House and home in Esperanto: rooms, furniture, phrases

A house is domo, a home is hejmo, a room is ĉambro and an apartment is apartamento. Many household words are built from a few parts: kuir- "cook" plus -ej- "place" gives kuirejo "kitchen", and dormi "to sleep" plus ĉambro gives dormoĉambro "bedroom". Pronunciation guides split words into syllables, with the stressed syllable in capitals.

#Kinds of houses and homes

Apartamento is not in the original Fundamento word list: ReVo marks it as one of the Academy's Official Additions.

#Domo or hejmo: house and home

Domo is the building. Hejmo is the place where someone lives permanently, above all a family's home. Esperanto keeps apart what English calls "home" and "house": Ni aĉetis novan domon. "We bought a new house." Mi ŝatas mian hejmon. "I like my home."

Hejme tells where you are, hejmen where you are going: Mi estas hejme. "I am at home." Mi iras hejmen. "I am going home." The ending -n already shows direction (see adverbs and the accusative). Older texts use dome and domen for the same thing, which ReVo labels archaic. To say "at someone's place" use ĉe: PMEG notes that ĉe often points to a person's home. Mi loĝas ĉe miaj gepatroj. "I live at my parents' home."

#Rooms

Necesejo is the polite word: PMEG explains it as the place for a necessary act one prefers not to name directly. ReVo lists klozeto and tualetejo as other words for it. Banejo is a place for bathing, such as public baths.

#Parts of a house

Etaĝo is a level of a building, planko the bottom of a room. ReVo warns that counting differs: in many European countries the teretaĝo counts as zero and the next level is la unua etaĝo, while elsewhere the ground floor is the first. So "the third floor" can mean two different levels. Ordinal numbers such as tria are explained in numbers.

#Furniture and appliances

Plain forno is broader: ReVo defines it as a masonry fire chamber for baking bread, melting metals or heating. Meals, plates and drinks are on the food and drink page.

#How household words are built

PMEG describes -ej- as a place, room or building meant for something, -uj- as a container made to hold something, and -il- as an instrument or device for an action. So kuirejo is where you cook, while fridujo is a box that keeps food cold. ReVo adds that frida "cold" is still counted as a neologism, yet fridujo has entered everyday life. More patterns are on the pages for suffixes, prefixes and word building.

Rooms named with ĉambro put their purpose first: atendoĉambro "waiting room". ReVo writes a linking -o- in dormoĉambro but not in banĉambro.

#Verbs for life at home

ReVo defines lui as getting something for a fixed time against payment, and luigi as giving it. The price is luprezo "rent". Loĝi also means to stay as a guest: loĝi en hotelo "to stay in a hotel".

#Useful phrases at home

#Saying where you live

Both en la tria etaĝo and sur la tria etaĝo are used, and the preposition choice is covered in prepositions.

#Welcoming and asking

#Describing a home

#Renting and chores

Words for relatives are on the family page.

#Common questions

#How do you say "house" in Esperanto?

Domo. A small house is dometo, a big one domego, and an apartment building is loĝdomo. The plural is domoj.

#What is the difference between domo and hejmo?

Domo is a building, hejmo is the place where a person or family lives. "Welcome to my home" is Bonvenon al mia hejmo, "a new house" is nova domo.

#How do you say "rooms" and "bathroom" in Esperanto?

"Room" is ĉambro, plural ĉambroj. A bathroom is banĉambro; the toilet is necesejo, also called klozeto or tualetejo.

#How do you say "I am going home"?

Mi iras hejmen. The ending -n on hejme "at home" shows direction.

#Sources

• ReVo: domo, dometo, domego, loĝdomo, hejmo, hejme, hejmen, hejmeca, hejmsopiro
• ReVo: loĝi, loĝejo, loĝanto, apartamento, vilao, kabano
• ReVo: ĉambro and compounds, kuirejo, kuiri, kuirilo, kuirforno, necesejo, salono, koridoro, kelo
• ReVo: subtegmento, tegmento, balkono, teraso, ĝardeno, garaĝo, etaĝo, teretaĝo
• ReVo: ŝtuparo, pordo, fenestro, muro, planko, plafono, ŝlosilo
• ReVo: meblo, meblaro, mebli, brakseĝo, fotelo, fridujo, forno, lavmaŝino, televidilo, lui, luigi, luprezo
• PMEG: EJ, IL, UJ, AR, EG, ET
• Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR), used only to check usage of floors: #1146615 sur la kvina etaĝo, #636888 en la kvina etaĝo
• PMEG: N por direkto, Ĉe