO encourages UN member states to add Esperanto to their school curricula.
1987

6000 Esperantists attend the 72nd Universala Kongreso in Warsaw to mark Esperanto's centennial.
2002

lernu! is launched - the largest website for learning Esperanto, free of charge.
2008

An Esperanto version of Wikipedia - the largest online encyclopedia - reached 100.000 articles.
2009

It is possible to pass international Esperanto exams at three levels (B1, B2, C1) and be evaluated in the 4 basic skills: reading and listening comprehension, written and oral communication, according to the Common European Framework of Reference.
2012

Google Translate added Esperanto as its 64th language.
2015

Duolingo published a course in Esperanto for English speakers.
2016

A new version of lernu! was released.

Esperanto is...

Part 1

Esperanto is a language suitable for everything.
Part 2

Esperanto is a language with multiple traits.
Part 3

Esperanto is a language that can be used in many ways.
Part 4a

Esperanto is a language that is learnable and worth learning.
Part 4b

Esperanto is a language that is learnable and worth learning.
Part 5

Esperanto is a language with a colorful movement.
Part 6

Esperanto is a language of the future.

Grammar

Alphabet

Here is the Esperanto alphabet. Each letter always makes the same sound, and spelling is perfectly regular. Click the examples to hear how they're pronounced!

Aa ami to love
Bb bela beautiful
Cc celo goal
Ĉĉ ĉokolado chocolate
Dd doni to give
Ee egala equal
Ff facila easy
Gg granda big
Ĝĝ ĝui enjoy
Hh horo hour
Ĥĥ ĥoro choir
Ii infano child
Jj juna young
Ĵĵ ĵurnalo newspaper
Kk kafo coffee
Ll lando country
Mm maro sea
Nn nokto night
Oo oro gold
Pp paco peace
Rr rapida fast
Ss salti to jump
Ŝŝ ŝipo ship
Tt tago day
Uu urbo city
Ŭŭ aŭto car
Vv vivo life
Zz zebro zebra

Nouns

All nouns in Esperanto end with -o. (Nouns are names of thıngs.)

domo house
libro book

Plural

To make a word plural, add a -j:

domoj houses
libroj books

Object

In Esperanto, we show the direct object of a sentence by adding an -n. This lets us change the order of the parts of the sentence without changing the meaning. (A direct object is that which is directly acted upon by the verb)