Saluton course
Esperanto lesson 9: prepositions, places and directions
Prepositions say where something is – add -n and they say where it is going.
One thing at a time: the dialogue line by line, new words with sound and pictures, one exercise per screen.
56 words20 exercises~21 min
In this lesson you learn to say where things are and where people go. You will meet about twenty prepositions – en "in", sur "on", apud "next to", inter "between" – and one clever rule: after en, sur and similar words, -n shows movement towards a place. Mi promenas en la parko is "I'm walking in the park"; Mi iras en la parkon is "I'm going into the park". You will also ask the way and understand the answer.
Dialogue
The congress excursion day. Ana and Tomo explore the old town on their own.
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| Tomo: Kien ni iras nun? Al la muzeo aŭ en la parkon? | Where are we going now? To the museum or into the park? |
| Ana: Unue al la muzeo, poste en la parkon. | First to the museum, then into the park. |
| Tomo: Bone. Sed kie estas la muzeo? | Fine. But where is the museum? |
| Ana: Mi ne scias. Mi demandos tiun sinjorinon. | I don't know. I'll ask that lady. |
| Ana: Pardonu, sinjorino, kie estas la urba muzeo? | Excuse me, madam, where is the city museum? |
| Sinjorino: Ĝi estas apud la katedralo, sur la granda placo. | It's next to the cathedral, on the big square. |
| Tomo: Kaj kiel ni iras tien? | And how do we get there? |
| Sinjorino: Vi iras rekte ĝis la ponto, poste dekstren. Post la ponto vi vidos la placon. | You go straight on to the bridge, then right. After the bridge you'll see the square. |
| Ana: Ĉu ĝi estas malproksime? | Is it far? |
| Sinjorino: Ne. Piede vi bezonos nur dek minutojn. | No. On foot you'll need only ten minutes. |
| Ana: Koran dankon! | Many thanks! |
| Tomo: Jen la placo! Kaj la muzeo estas inter la katedralo kaj la kafejo. | Here's the square! And the museum is between the cathedral and the café. |
| Ana: Kafejo! Unue mi iras en la kafejon, poste en la muzeon! | A café! First I'm going into the café, then into the museum! |
| Tomo: Ana kaj kafo – ĉiam kune! | Ana and coffee – always together! |
New words
| Esperanto | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| muzeo | museum | |
| parko | park | |
| katedralo | cathedral | preĝejo "church" |
| placo | square (in a town) | |
| ponto | bridge | |
| strato | street | |
| stacidomo | railway station | stacio "station" + domo "building" |
| kafejo | café | kafo + -ej- "place" |
| hotelo | hotel | |
| butiko | shop | |
| scii | to know (a fact) | Mi ne scias. "I don't know." |
| demandi | to ask | |
| bezoni | to need | |
| urba | city, municipal | from urbo |
| rekte | straight on | |
| dekstre | on the right | dekstren "to the right" |
| maldekstre | on the left | maldekstren "to the left" |
| proksime | near, close | malproksime "far" |
| piede | on foot | from piedo "foot" |
| unue | first, firstly | from unu "one" |
| kune | together | |
| tiu | that (one) | tiu sinjorino "that lady" |
| kien | where to | kie + direction -n |
| tien | (to) there | tie + direction -n |
| koran dankon | many thanks | literally "a hearty thanks" |
| promeni | to walk, to go for a walk | Mi promenas en la parko. |
| salti | to jump | |
| tablo | table | |
| sidi | to sit, to be sitting | |
| eniri | to go in, to enter | en "in" + iri "to go" |
| turniĝi | to turn (change direction) | Turniĝu dekstren! "Turn right!" (-iĝ-: Lesson 10; commands: Lesson 11) |
Grammar
Common prepositions
A preposition shows where something is or how things relate. Esperanto has 33 of them; these are the ones you need first. See the prepositions page for all of them.
