The complexities of English versus Esperanto

Perhaps because English is learned slowly, few people have a true appreciation for the complexities of English. Still fewer understand how it is possible for a language to be so much easier to learn. For a better understanding of the complexities of English, read the DETAILED NOTES below and the page with pronunciation notes. Because there is a lot of complexity in English, there is a lot of reading on these pages. For those who don’t want to read the full notes, the HIGHLIGHTS sections below quickly lists some of the most significant points.

(For an introduction to the online lessons, visit ea-mondo.org/l-0 – call or text 780-904-0363 or email admin@ea-mondo.org to arrange for a tutor or other help.)

HIGHLIGHTS

Verbs

Our first lesson introduces three Esperanto verbs: esti, havi, and vidi (to be, to have, and to see). The detailed notes show that the simple past, present and future tenses of those verbs in both positive and negative sentences requires 7 vocabulary items in Esperanto versus 17 vocabulary items in English. There are no irregular verbs in Esperanto versus about 200 commonly used irregular verbs in English.

Personal pronouns

Our first lesson introduces the singular personal pronouns. Students of both English and Esperanto have to learn five singular and two plural personal pronouns in their subject form. Students of Esperanto also have to learn the rule to make the possessive forms (add the adjective ending “a”), and the rule to make the object forms (add the object ending “n”). Students of English have to learn another eleven vocabulary items. They also have to learn that the subject and object forms of “you” and “it” are the same, and that “her” is both the possessive and the object form of “she”.

Plurals

In this lesson students learn how to make plurals in Esperanto. In their basic form, all Esperanto nouns end in the letter “o”. All plurals are formed by adding the letter “j” after the “o”. (“oj” is pronounced like the “oy” in the English word boy). That’s it. In seconds, you have learned how to make plurals in Esperanto. There is nothing else to learn.

There are four major rules for making plurals in English. You have to learn the rules and learn when each rule applies. The final letter (or two) of the singular determines which rule to use. These major rules are for “regular” plurals that end in “s” or “es”. The plural ending (“s”, “es”) has three different pronunciations and another set of rules needs to be learned for the correct pronunciation. There are exceptions to all of the major rules. For one of the major rules, the exceptions follow a rule to which there are exceptions.

In addition to the major rules and their exceptions, the detailed notes list five minor rules for plurals that do not end in “s” or “es”. There are still more less-important minor rules. There are also words that don’t follow any rules but simply must be learned as separate vocabulary items. Instead of mastering plurals in seconds, students of English often make mistakes after years of study.

Spelling and Pronunciation

There are five Esperanto vowels. There are also two half vowels which are used to form diphthongs. In our first lesson, students learn how to pronounce all of the Esperanto vowels and three commonly used diphthongs. There is only one spelling for each vowel sound in Esperanto. The vowel sounds in English are more numerous, have multiple spellings, and are harder to distinguish than the vowel sounds in Esperanto.

The detailed notes on the pronunciation notes page include:

eight different English spellings of the sound made by the Esperanto vowel “a”.

twelve different English spellings of the sound made by the Esperanto vowel “i”.

thirteen different English spellings of the sound made by the Esperanto vowel “o”.

nine different English spellings of the sound made by the Esperanto vowel “u”.

eleven different English spellings of the sound made by the Esperanto diphthong “aj”.

nine different English spellings of the sound made by the Esperanto diphthong “ej”.

Many of the English spelling variations have multiple pronunciations. The letter combination “ough” is sometimes pronounced like the Esperanto vowel “a”, sometimes like the Esperanto vowel “o”, and sometimes like the Esperanto vowel “u”. It also has four other pronunciations for a total of seven. A student of English has no chance of figuring out the pronunciation of any word containing this combination of letters based on the spelling, nor the spelling of these words based on the pronunciation. The meaning, spelling and pronunciation all have to be learned separately.

In ten minutes you can easily master the pronunciation of the five Esperanto vowels and the two half vowels. Instead of ten minutes, mastering the spelling and pronunciation of English vowels takes years.

DETAILED NOTES

Verbs

This first lesson introduces three Esperanto verbs: esti, havi, and vidi (to be, to have, and to see). As shown in the tables below, learning to use the simple past, present and future tenses of those verbs in both positive and negative sentences requires 7 vocabulary items in Esperanto versus 17 vocabulary items in English.

Simple past, present, and future tenses of three common Esperanto verbs

(6 vocabulary items: est-, hav-, vid-, -as, -is, -os)

	est-			hav-			vid-
	present	past	future	present	past	future	present	past	future
mi	estas	estis	estos	havas	havis	havos	vidas	vidis	vidos
vi	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“
li	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“
ŝi	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“
ĝi	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“

Simple negative past, present, and future tenses of the same verbs

(1 new vocabulary item: ne)

	est-			hav-			vid-
	present	past	future	present	past	future	present	past	future
mi	ne estas	ne estis	ne estos	ne havas	ne havis	ne havos	ne vidas	ne vidis	ne vidos
vi	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“
li	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“
ŝi	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“
ĝi	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“

Simple past, present, and future tenses of the equivalent verbs in English

(13 vocabulary items: am, are, is, was, were, will, be, have, has, had, see, sees, saw)

	be			have			see
	present	past	future	present	past	future	present	past	future
I	am	was	will be	have	had	will have	see	saw	will see
you	are	were	“	“	“	“	“	“	“
he	is	was	“	has	“	“	sees	“	“
she	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“
it	“	“		“	“	“	“	“	“

Simple negative past, present, and future tenses of the same verbs

(4 new vocabulary items: not, do, does, did)

	be			have			see
	present	past	future	present	past	future	present	past	future
I	am not	was not	will not be	do not have	did not have	will not have	do not see	did not see	will not see
you	are not	were not	“	“	“	“	“	“	“
he	is not	was not	“	does not have	“	“	does not see	“	“
she	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“
it	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“	“

There are no irregular verbs in Esperanto. Once the basic pattern for all verbs has been learned, learning each new verb in Esperanto requires learning just one new vocabulary item.

