The Article.
The DEFINITE ARTICLE _the_ is in Esperanto represented by _la_. Like the
article in English, _la_ does not vary with the number or gender of the
noun before which it is placed; e.g., _la briko_, the brick; _la
brikoj_, the bricks; _la patro_, the father; _la patrinoj_, the mothers.
The INDEFINITE ARTICLE _a_ is not expressed in Esperanto. Thus, "_filo_"
is _son_ or _a son_.
The Noun.
In Esperanto every noun in the singular ends in *o*. Thus: viro, _a
man_; la libro, _the book_. The plural is formed from the singular by
adding the termination *-j*. Thus: viroj, _men_; la libroj, _the books_.
In order to allow each nation to construct its sentences in the order to
which it is accustomed, every noun in Esperanto has two forms or
"cases," (1) the NOMINATIVE, or unchanged form, and (2) the ACCUSATIVE,
which is formed from the nominative by adding the termination *-n*. This
is merely to distinguish between subject and object. The accusative form
is also used to indicate motion towards, etc.
The Adjective.
All adjectives end in the nominative singular in *a*. They may be placed
either before or after the noun. As in the case of the noun, the plural
is formed by adding the termination *-j*, and the accusative is formed
by adding *-n* to the nominative. The adjective agrees in number and
case with the noun which it qualifies. Ex.:--
Blua libro (_or_ libro blua), _a blue book_; bluaj libroj, _blue books_.
La viro legas bluan libron. _The man reads a blue book._
La viroj legas bluajn librojn. _The men are reading blue books._
Thanks to the accusative case, one might say without loss of clearness:
Bluan libron legas la viro, _or_ la viro bluan libron legas, _or_ bluan
libron la viro legas, etc.
Degrees of Comparison.
There are three degrees of comparison, as in English:
The POSITIVE, as _bona_, good; _bela_, beautiful; _granda_, big, great.
The COMPARATIVE is formed by placing _pli_ (more) or _malpli_ (less)
before the positive, thus: _bona_, good--_pli bona_, better; _bela_,
beautiful--_malpli bela_, less beautiful. The comparison may be
heightened by using _multe_ (much), thus: _multe pli_ (or _malpli_)
_bela_.
_Than_ is translated by _ol_, thus: _pli_ (or _malpli_) _bela ol_...,
more (_or_ less) beautiful than...
The SUPERLATIVE degree is formed by using _plej_ (most) with the
positive; as _bela_, beautiful--_plej bela_, most beautiful.
_Of_ with a superlative is translated by the preposition _el_ (out of).
_La plej granda el ĉiuj_, the greatest of all.
_The more...the more_, _the less...the less_, are translated by means of
the particles _ju_ and _des_. Thus: _Ju pli oni studas, des pli oni
lernas_, the more one studies, the more one learns. _Ju pli mi kun li
parolas, des malpli mi lin estimas_, the more I speak to him, the less I
esteem him.
Cardinal Numbers.
The CARDINAL NUMBERS may be used as _nouns_, by the addition of the
ending *-o*. Thus, _unuo_, a unit; _trio_, a trio; _dekduo_, a dozen;
_dudeko_, a score; _cento_, a hundred; _milo_, a thousand. Note that
_miliono_ is ALWAYS used as a noun.
When a number or any other word is used as a noun of quantity, the noun
which follows it must be preceded by the quantitative preposition
*da*:--_Dekduo da ovoj_, a dozen eggs; _milo da soldatoj_, a thousand
soldiers (one might of course also say _dek du ovoj_, _mil soldatoj_);
_du metroj da drapo_, two metres of cloth; _tri funtoj da sukero_, three
pounds of sugar.
Ordinal Numbers.
The ORDINAL NUMBERS are formed by adding the adjectival ending *-a* to
the Cardinals. In Compound Ordinal Numbers, the groups of hundreds,
tens, units, etc., are _joined by hyphens_, and the ending *-a* is added
to the unit numeral. Thus: _unu_, one--_unua_, first; _tria_, third;
_dek-unua_, eleventh; _tridek-sepa_, thirty-seventh;
_kvarcent-sesdek-dua_, 462nd, and so on. Written in figures these would
be _1a_, _3a_, _11a_, _37a_, _462a_. The Ordinals are of course
inflected like adjectives. (See section "The Adjective".)