How to read the pictograms in the Saluton course

Esperanto builds words from parts: a root carries the meaning, the ending says what kind of word it is, and small extra parts change the meaning in regular ways. Our pictograms follow the same idea. Tap a picture below to see it drawn again.

#The drawing is the root

Each root has its own drawing, and two roots never share one. kat- is a cat, hund- a dog, libr- a book, kant- singing.

#The frame shows the kind of word

The ending decides the frame around the drawing: a square for things (-o), a diamond for qualities (-a), a circle for actions (-i and all verb forms) and a pill shape for the manner of doing something (-e).

#A dot on the circle shows the time

Verbs keep the circle. A green dot on it shows the tense: at the top for now (-as), on the left for the past (-is), on the right for the future (-os). A dashed circle means "would" (-us), and a dot with rays is an order or a wish (-u).

#More than one, and the object

A stack of frames means more than one (-j). A small green hook on the frame marks the object of the sentence (-n), the thing that something happens to. Both can come together.

#Word building in pictures

The most common word-building parts change the drawing itself:

• mal- (the opposite) turns the drawing upside down;
• -eg- makes it bigger and -et- smaller;
• -ar- (a group) shows it three times;
• -ej- (a place) puts a roof over it.

Other parts appear as small green badges in the corner, for example -ant- (someone who is doing it) in lernanto, a learner.

#Colours

Green always means grammar: tense dots, the object hook, roofs and badges. The word itself is drawn in ink. Colour words are the exception: they show the colour itself instead of a drawing.

#Where you see them

On the course map, on the word cards in every step-by-step lesson, in the pictogram album and in the flashcards – here on the site and in our Saluton app. Start with the course.

#Sources

• The pictograms and the rules for reading them are Esperantopedia’s own work (CC BY-SA 4.0); the same code draws them on this site and in the Saluton app.
• Roots that have a pictogram are official roots: the Fundamento de Esperanto (1905) and the Official Additions of the Akademio de Esperanto.