ESPERANTO – La Internacia Lingvo

Je la nomo de Allah, la donema, la pardonema.

 

Centra Oficejo:

Pakistana Esperanto-Asocio (PakEsA) 

Esperanto Markaz, Chowk Shahidan, 
Multan, Pakistano.

pakesa@yahoo.com, pakesa@gmail.com, 

pakesa@hotmail.com

Adeel Mahmood Butt

(Spokesman of PakEsA)

ESPERANTO – La Internacia Lingvo

INTRODUCTION:

Esperanto is an international language developed in 1887 by Polish Oculist 

Dr. L. L. Zamenhof (1859-1917). It is designed to act as a common, neutral, 

second language to allow speakers of different languages to communicate 

with eachother.  Esperanto is not meant to replace any national langauge; 

it serves only as a culturally neutral second language. Esperanto is currently 
spoken by more than 2 million people around the globe.

Esperanto was designed to be particularly easy to learn, and can be learnt in 
much less time than another language.

Esperanto is the international language. People all over the world learn it to 

communicate across borders and cultures.

It’s NEUTRAL. It doesn’t belong to any country. It gives its speakers a fair and equal footing.

It’s RICH. Esperanto has great expressive power, a vast literature, and a lively culture of its own.

It’s EASY. Very easy, in fact. You can learn Esperanto in a fraction of the time, it would take you to learn other languages.

It’s FUN. A good time seems even better in Esperanto. Soon you’ll be laughing with your new friends from all over the world!

Spelling is completely phonetic: words are spelled as pronounced, and pronounced as spelled.

The grammar is simple, logical, and completely regular. There are just sixteen rules of grammar, and they have no exceptions.

Vocabulary: 

A relatively small stock of root words is combined with a variety of prefixes, suffixes, and grammatical endings to form a large vocabulary of possible words. 

This allows speakers to understand a large number of words with a minimum amount 

of effort. Roots, prefixes, suffixes, and grammatical endings may be combined in 

any way that makes sense. Roots are taken from words that are most common in national languages, so many words are easily recognised.

ALPHABETS:

There are 28 letters including 5 vowels and 23 consonants.  These arre:

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 V Z

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 v z

A -aa (as A in fAther), 

B -bo (as B in Ball), 

C -tso (as TS in iTS), 

Ĉ -cho (as CH in CHat), 

D -do (as D in Drum), 

E -ee (as E in sEt), 

F -fo (as F in Fan), 

G -go (as G in Grand), 

Ĝ -jo (as G in imaGe), 

H -ho (as H in Hand), 

Ĥ -kho (as KH in Khan), 

I -i (as EE in mEEt), 

J -yo (as Y in Young and as Y in enjoY), 

Ĵ -zso (as S in pleaSure), 

K -ko (as K in Kite),

L -lo (as L in Light), 

M -mo (as M in Might), 

N -no (as N in Night), 

O -o (as O in vOte), 

P -po (as P in Pakistan), 

R -ro (as R in Robot), 

S -so (as S in Sincere), 

Ŝ -sho (as SH in SHadow), 

T -to (as T in Train), 

U -u (as OO in lOOt), 

Ŭ -eu (as W in hoW), 

V -vo (as V in Visa), 

Z -zo (as Z in Zero).

Words:

Esperanto’s vocabulary is drawn from several language families: about 75% of the roots are from Romance, about 20% are from Germanic, and about 5% come from other groups.

from Latin: sed (but), tamen (however), okulo (eye), akvo (water)

from French: dimanĉo (Sunday), fermi (to close), ĉevalo (horse), butiko (shop, store)

from Italian: amiko (friend), ĉielo (sky), fari (to do), voĉo (voice)

from various Romance languages: facila (easy), fero (iron), tra (through), verda (green)

from German: baldaŭ (soon), danko (thanks), vedaŭri (to regret), jaro (year), nur (only)

from English: aero (air), birdo (bird), suno (sun), ŝarko (shark), teamo (team)

from various Germanic languages: bildo (picture), fremda (foreign), halti (to stop), ofta (frequent)

 

In Esperanto, a lot of words are more than just roots: they are compounds. For example, there’s no root for the word “knife”. Instead, the root tranĉ- (cut) is combined with the suffix –il- (denoting a tool) and the ending –o- (indicating a noun) to produce tranĉilo “knife”. Other examples with the –il- suffixes are: tondilo (scissors), skraŭbilo (screwdriver), skribilo (pen), retumilo (web browser), ludilo (toy).

Word endings:

An interesting aspect of Esperanto is that there are certain endings that apply equally well to any root.

For example, if we take the root somer- and add –o- the ending for nouns – we get somero (summer). 

But if we add –a- the adjective ending – then the word becomes somera (summery, relating 

to summer). And if we add the adverb ending –e-, we get somere (in the summer, at summertime). 

The ending –j makes the plural: someroj (summers).

En Pakistano estas varmaj someroj. – In Pakistano, summers are hot.

Mi ŝatas bicikli somere. – I enjoy cycling in the summer.

Kia bela somera robo. – What a lovely summer dress.

-o for nouns: Nouns are names for people and things. A noun answers the question: 

“What is it?” Example: homo (a person), ideo (an idea), nomo (a name), domo (a house), 

nacio (nation).

