English usually identifies subject and object through position: in “the dog sees the child,” the noun before the verb is the subject and the noun after it is the object. Esperanto instead marks a direct object with -n. Missing that ending is therefore not a cosmetic spelling error; it removes the grammatical signal that tells the listener which participant the action reaches.
The core diagnosis: who acts, and what is affected?
With a transitive verb, first find the participant that performs or experiences the action. That is normally the subject and has no accusative ending. Then find the participant directly affected, perceived, possessed, created, or otherwise selected as the verb's object. That phrase takes -n.
La hundo vidas la infanon.
The dog sees the child.
La infanon la hundo vidas.
It is the child that the dog sees.
The same roles remain in both examples: la hundo is the experiencer of seeing, and la infanon is what is seen. Initial position does not turn the object into a subject.
Now compare a malformed sentence:
❌ La infano vidas la hundo.
Malformed for the intended meaning ‘the dog sees the child’ — neither noun is marked as the object.
Without -n, normal parsing favors la infano as the subject. The final phrase cannot simply be assumed to be an English-style object. The repair is analytical: decide the roles, then mark the object.
✅ La infanon vidas la hundo.
The dog sees the child.
A reliable repair test: replace the phrase with a pronoun
English preserves an object distinction in a few pronouns: she/her, he/him, we/us. Esperanto does so systematically. Replace the questionable phrase with ĝi/ĝin, li/lin, ŝi/ŝin, or ili/ilin. If the object form is required, the full noun phrase needs -n too.
Mi renkontis ŝin ĉe la stacidomo.
I met her at the station.
Because the natural pronoun is ŝin, the full phrase is la novan instruistinon, not la nova instruistino:
Mi renkontis la novan instruistinon ĉe la stacidomo.
I met the new teacher at the station.
This test also exposes objects that are not physically changed. Objects include what someone knows, wants, owns, reads, seeks, or remembers.
Ĉu vi memoras la adreson?
Do you remember the address?
Mi serĉas mian telefonon, sed mi ne trovas ĝin.
I am looking for my phone, but I cannot find it.
English speakers sometimes associate “object” only with something struck or moved. Esperanto object marking follows the verb's grammatical frame, not a narrow idea of physical impact.
The whole directly modifying phrase carries the role
When an adjective directly modifies the object noun, both receive -n. Possessives and ordinal forms behave as adjectives too.
Ni elektis pli trankvilan lokon por la renkontiĝo.
We chose a quieter place for the meeting.
Ŝi vendis sian malnovan biciklon al najbaro.
She sold her old bicycle to a neighbor.
Repairing only the noun leaves disagreement: sian malnova biciklon still analyzes malnova as though it were not part of the object phrase. Scan the phrase from its determiner to its head and mark every directly agreeing adjective.
The article la never changes, and a numeral such as du does not take -n:
Mi aĉetis du freŝajn panojn.
I bought two fresh loaves of bread.
Here du stays unchanged, while freŝajn and panojn show plural and accusative marking.
Objects remain objects around infinitives
An object can belong to an infinitive rather than to the finite verb. English word order again gives no visible warning.
Mi volas aĉeti novan tekokomputilon.
I want to buy a new laptop.
Mi is the subject of volas and the understood actor of aĉeti. Novan tekokomputilon is the object of aĉeti, so it takes -n. Do not attach the ending only to phrases next to a finite verb.
—Kion vi planas kuiri? —Mi planas fari legoman supon.
—What are you planning to cook? —I am planning to make vegetable soup.
The interrogative kion is accusative because it asks for the object of kuiri. The answer legoman supon has the same role.
Fronting and relative clauses
Esperanto permits an object before the verb because -n preserves its role.
Tiun mesaĝon mi ankoraŭ ne sendis.
That message, I still have not sent.
Negation changes whether the sending occurred, not the role of tiun mesaĝon. The object ending remains.
Inside a relative clause, the relative word takes the case required by its role inside that clause.
Jen la libro, kiun mi mendis pasintsemajne.
Here is the book that I ordered last week.
The outside phrase la libro is the item presented by jen; it is not the object of mendis. Inside the relative clause, kiun is the object of mendis, so it takes -n. Copying the form of the outside noun phrase is the wrong analysis.
