Esperanto spelling normally tells you exactly which sounds to pronounce: every letter represents a sound, and every ordinary sound is written. Elision is a narrow, visible exception. A writer may omit a particular final vowel in particular circumstances, but must put an apostrophe in its place. The apostrophe therefore preserves the transparency of the system: it announces that something predictable is missing.
English speakers should not treat this as a general contraction mechanism like I'm, don't, or the actor's. Esperanto does not freely shorten common word combinations with apostrophes, and the apostrophe never marks possession. Outside poetry and a few established expressions, unelided forms are overwhelmingly the neutral choice.
The two foundational elisions
The foundational rule permits two main operations:
- The final -o of a singular nominative noun may be replaced by an apostrophe: koro → kor’.
- The final -a of the article la may be replaced by an apostrophe: la → l’.
These are not new endings. In kor’, the apostrophe stands where the noun ending -o would have stood; in l’, it stands where the vowel of la would have stood. The six special letters ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ remain ordinary letters under the same one-letter–one-sound principle. Elision neither removes their diacritics nor licenses x-system spellings in finished prose.
If the grammatical endings themselves are new, review nouns and the -o ending before treating elision as a stylistic option. The ordinary forms are logically prior to their shortened versions.
La vespero estis kvieta.
The evening was quiet. (neutral)
La vesper’ estis kvieta.
The evening was quiet. (poetic: final -o is elided)
This pair is a minimal contrast in style, not in basic meaning. The first sentence is normal in every register. The second is grammatically interpretable but distinctly (poetic/literary).
Eliding the noun ending -o
Only a genuine noun ending -o can be omitted by the ordinary rule. The noun must have no following plural -j or accusative -n. Thus amiko can become amik’ when it is singular and nominative, but amikon, amikoj, and amikojn cannot become amik’: that would erase information about case or number.
Post longa tag’, ŝi fine revenis hejmen.
After a long day, she finally came home. (poetic/literary)
Sur ĉiu mont’ brilis freŝa neĝo.
Fresh snow shone on every mountain. (poetic/literary)
The stress remains where it would be in the full noun, as though the silent -o were still counted. In vespero, stress falls on per; in vesper’, it remains there. This matters especially in forms such as historio → histori’: the shortened form does not acquire a new final-vowel stress rule.
The final o of correlatives such as kio, tio, io, ĉio, and nenio is not the noun ending -o. Those words belong to a closed grammatical system, so ordinary elision does not produce ki’ or neni’. Likewise, an apostrophe cannot normally replace an adjective ending -a, adverb ending -e, or verb ending.
Ĉio restis trankvila dum la nokto.
Everything remained calm during the night.
Ĉu la poet’ jam finis sian novan verkon?
Has the poet already finished their new work? (poetic/literary)
Noun elision is (poetic/literary) in modern usage. It helps meter, rhyme, or the rhythm of elevated prose. It is grammatical but rare in ordinary conversation, messages, journalism, and academic writing. A learner should recognize it early and use the full -o by default.
Eliding the article la
The shortened article is l’. It remains a separate grammatical word and is normally written with a following space: de l’ maro, not del’ maro. Detailed usage descriptions recommend it especially after a preposition ending in a vowel, where it can be pronounced smoothly with that preceding word: de l’, pri l’, pro l’, tra l’, ĉe l’.
La infanoj aŭskultis la bruon de l’ maro.
The children listened to the sound of the sea. (literary)
Ŝi verkis kanton pri l’ ĝojo de reveno.
She wrote a song about the joy of returning. (literary)
Poetry also places l’ elsewhere when the result remains pronounceable. That freedom does not make it a neutral everyday article. In ordinary prose, write la espero; l’ espero deliberately evokes poetic or older literary style.
L’ espero revenis, kiam la unua ŝipo aperis ĉe la horizonto.
Hope returned when the first ship appeared on the horizon. (poetic/literary)
English offers no direct model here. English the does not normally alternate with an apostrophized form, while English apostrophes commonly mark possession. Esperanto de la instruisto means “the teacher’s”; neither la nor the noun receives a possessive apostrophe.
The choice between full la and zero article is a different question, covered under the definite article la. Eliding la changes its sound shape; it does not remove the article grammatically.