| Esperanto | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| en | in | en la parko – in the park |
| sur | on | sur la placo – on the square |
| sub | under | sub la ponto – under the bridge |
| apud | next to | apud la katedralo – next to the cathedral |
| inter | between | inter la muzeo kaj la kafejo |
| antaŭ | in front of; before | antaŭ la hotelo – in front of the hotel |
| malantaŭ | behind | malantaŭ la muzeo – behind the museum |
| post | after; behind | post la ponto – after the bridge |
| ĉe | at | ĉe Tomo – at Tomo's |
| al | to, towards | al la muzeo – to the museum |
| de | from; of | de la stacidomo – from the station |
| el | out of, from | el la kafejo – out of the café |
| ĝis | as far as, until | ĝis la ponto – as far as the bridge |
| tra | through | tra la parko – through the park |
| ĉirkaŭ | around | ĉirkaŭ la placo – around the square |
| kun | with | kun Ana – with Ana |
| sen | without | sen kafo – without coffee |
| por | for | por Tomo – for Tomo |
| pri | about | pri la urbo – about the town |
After a preposition, a noun normally has no -n: kun pano, en la parko.
Direction: preposition + -n
With prepositions of place such as en, sur, sub and antaŭ, the ending -n shows movement to a place. Without -n, the action happens at that place. This is the one exception to "no -n after prepositions"; the accusative page explains it in full.
| Position (no -n) | Direction (with -n) |
|---|---|
| Mi promenas en la parko. – I'm walking in the park. | Mi iras en la parkon. – I'm going into the park. |
| La kato saltas sur la tablo. – The cat is jumping (around) on the table. | La kato saltas sur la tablon. – The cat jumps onto the table. |
| Ana sidas en la kafejo. – Ana is sitting in the café. | Ana eniras en la kafejon. – Ana goes into the café. |
location (where?)
Mi promenas en la parko.
I'm walking in the park.
direction (where to?)
Mi iras en la parkon.
I'm going into the park.
location (where?)
La kato saltas sur la tablo.
The cat is jumping (around) on the table.
direction (where to?)
La kato saltas sur la tablon.
The cat jumps onto the table.
Al, ĝis and el need no -n
Some prepositions already show movement, so they never take -n: al la muzeo "to the museum", ĝis la ponto "as far as the bridge", el la kafejo "out of the café". Al tells you the goal; en …-n tells you that you go inside.
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| Ni iras al la muzeo. | We're going to the museum (towards it). |
| Ni iras en la muzeon. | We're going into the museum. |
| Ni venas el la muzeo. | We're coming out of the museum. |
Direction adverbs: -en
Adverbs of place take -n for direction too: hejme "at home" → hejmen "home(wards)", dekstre "on the right" → dekstren "to the right", kie "where" → kien "where to", tie "there" → tien "(to) there".
| Esperanto | English |
|---|---|
| Kie vi estas? – Hejme. | Where are you? – At home. |
| Kien vi iras? – Hejmen. | Where are you going? – Home. |
| Turniĝu dekstren. | Turn right. |
Practice
Culture corner
Hundreds of streets, parks and bridges around the world are named after Esperanto's creator, Zamenhof – from Poland and Lithuania to Israel and Brazil. In Vienna you can visit the Esperanto Museum of the Austrian National Library, founded in 1927 by Hugo Steiner and housed in the Palais Mollard since 2005. Read more about L. L. Zamenhof.
Common questions
What is the difference between al la parko and en la parkon?
Al la parko means "to the park" – towards it, maybe only to the gate. En la parkon means "into the park" – you end up inside. Both describe movement.
Does en always mean "in"?
Yes, for place: en la urbo "in the town". With -n it means "into". Esperanto uses en also for times like en Julio "in July" and en 1887 "in 1887".
Why is it dek minutojn with -n in the dialogue?
Because dek minutojn is the object of bezonos "will need". It is the same accusative you learned in Lesson 5.
Sources
If Esperantopedia helped you, you can support it.