# Antaŭparolo: Zamenhof's foreword to the Fundamento

Source: https://esperantopedia.org/about/fundamento/antauparolo/
Language: en
Updated: 2026-10-08

> Zamenhof's foreword of July 1905 explains why the base of Esperanto must never change and how the language can still grow. Full text, every word explained.

The *Antaŭparolo* ("Foreword") opens the [*Fundamento de Esperanto*](https://esperantopedia.org/about/fundamento/). Zamenhof signed it in Warsaw in July 1905, a few weeks before the first World Esperanto Congress in Boulogne-sur-Mer. It is the only part of the book written for it; the grammar, the exercises and the dictionary are older.

## What does the foreword say?

The foreword makes six points. Each one is in the text below, in Zamenhof's own words.

1. **A fixed base.** A language can only grow in peace if it has a clearly defined base that nobody may touch, not even its author.
2. **Three works form that base:** the 16-rule [grammar](https://esperantopedia.org/about/fundamento/gramatiko/), the [*Universala Vortaro*](https://esperantopedia.org/about/fundamento/universala-vortaro/) and the [*Ekzercaro*](https://esperantopedia.org/about/fundamento/ekzercaro/). Everything else Zamenhof wrote is private: a model, not a law.
3. **Errors stay.** He corrected only printing errors. Wrong or clumsy translations, "especially in the English part", stay in the book, because changing them would break its authority.
4. **New words by recommendation.** New words may be used and recommended now; later an authoritative institution can make them official as an addition to the Fundamento.
5. **New forms beside old ones.** If a word or rule proves inconvenient, a central institution may propose a new form to use in parallel. The old form becomes an archaism but is never removed.
6. **A guide, not a textbook.** Every Esperantist should own the book to check what is official, and use better textbooks and dictionaries to learn.

Zamenhof ends with a reservation: these were his private ideas until the first congress accepted them. The congress did so in the Declaration of Boulogne on 9 August 1905. The "authoritative institution" he foresaw became the Language Committee and, later, the [Academy of Esperanto](https://esperantopedia.org/about/academy/).

## How to read the text

The foreword is plain prose of 1905, and most of it reads like modern Esperanto. Long sentences use many participles and the verb suffix *-ad-* for continued action, as in *progresadi* "to keep progressing". Tap any word to see its parts and meaning. The numbers in the margin let you cite a paragraph.

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## Sources

- [Akademio de Esperanto – Fundamento de Esperanto: Antaŭparolo](https://www.akademio-de-esperanto.org/fundamento/antauparolo.html)
- [David K. Jordan – The Boulogne Declaration](https://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/eo/teko/BulonjaDeklaracio.html)
- [Wikipedia – Fundamento de Esperanto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamento_de_Esperanto)