Saluton course
Esperanto lesson 5: the accusative -n, food and drink
One letter, -n, shows who does what to whom – and lets you put words in almost any order.
One thing at a time: the dialogue line by line, new words with sound and pictures, one exercise per screen.
29 words21 exercises~18 min
In this lesson you learn the most famous Esperanto ending: -n. It marks the direct object – the thing someone sees, eats, drinks, wants or cooks: Mi vidas la katon – "I see the cat". Because -n shows the object, word order can change without changing the meaning. Along the way you will learn about twenty words for food and drink.
Dialogue
A video call at dinner time in Kraków – and lunchtime in São Paulo.
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| Ana: Saluton, Tomo! Kion vi faras? | Hi, Tomo! What are you doing? |
| Tomo: Mi kuiras la vespermanĝon. Kaj vi? | I'm cooking dinner. And you? |
| Ana: Mi manĝas mian tagmanĝon: rizon, fazeolojn kaj salaton. | I'm eating my lunch: rice, beans and salad. |
| Tomo: Mmm, bongusta tagmanĝo! Mi kuiras fungan supon, kiel mia avino. | Mmm, a tasty lunch! I'm making mushroom soup, like my grandmother. |
| Tomo: Ho, mi vidas la katon! Saluton, Kafo! | Oh, I see the cat! Hi, Kafo! |
| Ana: Jes. Kafo ŝatas rizon, sed ne fazeolojn! | Yes. Kafo likes rice, but not beans! |
| Tomo: Kaj kion vi trinkas? | And what are you drinking? |
| Ana: Mi trinkas kafon. | I'm drinking coffee. |
| Tomo: Kafon aŭ Kafon? | Coffee, or Kafo the cat? |
| Ana: Ha ha! La trinkaĵon, kompreneble, ne la katon! | Ha ha! The drink, of course, not the cat! |
| Tomo: Mi trinkas teon kun citrono. | I'm drinking tea with lemon. |
| Ana: Kaj la supon vi manĝas kun pano? | And you eat the soup with bread? |
| Tomo: Kompreneble! Supon sen pano mi ne manĝas! | Of course! Soup without bread I don't eat! |
| Ana: Nun mi volas supon! | Now I want soup! |
| Tomo: Do vi devas veni al Krakovo! | Then you'll have to come to Kraków! |
Notice the joke: kafon "coffee" and Kafon "Kafo (the cat)" sound the same. Both take -n because both are objects of trinkas.
New words
| Esperanto | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| vidi | to see | |
| manĝi | to eat | manĝo "meal" |
| trinki | to drink | trinkaĵo "a drink" |
| veni | to come | |
| tagmanĝo | lunch | tago "day" + manĝo "meal" |
| vespermanĝo | dinner, supper | vespero + manĝo |
| matenmanĝo | breakfast | mateno + manĝo |
| rizo | rice | |
| fazeolo | bean | usually plural: fazeoloj |
| salato | salad | |
| supo | soup | |
| fungo | mushroom | funga supo "mushroom soup" |
| pano | bread | |
| fromaĝo | cheese | |
| pomo | apple | terpomo "potato" ("earth apple") |
| kafo | coffee | |
| teo | tea | |
| akvo | water | |
| lakto | milk | |
| citrono | lemon | |
| bongusta | tasty, delicious | bona + gusto "taste" |
| kun | with | |
| sen | without | |
| aŭ | or | |
| kompreneble | of course |
Grammar
What -n does
The ending -n marks the direct object: the person or thing that the action is done to. The subject – who does it – has no -n. The full rules are on the accusative page.
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| Tomo vidas la katon. | Tomo sees the cat. |
| La kato vidas Tomon. | The cat sees Tomo. |
| Ana trinkas kafon. | Ana drinks coffee. |
| Mi volas supon. | I want soup. |
Pronouns take -n too: min "me", vin "you", lin "him", ŝin "her", ĝin "it", nin "us", ilin "them". La kato vidas min – "The cat sees me". Question words take it too: Kion vi trinkas? – "What are you drinking?"
-n with plurals and adjectives
When the object is plural, -n comes after -j: -ojn. Adjectives and possessives describing the object take -n as well.
| Subject form | Object form |
|---|---|
| fazeoloj | fazeolojn |
| mia tagmanĝo | mian tagmanĝon |
| funga supo | fungan supon |
| ruĝaj pomoj | ruĝajn pomojn |
Word order is flexible
Because -n marks the object, you can move it without changing who does what. The usual order is subject – verb – object, as in English. Putting the object first gives it emphasis, as in Tomo's Supon sen pano mi ne manĝas! See word order.
In the first three sentences below, the arrow always points to the word with -n, wherever it stands: Tomo sees the cat. The first is the normal order. The other two put la katon first: La katon vidas Tomo stresses that it is Tomo who sees it, not someone else, and La katon Tomo vidas stresses that it is the cat Tomo sees, not something else. In the last sentence the -n has moved to Tomon, so now the cat is looking at Tomo.
Tomo subject vidas verb la katon object
La katon object vidas verb Tomo subject
La katon object Tomo subject vidas verb
Tomo sees the cat.
La kato subject vidas verb Tomon object
The cat sees Tomo.
When there is no -n
- After esti. La kato estas Kafo – the cat and Kafo are the same thing, so there is no object.
- After a preposition. kun pano "with bread", sen fazeoloj "without beans". One exception, for direction, comes in Lesson 9.
Why saluton and bonan tagon end in -n
These greetings are objects of a verb you don't say: (Mi deziras al vi) bonan tagon – "(I wish you) a good day". Saluton is short for (Mi donas al vi) saluton – "(I give you) a greeting". That is why bona becomes bonan, tago becomes tagon and saluto "a greeting" becomes saluton. Dankon "thanks" works the same way.
Practice
Culture corner
Esperanto speakers often share meals at home. Pasporta Servo, a free hosting network run by the youth organisation TEJO since 1974, lists more than 2,400 hosts in 121 countries. Guests stay for free and speak Esperanto with their hosts – often over dinner. See where Esperanto is spoken.
Common questions
Why does Esperanto have the accusative?
It shows the object clearly, so word order can change for emphasis without changing who does what. The Fundamento (1905) defines it in rule 2: the accusative is formed by adding -n to the nominative.
Will people understand me if I forget the -n?
Usually, from context. But sometimes -n changes the meaning: La hundo ĉasas la katon means "The dog chases the cat", while La hundon ĉasas la kato means "The cat chases the dog".
Do names take -n?
Names that end in -o, like Tomo or Kafo, take -n like any noun: Mi vidas Tomon. According to PMEG, a name ending in another vowel can take -n directly – Mi vidas Anan – or go without it when the meaning is clear.
Sources
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