English verbs are relatively simple. The basic pattern for English verbs is much simpler than the basic pattern of any one of the three main families of French verbs. Mastering irregular English verbs rarely requires more than three new vocabulary items. However, learning three forms of 200 commonly used irregular verbs in English means learning 600 vocabulary items. Mastering the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of 200 common irregular English verbs requires more learning than fluency in Esperanto!

Personal pronouns

This lesson introduces the singular personal pronouns. Shown in the tables below are these pronouns in their subject, possessive and object forms in both English and Esperanto.

English

I	my	me
you	your	you
he	his	him
she	her	her
it	its	it

Esperanto

mi	mia	min
vi	via	vin
li	lia	lin
ŝi	ŝia	ŝin
ĝi	ĝia	ĝin

Students of both English and Esperanto have to learn the singular personal pronouns in their subject form. In English they are “I”, “you”, “he”, “she”, and “it”. In Esperanto they are “mi”, “vi”, “li”, “ŝi”, and “ĝi”. Students of Esperanto then have to learn the rule to make the possessive forms (add the adjective ending “a”), and to make the object forms (add the object ending “n”). Students of English have to learn another seven vocabulary items (“my”, “your”, “his”, “her”, “its”, “me”, and “him”). They also have to learn that the subject and object forms of “you” and “it” are the same, and that “her” is both the possessive and the object form of “she”.

Later, students will need to learn two new vocabulary items for plural personal pronouns. In English they are “we” and “they”. In Esperanto they are “ni” and “ili”. Esperanto students can apply the rules they have already learned to form the possessive and object forms (“nia”, “nin”; “ilia”, “ilin). Student of English need to learn another four new vocabulary items (“our”, “us”; “their”, “them”).

Plurals

Making plurals in Esperanto

In this lesson students learn how to make plurals in Esperanto (okulo, okuloj).

In their basic form, all Esperanto nouns end in the letter “o”. All plurals are formed by adding the letter “j” after the “o”.

That’s it. In seconds you have learned to make plurals in Esperanto. There is nothing else to learn.

Making plurals in English

Major rules (to form “regular” plurals based on the ending of the singular)

For most nouns – add an “s”.

For nouns ending in ch, o, s, sh, x, or z – add “es”. [Note: single “s” or “z” is often doubled before adding “es”. (gas, gasses)]

For nouns ending in “f” or “fe” – change the ending to “ves”.

For nouns ending in a “y” – change the “y” to “i” and add “es”.

[Pronunciation note: The pronunciation of the plural ending (“s”or “es”) depends on the final sound of the singular: 1) “iz” – (e.g. kisses, messages) follows sibilant sounds (s, z, ch, sh, soft g); 2) “s” – (e.g. mops, cuffs) follows other voiceless consonants (p, t, k, f, th); and 3) “z” – (e.g. days, tables) follows vowels or voiced consonants other than a sibilant.]

Exceptions to the above rules:

Some nouns don’t change at all. (deer, deer)

Some nouns ending in “o” don’t need the “e”. (volcanos and volcanoes are both correct)

For some nouns ending in “o” it is a mistake to add the “e”. (piano, pianos – not pianoes).

Some nouns ending in “f” don’t need to be changed. (hoofs and hooves are both correct)

For some nouns ending in “f”, it is a mistake to change the ending. (chief, chiefs – not chieves)

For nouns ending in a vowel plus “y”, just add “s”. (monkey, monkeys) – [exception to the exception – nouns ending in “quy” follow the regular rule (soliloquy, soliloquies)]

Minor rules for making plurals in English

When the singular noun ends in “is”, the ending is often changed to “es” for the plural (analysis, analyses; crisis, crises).

When the singular noun ends in “on” or “um”, the ending is often changed to “a” for the plural (criterion, criteria; millennium, millennia)

Nouns with a “oo” in the singular often change to “ee” in the plural. (foot, feet; goose, geese)

When the singular noun ends in “ouse”, the ending is often changed to “ice” for the plural (mouse, mice; louse, lice)

When the singular noun ends in “us, the ending is often changed to “i” for the plural (fungus, fungi; alumnus, alumni)

There are more less important minor rules [e.g. Words of Italian origin, notably technical terms in music and art, often retain the Italian plural (cello, celli; castrato, castrati)].

Learning all the above rules and exceptions is not enough. There are still other nouns who plurals are different words that needs to be learned separately (child, children; person, people; etc.). Instead of mastering plurals in seconds, students of English often make mistakes after years of study.