The 16 Rules of Esperanto

Esperanto is a constructed language which follows the gramatical model of the natural languages, although it tries to avoid some of their difficulties, simplifying the grammar, avoiding exceptions and having the clearest rules possible.

The basic grammar of Esperanto is often summarised in 16 rules (published in 1906 in the Fundamento de Esperanto - Fundamentals of Esperanto), which can be expessed in the following way:

1. Esperanto features only one definite article la, which is the same for all genders, numbers and cases. It does not feature any indefinite articles.
2. A name or noun is formed adding a -o suffix to the end of a root. To form a plural a -j is added to the singular. The language only has two cases: nominative and accusative. The later is formed adding the -n suffix to the nominative. Other cases which exist in other languages are formed in Esperanto with prepositions: the genitive with de, the dative with al, the ablative with per or with other prepositions, according to the meaning.
3. An adjective is formed by adding an -a to the end of a root. Its cases and numbers are formed as they are for nouns. The comparative gradient is formed with the word pli (more) and the superlative witht he word plej (the most). The «what» of the comparative is translated by ol, and the «of» of the superlative by el.
4. The cardinal number are invariable: unu (one), du (two), tri (three), kvar (four), kvin (five), ses (six), sep (seven), ok (eight), naŭ (nine), dek (ten), cent (hundred), mil (thousand). The deans and hundreds are formed through the simble reunion of the aformentioned numerals. For the cardinal number adjectives one adds: the -a termination of the adjective, to form the ordinal number; obl for multiples; on for fractions; op for colectives. po before the cardibals forms distributives.
5. The personal pronouns are: mi (me / my / I); vi (you); li (he/him); ŝi (she/her); ĝi (it - he/her - for animals, objects or things); si (are / if - reflective), ni (us/we), ili (them / they); oni (one - singular). Adding the -a termination forms the possessive pronouns. In Esperanto, pronouns are verbs. Ri has also come to light recently as a non-gender specific form of he/she (like how "they" is used in English) for when the gender of a person is non-specific, non-specified or not important.
6. Verbs are invariable for people and numbers. Tense is expressed by six different suffixes: -as for the present, -is for the past, -os for the future, -us for the conditional, -u for the imperative and -i for the infinitive. The activeparticiple have the suffixes: -ant (present), -int (past) and -ont (future). The passive participles have the suffixes: -at (present), -it (past) and -ot (future). The passive voice is formed with the verb esti (meaning to be) and the passive participle of the verb being conjugated. The «of» or the «by» of the ablative case is translated as de.
7. Adverbs are formed adding an -e suffix to othe root of a word. The comparative gradients are formed the same as those for adjectives.
8. All prepositions govern, by themselves, the nominatives.
9. All the words are pronounced exactly how they are written (no silent letters or digraphs).
10. The tonal accent always fall on the penultimate sylable.
11. Compound words are formed by the simple assembly of the elements that form them. In these, the fundamental word always goes at the end. In this case, affixes and terminations are considered words.
12. If in a sentence there is already a negative word, the adverb ne (no) gets removed, as there is no double negative.
13. The word which indicates the place that is being gone to or what is being affected, has ther termination -n for acusative.
14. All prepositions in Esperanto have a meaning which is invariable and well determined, which fixes its use. Nevertheless, when the meaning that one wants to express does't clearly indicate which preposition should be used, the je preposition can be used, which doesn't have a specific meaning in and of itslef.This rule doesnt damage the clarity of the language, as in such cases, most other languages just use a random preposition, without any other rule than simple habit. Instead of je one might also use the accusative, if it doesn't cause ambiguity.
15. To create new words, as well as being able to create pre-existing roots, it is possible to adopt foreign words. These shouldn't go through alteration in the transfer to Esperanto, but they adopt its spelling and terminations. However, it is preferable to use unaltered the fundamental word and form any more according to the rules of Esperanto if there are several words with the same root.
16. The terminations of a for the article and o for the noun can be removed in the singular, and can be substituted by an apostrophe.

See also

• Esperanto
• Unua Libro
• Esperanto grammar
• Esperanto vocabulary
• Esperanto phonology
• Esperanto orthography
• Esperanto culture
• History of Esperanto
• Esperanto Wikipedia

This article "The 16 Rules of Esperanto" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:The 16 Rules of Esperanto. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

📰 Article(s) of the same category(ies)

• Criticism of Esperanto
• Prakash Khadka
• Edzperanto
• Libera Folio
• Most common words in Esperanto
• Ciocioc Ion Valentin ( interdisciplinary research)
• Cyrillization of Esperanto

---