-a for adjectives: Adjectives describe nouns. An adjective answers the question: 

“What’s it like” Example: bela (beautiful), bona (good), longa (long), varma (hot), 

interesa (interesting)

-e for adverbs: Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or entire 

sentences. Example: bele (beautifully), longe (for a long time), bone (well), interese 

(interestingly), somere (in summer).

-j for plurals: Plural means there’s more than one. Examples: homoj (people), 

ideoj (ideas), grandaj domoj (large houses), varmaj someroj (hot summers), fremdaj 

lingvoj (foreign languages).

-n for the object: The object of a sentence is the thing that’s directly affected 

by the action. For example, in the sentence Ŝi amas lin (She loves him), lin (him) is the object.

-i, -is, -as, -os, -us, -u for verbs: 

The ending used with verbs are:

-i for the infinitive, e.g. vidi (to see), kanti (to sing), ridi (to laugh)

-is for the past tense, e.g. vidis (saw), kantis (sang), ridis (laughed)

-as for the present tense, e.g. vidas (sees), kantas (sings), ridas (laughs)

-os for the future tense, e.g. vidos (will see), kantos (will sing), ridos (will laugh)

-us for the conditional, e.g. vidus (would see), kantus (would sing), ridus (would laugh)

-u or commands, e.g. vidu (see!), kantu (sing!), ridu (laugh!)

These endings are the same for all verbs – which means there are no irregular verbs in Esperanto. 

What a relief!

Use of verb “esti” to be:

Mi estas – I am

Ni estas – We are

Vi estas – You are (informal) 

Vi estas – You are (formal)

Li estas – He is

Ili estas – They are

Ŝi estas – She is

Ĝi estas – It is

Numbers:

0 - Nulo (zero), 

1 - Unu (one), 

2 - Du (two), 

3 - Tri (three), 

4 - Kvar (four), 

5 - Kvin (five), 

6 - Ses (six), 

7 - Sep (seven), 

8 - Ok (eight), 

9 - Naŭ  (nine), 

10 - Dek (ten), 

100 - Cent (hundred), 

1000 - Mil (thousand), 

10,00,000 - Miliono (million), 

1984 (mil naŭcent okdek kvar)

WORD BUILDING:

Any given Esperanto root will generate various words if you combine it with different prefixes, suffixes, and endings. As a result, you don’t have to learn as much vocabulary as in other languages: prefixes and suffixes make it easy to create the words you need on the way.

One approach is to juggle the endings:

ineres’ =>

intereso – an interest

interesoj – interests

interesa – interesting

interese – interestingly

interesi – to interest someone

You can also create many new words from a single root by adding various prefixes (at the start) and suffixes (at the end). Esperanto is the language of affixes (prefixes, suffixes). Here are some examples:

mal- denotes an opposite acion: bona (good) –> malbona (bad), juna (young) -> maljuna (old), fermi (to close) -> malfermi (to open)

-ej- denotes a place: lerni (to learn) -> lernejo (a school), loĝ i (to reside) -> loĝejo (a residence/home), vendi (to sell) -> vendejo (a shop)

-in- denotes a feminine: knabo (boy) -> knabino (girl), frato (brother) -> fratino (sister), viro (man) -> virino (woman)

-ist- denotes a profession: instrui (to teach) -> instruisto (a teacher),  ĵurnalo (newpaper) -> ĵurnalisto (a journalist), lingvo (a language) ->lingvisto (a linguist), esperanto (esperanto) -> esperantisto (Esperantist)

-ul- denotes a person: juna (young) -> junulo (a young person), grava (important) -> gravulo (an important person), bela (beautiful) -> belulo (a beautiful person)

Esperanto Phrases:

Saluton! – Hello!

Bonan tagon! – Good morning!

Bonan vesperon! – Good evening!

Bonan nokton! – Good night!

Kiel vi nomiĝas? – What’s your name?

Mia nomo estas … – My name is …

Kiel vi fartas? – How are you?

Mi fartas bone, dankon kaj vi? – I’m fine, thanks and you?

Mi ankaŭ fartas bone. – I am also fine.

Kie vi loĝas? – Where do you live?

Mi loĝas en … – I live in …

Mi ĝojas renkonti vin. – It’s nice to meet you.

Ankaŭ min! – Same here!

Bonege! – Excellent!

Ĝis la revido! – See you later!

Organizations:

There are so many international, national and local organizations, associations, societies and clubs in the whole world.

Allama Muztar Abbasi (1931-2004) from Murree was a first Pakistani Esperantist and patron in chief of Pakistan Esperanto Association (PakEsA). He translated The Holy Quraan into Esperanto and wrote biography of Muhammad (PBUH). PakEsA was founded in 1978 and is registered with Universala Esperanto Association (UEA).

National Organizations/Clubs:

Pakistana Esperanto-Asocio (PakEsA) Lahore

Pakistana Esperantista Junulara Organizo (PEJO), Lahore

Islamabad Esperanto-Societo (IslES), Islamabad

Lahora Esperanto-Klubo, Lahore

Multana Esperanto-Klubo, Multan

Karachi Esperanto-Klubo, Karachi

International Organizations:

Uniersal Esperanto Association

Academy of Esperanto

European Esperanto Union

World-Wide Young Esperantists Organization

International League of Esperanto Teachers

World Anational Association

Verkita de:

Adeel Mahmood Butt
(Spokesman of PakEsA)