Established exceptional uses
The expression dank’ al (“thanks to”) is well established in speech and writing, including neutral usage. Its history and analysis are less tidy than ordinary noun elision, and some speakers prefer the completely regular danke al. Both are accepted in contemporary usage; danke al is the clearest pedagogical choice when you want to avoid an apostrophe.
Dank’ al via helpo, ni finis la laboron ĝustatempe.
Thanks to your help, we finished the work on time.
Danke al la nova mapo, ni ne plu perdiĝis.
Thanks to the new map, we no longer got lost.
The form un’ is accepted in the independent rhythmic call Un’! Du! or a similar count. It is not a shorter determiner inside a normal noun phrase.
“Un’! Du! Un’! Du!” la trejnisto vokis dum la ekzerco.
“One! Two! One! Two!” the coach called during the exercise.
“Ĉu vi venis sola?” — “Ne, dank’ al Ĝoja mi trovis la ĝustan trajnon.”
“Did you come alone?” — “No, thanks to Ĝoja I found the right train.”
The second example is an ordinary conversational use of dank’ al, not a license for general conversational elision.
Apostrophe, spacing, and typography
An apostrophe touches the shortened word: kor’, l’. Do not put a space before it. With the article, retain the word boundary after it: de l’ maro. A typographic apostrophe ’ is preferred in polished text; a straight ASCII apostrophe ' is a practical keyboard substitute when necessary. Neither is one of the letters ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ, and neither changes their spelling.
Do not use an apostrophe merely to expose word parts, attach an Esperanto ending to a foreign name, or imitate casual pronunciation unless you are deliberately quoting that pronunciation. A hyphen is usually clearer for visibly attached endings in names. These punctuation choices are conventional aids, not a replacement for Esperanto’s ordinary token boundaries.
Common Mistakes
1. Erasing an accusative ending. A noun with -n cannot be reduced to the bare apostrophized stem.
❌ Mi vidas belan flor’.
Incorrect — the direct object has lost both the noun ending and the required accusative -n.
✅ Mi vidas belan floron.
I see a beautiful flower.
2. Treating un’ as a normal form before a noun. Its accepted shortened use is an independent rhythmic count.
❌ Mi havas nur un’ demandon.
Incorrect — un’ cannot replace unu inside an ordinary noun phrase.
✅ Mi havas nur unu demandon.
I have only one question.
3. Shortening any convenient final vowel. The -aŭ of hodiaŭ is not an elidable grammatical ending.
❌ Mi ne povas veni hodi’.
Incorrect — the ending of hodiaŭ cannot be replaced by an apostrophe in normal Esperanto.
✅ Mi ne povas veni hodiaŭ.
I cannot come today.
4. Importing the English possessive apostrophe. Esperanto expresses possession with de or a possessive form.
❌ Tio estas Maria’s libro.
Incorrect — Esperanto does not use apostrophe-s for possession.
✅ Tio estas la libro de Maria.
That is Maria’s book.
5. Using literary elision as unmarked everyday prose. The result may be grammatical but stylistically conspicuous.
❌ Mi renkontos l’ amikon ĉe l’ stacidom’ je la oka.
Poor neutral style — repeated poetic elision sounds affected in an ordinary message.
✅ Mi renkontos la amikon ĉe la stacidomo je la oka.
I will meet the friend at the station at eight.
Key Takeaways
- An apostrophe visibly replaces an omitted vowel; it does not create an English-style contraction.
- A singular nominative noun may lose final -o, and la may become l’, chiefly in (poetic/literary) language.
- Plural and accusative endings block noun elision, and the o of kio or nenio is not eligible.
- Dank’ al is an established cross-register expression; danke al is a regular alternative.
- In ordinary modern prose and speech, full forms are the safest and most natural choice.
Related Topics
- One Letter, One SoundA1 — Understand Esperanto’s regular sound–spelling relationship without confusing a stable phoneme with mechanically identical pronunciation.
- Word Boundaries and HyphensA2 — Learn when Esperanto writes elements together, separately, or with an optional hyphen, and how spacing reveals grammatical structure.
- Quotation Marks, Dashes, and ParenthesesA2 — Use Esperanto quotation marks, dialogue dashes, parenthetical dashes, and parentheses clearly across different editorial traditions.
- Nouns and the -O EndingA1 — Build Esperanto nouns with -o, then add -j for plural and -n for accusative while respecting meaning and countability.
- The Definite Article LaA1 — How invariant la marks a referent that the listener can identify, and when another determiner or zero article is required.