Saluton course
Esperanto lesson 7: questions with ĉu and ki- words
One word makes a yes/no question; seven words starting with ki- ask everything else.
One thing at a time: the dialogue line by line, new words with sound and pictures, one exercise per screen.
35 words17 exercises~17 min
In this lesson you learn to ask questions. Put ĉu in front of a statement and it becomes a yes/no question – no change of word order, no "do" or "does". For everything else there are question words that all start with ki-: kio "what", kiu "who", kie "where", kiam "when", kial "why", kiel "how" and kiom "how much". You will also answer with jes, ne and ĉar "because".
Dialogue
July. Tomo has arrived in the congress city and cannot find the venue. He sees a woman wearing a green star.
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| Tomo: Pardonu, ĉu vi parolas Esperanton? Mi vidas vian verdan stelon. | Excuse me, do you speak Esperanto? I see your green star. |
| Keiko: Jes, kompreneble! Ĉu vi venas al la kongreso? | Yes, of course! Are you coming to the congress? |
| Tomo: Jes. Sed kio estas la adreso de la kongresejo? | Yes. But what's the address of the congress venue? |
| Keiko: Ne gravas, mi ankaŭ iras tien. Kiel vi nomiĝas? | Never mind, I'm going there too. What's your name? |
| Tomo: Mi nomiĝas Tomo. Kaj vi? | My name is Tomo. And you? |
| Keiko: Mi estas Keiko, el Japanio. | I'm Keiko, from Japan. |
| Tomo: Kiam vi alvenis? | When did you arrive? |
| Keiko: Hieraŭ. La flugo estis tre longa! Kaj de kie vi venas? | Yesterday. The flight was very long! And where do you come from? |
| Tomo: El Pollando. Kiom longe vi lernas Esperanton? | From Poland. How long have you been learning Esperanto? |
| Keiko: De dek jaroj. Kaj vi? | For ten years. And you? |
| Tomo: Nur de naŭ monatoj. | Only for nine months. |
| Keiko: Vi parolas tre bone! Kial vi lernas ĝin? | You speak very well! Why are you learning it? |
| Tomo: Ĉar mi ŝatas lingvojn… kaj ĉar mia amikino Ana estas ĉi tie. | Because I like languages… and because my friend Ana is here. |
| Ana: Tomo! Ĉu vere estas vi? | Tomo! Is it really you? |
| Tomo: Ana! Finfine! | Ana! At last! |
| Keiko: Ho, do ŝi estas la fama Ana! Kiu volas kafon? | Oh, so she's the famous Ana! Who wants coffee? |
Kiom longe vi lernas…? uses the present tense, because the learning is still going on. De + a period of time means "for" (and still continuing): Mi lernas Esperanton de naŭ monatoj – "I have been learning Esperanto for nine months".
New words
| Esperanto | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ĉu | (yes/no question word); whether | |
| kio | what | kion as object |
| kiu | who; which | kiun as object |
| kie | where | de kie "where from" |
| kiam | when | |
| kial | why | |
| kiel | how | Kiel vi nomiĝas? |
| kiom | how much, how many | kiom longe "how long" |
| ĉar | because | |
| pardonu | excuse me, sorry | from pardoni "to forgive" |
| paroli | to speak | Lesson 6; paroli Esperanton |
| lerni | to learn | |
| nomiĝi | to be called | Mi nomiĝas Tomo. |
| alveni | to arrive | al "to" + veni "to come" |
| stelo | star | la verda stelo "the green star" |
| adreso | address | |
| kongreso | congress | kongresejo "congress venue" |
| flugo | flight | |
| jaro | year | |
| monato | month | |
| lingvo | language | |
| amikino | (female) friend | amiko + -in- |
| fama | famous | |
| nur | only | |
| tien | there (to that place) | Lesson 9 |
Grammar
Yes/no questions with ĉu
To ask a yes/no question, put ĉu at the start of the sentence. Nothing else changes. The full rules are on the questions and negation page.
| Statement | Question |
|---|---|
| Vi parolas Esperanton. – You speak Esperanto. | Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton? – Do you speak Esperanto? |
| Ana estas ĉi tie. – Ana is here. | Ĉu Ana estas ĉi tie? – Is Ana here? |
| Vi alvenis hieraŭ. – You arrived yesterday. | Ĉu vi alvenis hieraŭ? – Did you arrive yesterday? |
Answer with jes or ne, ideally with a short sentence: Jes, mi parolas. / Ne, mi ne parolas. To ask for confirmation, add ĉu ne? at the end: Vi venos, ĉu ne? – "You'll come, won't you?"
Seven question words
All these words start with ki-. They belong to a larger family of 45 words, the correlatives, which you will see as a full table in Lesson 11.
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| kio | what (thing) | Kio okazis? – What happened? |
| kiu | who; which | Kiu volas kafon? – Who wants coffee? |
| kie | where | Kie estas la kongresejo? – Where is the congress venue? |
| kiam | when | Kiam vi alvenis? – When did you arrive? |
| kial | why | Kial vi lernas Esperanton? – Why are you learning Esperanto? |
| kiel | how | Kiel vi fartas? – How are you? |
| kiom | how much, how many | Kiom kostas la kafo? – How much is the coffee? |
To ask "how many" with a noun, add da: Kiom da lingvoj vi parolas? – "How many languages do you speak?" The noun after da never takes -n.
Question words with -n
When the question word is the object, it takes -n, just like a noun: kio → kion, kiu → kiun.
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| Kion vi trinkas? | What are you drinking? |
| Kiun vi vidas? | Whom do you see? |
| Kiu vidas vin? | Who sees you? |
Answering kial with ĉar
Kial? asks for a reason, and ĉar gives it: Kial vi lernas Esperanton? – Ĉar mi ŝatas lingvojn. – "Why are you learning Esperanto? – Because I like languages."
Practice
Culture corner
Nobody knows exactly how many people speak Esperanto. Serious estimates range from about 60,000 (Svend Vendelbo Nielsen, 2017) to about 2 million (Sidney Culbert's surveys), and by March 2020 about 2.8 million people had started Duolingo's Esperanto courses. Tomo's trick also has a history: the green star became a sign of recognition between Esperanto speakers in the early 1890s. See how many people speak Esperanto.
Common questions
Can I ask a question without ĉu?
In speech, rising intonation alone can make a question, as in Ana's Vi kuiras? in Lesson 4. In writing, ĉu makes the question clear, and it is the standard form.
What is the difference between kio and kiu?
Kio asks about a thing in general: Kio estas tio? – "What is that?". Kiu asks about a person, or about one of several things: Kiu libro? – "Which book?".
How do I answer a negative question?
Use a full sentence. For Ĉu vi ne volas kafon? – "Don't you want coffee?" – speakers understand jes and ne in different ways, so say Jes, mi volas or Ne, mi ne volas.
Sources
- Fundamento de Esperanto – grammar in English
- PMEG: Ĉu-demandoj (yes/no questions)
- PMEG: Respondvortoj (answer words, negative questions)
- PMEG: Tabelvortoj – bazaj reguloj (ki- words)
- Libera Folio: "Nova takso: 60.000 parolas Esperanton" (2017)
- Libera Folio: "Kie estas la Duolinganoj?" (2020)
- Wikipedia: Esperanto symbols (the green star)
- Vikipedio: Verda stelo
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