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If you’ve decided to learn Esperanto, the first thing to remember is that it’s a foreign language. It isn’t English, and it’s not based on English. Although it’s easy to learn, there will be parts of it that will be new to you, because they will be different from English.
To take one simple example, consider the English verb “to like”, and the simple sentence, “I like my cat.” In this sentence, “like” is what is going on, “I” is the person doing the liking, and “my cat” is the likeable object. But translate this into German, and you get “Mir gefällt meine Katze.” Here, “gefallen” is what is going on, “meine Katze” (my cat) tells what is doing it, and “mir” (me) tells whom it is happening to. This verb means something different, more like “to please”. A literal translation back into English would be something like “My cat pleases me.” In Spanish, the same thing happens: “Me gusta mi gato.” This verb, “gustar”, means the same as the German “gefallen”. Esperanto’s way of expressing this thought is «Min plaĉas mia kato,» after the pattern of German and Spanish, rather than after the pattern of English.
You’ll find examples such as this in any language you study, and Esperanto is going to be no exception, but you’ll find that Esperanto’s ways of expressing things are logical and easy to understand, even if you can think of a way that seems to you more logical and easier to understand. Remember that people from many different cultures, speaking many different languages, will be learning Esperanto as well, and what’s easy for you will be difficult for them, and vice versa.
Gotcha! |
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| In some places in this web site, you’ll see “Gotcha” boxes like this, calling attention either to one of these more difficult points, to a “false friend”, or to a very common error among people learning Esperanto. |
| A false friend is an Esperanto word that appears related to a particular English word, such as foresto, which looks like it means “forest”, but really means “absence”. The Esperanto word for “forest” is arbarego. |
| An example of a common error made by new learners is using the verb pensi (“think”) to express a belief or opinion. You’ll learn that beliefs are expressed with the verb kredi, and opinions are expressed with opinii. |
Questions or suggestions? Please write, and I’ll get back to you.
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