Genuine near-neighbors without object -n
Not every noun after a verb is an object. After esti, a noun identifying the subject is a predicative complement and normally has no -n.
Mia fratino estas kuracisto.
My sister is a doctor.
Likewise, an adjective that describes an object through the verb is not itself a second object:
Ni trovis la pordon ankoraŭ malfermita.
We found the door still open.
La pordon is the object and takes -n. Malfermita describes the state in which the door was found and has no accusative ending. Compare:
Ni trovis la malfermitan pordon.
We found the open door.
Here malfermitan directly modifies pordon inside the object phrase, so it agrees in -n. This minimal contrast shows why “put -n on every adjective near an object” is not a valid repair rule.
Ordinary prepositions already mark the following phrase's role, so that phrase normally does not receive object -n:
Mi parolis kun la nova administranto.
I spoke with the new administrator.
Directional -n and measure uses are separate functions; this page concerns direct objects. See accusative or preposition when the verb's frame is uncertain.
A five-step repair method
- Underline every finite verb and infinitive.
- Identify each verb's subject or understood actor.
- Ask whether the verb selects a direct object.
- Replace the candidate object with ĝin or another accusative pronoun.
- Add -n to the object noun and all its direct agreeing modifiers.
Hieraŭ mia kolego sendis al mi la korektitan dosieron.
Yesterday my colleague sent me the corrected file.
Mia kolego is the subject. Al mi is marked by the preposition al. La korektitan dosieron is what was sent, so it is the direct object. This role-based parse remains valid if the order changes.
Norm and usage status
Object -n is part of the foundational grammar, not a formal-writing ornament. Careful and informal speech both use it. Poetry may exploit word order, and rapid speech may reduce sounds, but systematic loss of object -n is nonstandard and can reverse or obscure roles. A few special issues involving quotations or unassimilated names do not create a general license to omit the ending from ordinary Esperanto noun phrases.
Common Mistakes
Trusting SVO order instead of marking the object
❌ Mi legis la raporto hieraŭ.
Incorrect — la raporto is the direct object of legis.
✅ Mi legis la raporton hieraŭ.
I read the report yesterday.
Repairing the noun but not its adjective
❌ Ni rezervis komforta ĉambron.
Incorrect — the adjective belongs to the accusative object phrase.
✅ Ni rezervis komfortan ĉambron.
We reserved a comfortable room.
Losing -n before an infinitive
❌ Ŝi volas lerni nova lingvo.
Incorrect — nova lingvo is the object of lerni.
✅ Ŝi volas lerni novan lingvon.
She wants to learn a new language.
Copying the outer noun's case onto a relative word
❌ Tio estas la filmo, kiu ni spektis hieraŭ.
Incorrect — the relative word is the object of spektis.
✅ Tio estas la filmo, kiun ni spektis hieraŭ.
That is the film that we watched yesterday.
Adding -n to a predicative description
❌ Mi opinias ĝin tre bonan.
Incorrect — tre bona is the predicative assessment of ĝin, not a direct modifier inside the object phrase.
✅ Mi opinias ĝin tre bona.
I consider it very good.
Key Takeaways
Mark the direct object, not “the noun after the verb.” Use a pronoun substitution such as ĝi → ĝin to test the role, then apply -n throughout the directly agreeing noun phrase. Keep object marking under fronting, negation, infinitives, questions, and relative clauses, but do not add it to ordinary prepositional phrases or predicative descriptions.
Now practice Esperanto
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Start learning Esperanto →Related Topics
- The Accusative -N: OverviewA1 — Understand how Esperanto uses final -n to mark direct objects, direction, time, and measurement without relying on word order.
- Direct ObjectsA1 — Learn which Esperanto verb complements are direct objects, how -n marks them, and how object marking remains stable when word order changes.
- Objects before the VerbB1 — How fronted and preverbal objects use accusative marking to preserve roles while managing topic, contrast, and information flow.
- Accusative in Relative ClausesB1 — How kiu, kio, and their plural forms take case from their role inside a relative clause, independently of the antecedent.
- Transitive and Intransitive VerbsA2 — Learn which verbs license a direct object, which require another construction, and how Esperanto systematically changes valency.
- Accusative or Preposition?A2 — Choose between an accusative object and a prepositional complement by identifying the Esperanto verb frame and each participant's semantic role.