Learn Esperanto with ~200 Words
This post by Fun with Languages describes a method for quickly learning languages by using around 200 basic words and learning to phrase your ideas using only those. I translated their word list to Esperanto and added some basic grammar notes in case anyone wanted to try this method with Esperanto!
VERBS (English: Esperanto)
Be: esti
Can: povi
Cause: igi
Do: fari
Eat: manĝi
Feel: senti
Get (Obtain): ricevi
Give: doni
Go: iri
Have: havi
Know: scii
Learn: lerni
Like: ŝati
Make: fari
Need: bezoni
Say: diri
See: vidi
Should: devi
Sleep: dormi
Speak: paroli
Start: komenci (transitive, e.g. I started the movie…), komenciĝi (intransitive, e.g. the movie started…)
There is: ekzistas
Think: pensi
Try: provi
Use: uzi
Want: voli
Work: labori
Write: skribi
Conjugation: drop the –i from the infinitive form and add…
-as for present tense
-is for past tense
-os for future tense
Two verbs with the above endings must be separated at some point in the sentence by a conjunction (see below). To “link” two verbs (e.g. “I like to eat”), leave the second/object verb in the infinitive form (”Mi ŝatas manĝi”).
Negation: to negate a verb (e.g. “I don’t speak…”) preface it with “ne” (”Mi ne parolas…”).
Direct object: the noun (and any adjectives attached to it) that is the direct object of a verb receives the –n (accusative) ending.
Hello: Saluton
Goodbye: Ĝis (temporary), adiaŭ (long time)
Nice to meet you: Estas bone ekkoni vin
Yes: Jes
No: Ne
Ok: Bone, ok (“oh-koh”)
Please: …mi petas
Thank you: Dankon
You’re welcome: Ne dankinde
Sorry: Mi bedaŭras…, mi petas pardonon, mi pardonpetas
Excuse me: Pardonu
Well…: Nu…
That: ke
And: kaj
Or: aŭ
But: sed
Though: kvankam
Because: ĉar
Therefore: tial…, pro tio…, do…
If: se
Before: antaŭe, antaŭ ol
After: poste, post ol
In front of: antaŭ
Behind: post
Of (belonging to): de
Of (quantity): da
From: de
To: al
In: en
At (place): ĉe
At (time): je (specific time, e.g. 9:00), dum (more general, e.g. morning)
With (e.g. a person): kun
With (i.e. using): per
About: pri
Like (i.e. similar to): kiel
For: por
Movement: Certain prepositions (antaŭ, post, en, ĉe, je, kun) can indicate location relative to the following noun or motion relative to the following noun. To indicate motion, the following noun receives the –n (accusative) ending. For example…
Mi iris en la domo. = While inside the house, I went (around).
Mi iris en la domon. = I went into the house.
The accusative never follows prepositions that always indicate movement (de, al) or describe neither location nor movement (da, dum, per, pri, por).
A lot: multaj
A few: malmultaj, kelkaj
Good: bona
Bad: malbona
More: pli
More… than…: pli… ol…
Better: pli bona
Most: plejparto de
Enough: sufiĉe da
Even: eĉ
The: la
This: ĉi tiu
That: tiu
All: ĉiom da, ĉiu
Some: iom da, iu
No, none: neniom da, neniu
Other: alia
Any: iom da, iu
Easy: facila
Hard: malfacila
Early: frua
Late: malfrua
Important: grava
Cool (e.g. “that’s cool”): mojosa
Different: malsimila, malsama
Beautiful: bela
Opposites: You may have noticed that you can create new adjectives with the opposite meaning by adding the prefix mal-.
Grava = important
Malgrava = unimportant
Plural/Accusative Endings: actual adjectives (single words above that end in –a or –u, not adverbs or correlatives followed by a preposition) take the same plural (-j) and accusative (-n) ending(s) as the noun they modify. Note that “la” is the definite article, and never takes the accusative or plural ending.
A lot: multe
A little: malmulte
Well: bone
Badly: malbone
More: plu
Better: pli bone
Mostly: plejparte
Enough: sufiĉe
Even: eĉ
Very: tre
Too: tro
Also: ankaŭ
Only: nur
Now: nun
Here: ĉi tie
Maybe: eble
Always: ĉiam
Sometimes: iam, fojfoje
Today: hodiaŭ
Yesterday: hieraŭ
Tomorrow: morgaŭ
Almost: preskaŭ
Still: ankoraŭ
Quickly: rapide
Opposites: similarly to adjectives, you can create new adverbs with the opposite meaning by adding the prefix mal-.
Word Order: Irregular adverbs (those that do not end in –e), always occur just before the word they modify.
Ankaŭ mi manĝis matenmanĝon. = I also ate breakfast (e.g. as well as my friend).
Mi ankaŭ manĝis matenmanĝon. = I also ate breakfast (e.g. as well as cooked it).
Mi manĝis ankaŭ matenmanĝon. = I also ate breakfast (e.g. as well as lunch).
Thing: afero, aĵo (physical object)
Person: homo
Place: loko
Everything: ĉio
Something: io
Nothing: nenio
Time (period of time): tempo
Time (occasion): fojo
Friend: amiko
Mother: patrino
Father: patro
Parent: gepatro
Daughter: filino
Son: filo
Child: infano
Wife: edzino
Husband: edzo
Girlfriend: koramikino
Boyfriend: koramiko
Breakfast: matenmanĝo
Lunch: tagmanĝo
Dinner: vespermanĝo
Money: mono
Day: tago
Year: jaro
Hour: horo
Week: semajno
House: domo
Office: oficejo
Language: lingvo
Name: nomo
Word: vorto
Company: firmo
Internet: interreto
Plural form: all singular nouns end in –o. To make them plural, add the –j ending (pronounced like “y” in English) to the end. If the noun takes the accusative ending, the –n comes after the –j e.g. “domojn”.
Subwords: To make learning vocabulary easier, many words are made up of subwords.
Patrino = patr (father) + in (female) + o (noun)
Gepatro = ge (all/any gender) + patr (father) + o (noun)
Koramiko = kor (heart) + amik (friend) + o (noun)
Matenmanĝo = maten (morning) + manĝ (meal/eat) + o (noun)
Oficejo = ofic (job/position) + ej (place) + o (noun)
Who: Kiu
Which: Kiu
What: Kio
When: Kiam
Where: Kie
Why: Kial
How: Kiel
How much: Kiom da
Does…?, Is…?: Ĉu…?
Word order: Though in most cases word order doesn’t matter, questions almost always begin with one of these words.
I: mi
You: vi
She: ŝi
He: li
It: ĝi
We: ni
They: ili
Reflexive pronoun: When referring to the subject of the sentence a second time, the word “si” is used instead of ŝi/li/ĝi/ili. It is modified in the same way as other pronouns.
Bob iris en sian domon. = Bob went into his (own) house.
Li iris en lian domon. = He went into his (someone else’s) house.
Direct Object: To make a pronoun the direct object of a verb, add the -n (accusative) ending as with a noun.
Possessive: To make a pronoun possessive (e.g. “my”), add the -a (adjective) ending (before the accusative, if necessary).
