Saluton course
Esperanto lesson 6: past and future tense, days
Swap one vowel and you move in time: laboris, laboras, laboros.
One thing at a time: the dialogue line by line, new words with sound and pictures, one exercise per screen.
53 words19 exercises~21 min
In this lesson you learn to talk about the past and the future. Esperanto has three tense endings – -is for the past, -as for the present and -os for the future – and they work the same way for every verb. You will also learn the days of the week, words like hieraŭ "yesterday" and morgaŭ "tomorrow", and how to say "on Monday".
Dialogue
Ana has news. She calls Tomo on a Tuesday evening.
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| Ana: Tomo! Mi havas grandan novaĵon! | Tomo! I have big news! |
| Tomo: Kio okazis? | What happened? |
| Ana: Hieraŭ mi aĉetis flugbileton. En Julio mi iros al la Universala Kongreso! | Yesterday I bought a plane ticket. In July I'm going to the World Congress! |
| Tomo: Vere? Bonege! | Really? Great! |
| Ana: Kaj vi? Vi ankaŭ venos, ĉu ne? | And you? You'll come too, won't you? |
| Tomo: Mi ankoraŭ ne decidis. Mi devos peti feriojn. | I haven't decided yet. I'll have to ask for holidays. |
| Ana: Vi devas veni! Ni finfine renkontiĝos! | You have to come! We'll finally meet! |
| Tomo: Vi pravas. Lundon mi parolos kun mia ĉefo. | You're right. On Monday I'll talk to my boss. |
| Ana: Bone! Kaj kion vi faris dum la semajnfino? | Good! And what did you do at the weekend? |
| Tomo: Sabaton mi vizitis mian avinon. Dimanĉon mi dormis la tutan tagon! | On Saturday I visited my grandmother. On Sunday I slept all day! |
| Ana: Ha ha! Mi ne dormis multe. Mi kantis kun la koruso en du koncertoj. | Ha ha! I didn't sleep much. I sang with the choir in two concerts. |
| Tomo: Kaj kion vi faros morgaŭ? | And what will you do tomorrow? |
| Ana: Morgaŭ mi havos ekzamenon pri biologio. Hodiaŭ mi devas studi! | Tomorrow I'll have a biology exam. Today I have to study! |
| Tomo: Bonŝancon! Mi skribos al vi lundon, post la renkontiĝo kun la ĉefo. | Good luck! I'll write to you on Monday, after the meeting with the boss. |
Ĉu ne? at the end of a sentence works like "won't you?", "isn't it?" or "right?".
New words
| Esperanto | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| hieraŭ | yesterday | |
| hodiaŭ | today | |
| morgaŭ | tomorrow | |
| ankoraŭ ne | not yet | ankoraŭ "still" |
| finfine | at last, finally | |
| havi | to have | |
| aĉeti | to buy | |
| iri | to go | |
| okazi | to happen | |
| decidi | to decide | |
| peti | to ask for, to request | |
| paroli | to speak, to talk | |
| viziti | to visit | |
| dormi | to sleep | |
| skribi | to write | |
| renkontiĝi | to meet (each other) | renkontiĝo "a meeting" |
| pravi | to be right | Vi pravas. "You're right." |
| novaĵo | (piece of) news | from nova "new" |
| flugbileto | plane ticket | flugi "to fly" + bileto "ticket" |
| ferioj | holidays, vacation | usually plural; ferio "a day off" |
| ekzameno | exam | |
| semajnfino | weekend | semajno "week" + fino "end" |
| dum | during | |
| pri | about | ekzameno pri biologio |
| post | after | post la renkontiĝo "after the meeting" |
| multe | much, a lot | Mi ne dormis multe. |
| tuta | whole | la tutan tagon "all day" |
| kongreso | congress | la Universala Kongreso "the World Esperanto Congress" |
| bonŝancon! | good luck! |
Grammar
Three tenses, three endings
Esperanto verbs have one ending for each tense, the same for every person. Change -as to -is for the past or -os for the future. More on the verbs page.
| Infinitive | Past -is | Present -as | Future -os |
|---|---|---|---|
| esti – to be | estis – was, were | estas – am, is, are | estos – will be |
| labori – to work | laboris – worked | laboras – work(s) | laboros – will work |
| iri – to go | iris – went | iras – go(es) | iros – will go |
| havi – to have | havis – had | havas – have, has | havos – will have |
The -is form covers English "I worked", "I was working" and "I have worked". Mi jam manĝis means "I have already eaten".
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| Hieraŭ mi aĉetis flugbileton. | Yesterday I bought a plane ticket. |
| Mi ankoraŭ ne decidis. | I haven't decided yet. |
| En Julio mi iros al la kongreso. | In July I'll go to the congress. |
| Morgaŭ mi havos ekzamenon. | Tomorrow I'll have an exam. |
Where English often uses the present for plans – "In July I'm going to the congress" – Esperanto normally uses -os: En Julio mi iros al la kongreso.
Time words
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| antaŭhieraŭ | the day before yesterday |
| hieraŭ | yesterday |
| hodiaŭ | today |
| morgaŭ | tomorrow |
| postmorgaŭ | the day after tomorrow |
| nun | now |
| baldaŭ | soon |
| jam | already |
| ankoraŭ | still; ankoraŭ ne – not yet |
| poste | later, afterwards |
Days of the week
Days are nouns written with a small letter. The days and months page has months and dates too.
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| lundo | Monday |
| mardo | Tuesday |
| merkredo | Wednesday |
| ĵaŭdo | Thursday |
| vendredo | Friday |
| sabato | Saturday |
| dimanĉo | Sunday |
"On Monday", "on Mondays"
To say "on Monday", use -n or en: lundon or en lundo. The adverb lunde means "on Mondays" – every Monday, or on some Monday. The same -n shows how long something lasts: la tutan tagon "all day".
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| Lundon mi parolos kun la ĉefo. | On Monday I'll talk to the boss. |
| Sabate mi kantas en koruso. | On Saturdays I sing in a choir. |
| Mi dormis la tutan tagon. | I slept all day. |
Practice
Culture corner
The most widely celebrated Esperanto holiday is Zamenhof Day, 15 December – the birthday of the language's creator, born in 1859 in Białystok. Since the 1920s it has also been Esperanto Book Day, when speakers buy or give a book in Esperanto. Local clubs meet for talks, dinners or a birthday cake. Read more about Zamenhof Day.
Common questions
How do you say "I have done" in Esperanto?
Usually with the simple past: Mi jam manĝis – "I have already eaten". Compound forms with participles exist, but you rarely need them; you will see them briefly in Lesson 12.
Are days of the week capitalised in Esperanto?
No. Days are written with a small letter: lundo, sabato. Month names were traditionally capitalised – Julio – and the reference grammar PMEG recommends this, though many people now write them in small letters.
How do you say "next week" and "last week"?
La venontan semajnon is "next week" and la pasintan semajnon is "last week". Both take -n because they say when something happens.
Sources
- Fundamento de Esperanto – grammar in English (rule 6, verbs)
- PMEG: IS (the past tense)
- PMEG: Venonta tempo – OS-finaĵo (the future tense)
- PMEG: N-finaĵo por tempopunkto (lundon)
- PMEG: Bazaj reguloj por E-vortoj (lunde, matene)
- PMEG: Majuskloj ĉe propraj nomoj (months and weekdays)
- Wikipedia: Zamenhof Day
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