An echo question reacts to something just said. It may ask the speaker to repeat a missed detail, check that you heard correctly, or display surprise: “Tuesday?”, “You sold it?”, “With whom?” Esperanto can echo a single constituent, use a full ĉu question, or—especially in dialogue—repeat a declarative-shaped clause with question punctuation and questioning delivery.
The crucial distinction is pragmatic. A neutral question opens a new information gap; an echo question points back to wording or content already present in the conversation. English often marks this with intonation alone. Esperanto permits that in a suitable context, but its intonation is not governed by one universal grammatical contour. In careful speech and standalone writing, ĉu or a KI-correlative makes the intended question unmistakable.
Three jobs an echo question can do
An echo may request repetition because some sound was missed, request confirmation because the content seems doubtful, or express surprise while still leaving room for correction. The same short form can do more than one job; situation and delivery decide.
— Mi revenos merkredon. — Kiam? — Merkredon.
— I’ll return on Wednesday. — When? — On Wednesday.
— La trajno foriros je la kvina kaj dek. — Je la kvina kaj dek? Mi kredis, ke ĝi foriros je la sesa.
— The train will leave at five ten. — At five ten? I thought it would leave at six.
— Mi vendis la aŭton hieraŭ. — Vi vendis la aŭton? Kial vi nenion diris al mi?
— I sold the car yesterday. — You sold the car? Why didn’t you tell me anything?
The first echo locates missing information. The second checks a detail against an expectation. The third repeats a whole proposition in surprise. None is simply a new, context-free question.
Echoing only the uncertain part
The shortest and most natural repair is often the exact phrase you did not hear, followed by a question mark in writing. Keep its preposition and case marking because these show the phrase’s role in the earlier sentence.
— Mi renkontiĝos kun Leono post la laboro. — Kun Leono? — Jes, kun li.
— I’m meeting Leo after work. — With Leo? — Yes, with him.
— Mi invitis Martinon. — Martinon aŭ Martinan? — Martinon.
— I invited Martin. — Martin or Martina? — Martin.
Here Martinon retains -n because it echoes the object of invitis. Likewise, kun Leono keeps kun. A bare citation form may ask about the word itself, but a grammatical echo normally preserves the role being repaired.
You can instead use a KI-word whose form matches the missing role:
— Mi sendis la dosieron al iu hieraŭ. — Al kiu vi sendis ĝin? — Al Nora.
— I sent the file to someone yesterday. — Who did you send it to? — To Nora.
— Ŝi aĉetis ion por la vojaĝo. — Kion ŝi aĉetis? — Novan dorsosakon.
— She bought something for the trip. — What did she buy? — A new backpack.
Use kiu for a subject but kiun for a direct object; use the needed preposition before it. Esperanto normally places the KI-expression at or near the beginning. English-style do-support never appears: the verb remains sendis, aĉetis, and so on.
Echoing a whole proposition
The clearest confirmation question uses ĉu at the beginning. This remains the safest choice when the sentence will be read without the preceding exchange.
— La kunveno estis nuligita. — Ĉu ĝi vere estis nuligita? — Jes, la organizanto ĵus skribis al mi.
— The meeting was canceled. — Was it really canceled? — Yes, the organizer just wrote to me.
— Mi ne povos veni vendrede. — Ĉu vi ne povos veni? — Ne, mi devas labori ĝis malfrue.
— I won’t be able to come on Friday. — You won’t be able to come? — No, I have to work late.
In a live exchange, Esperanto also accepts a declarative-shaped repetition without ĉu. This is especially natural when disbelief or a request for confirmation is already obvious:
— Eliza ricevis la postenon. — Eliza ricevis ĝin? Tio estas bonega novaĵo!
— Eliza got the position. — Eliza got it? That’s wonderful news!
This accepted pattern is dialogue-dependent. It does not establish a new rule that intonation alone always makes a polar question. PMEG notes that Esperanto has no single fixed sentence melody; outside a supportive context, Vi venos morgaŭ? can be read as a doubtful assertion rather than an ordinary information question. For a neutral standalone question, write Ĉu vi venos morgaŭ?
Echo questions inside the larger question system
Esperanto has two productive question frames. A polar question asks whether the whole proposition is true and begins with ĉu. A content question asks for one missing value and uses a KI-correlative such as kiu, kio, kie, kiam, kial, kiel, or kiom. Echo questions reuse those same frames rather than creating a third paradigm.
| What is uncertain? | Clear echo form | Likely answer |
|---|---|---|
| The whole proposition | Ĉu ŝi jam foriris? | Jes / Ne + clarification |
| A person as subject | Kiu foriris? | Nora. |
| A direct object | Kiun ŝi vokis? | Leonon. |
| A time | Kiam ŝi foriris? | Antaŭ horo. |
| A repeated phrase | Antaŭ horo? | Jes, proksimume. |
Do not combine ĉu with a KI-word when the KI-word itself introduces the question. Ĉu kiu venis? is not the regular way to ask “Who came?”; use Kiu venis? See content questions for the full division.
Negation and answers in echoes
An echo preserves the polarity that is being checked. Ĉu vi ne venos? asks about the proposition “you will not come.” Because international speakers use jes and ne differently after negative questions, a bare answer can be misunderstood. State the relevant clause.
— Do vi ne mendis la biletojn? — Ne, mi ne mendis ilin; mi atendis vian konfirmon.
— So you didn’t order the tickets? — No, I didn’t order them; I was waiting for your confirmation.
— Vi vidis neniun en la oficejo? — Ĝuste, neniu estis tie.
— You saw no one in the office? — Right, no one was there.
The second exchange also illustrates the foundational norm: a neni- word already negates its clause, so it normally needs no additional ne. Multiple negative words have scope effects that deserve their own analysis; do not import English or another language’s negative-concord pattern into an echo. See negative correlatives and negative concord.
Echo, tag, or correction?
These related forms have different conversational aims:
- Eliza venis? echoes a newly heard proposition, often with surprise.
- Eliza venis, ĉu ne? presents the proposition as likely and asks for confirmation.
- Ĉu Eliza venis? is the neutral polar question.
- Ne Eliza, sed Nora venis. corrects one constituent while asserting that someone came.
— Nora translokiĝis al Helsinko. — Al Helsinko? Mi pensis, ke ŝi elektis Turkuon.
— Nora moved to Helsinki. — To Helsinki? I thought she had chosen Turku.
Nora translokiĝis al Helsinko, ĉu ne?
Nora moved to Helsinki, didn’t she?
The first depends on immediately preceding wording. The second is a tag question and may open the topic without any previous mention.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English inversion. Esperanto does not move the finite verb before the subject.
❌ Venis vi hieraŭ?
Incorrect as a neutral English-style inversion of ‘Did you come yesterday?’
✅ Ĉu vi venis hieraŭ?
Did you come yesterday?
2. Combining ĉu with a KI-question. The KI-word already marks the missing information.
❌ Ĉu kiu telefonis al vi?
Incorrect — ĉu and kiu are competing question introducers here.
✅ Kiu telefonis al vi?
Who phoned you?
3. Dropping ĉu where there is no echoing context. A bare declarative-shaped question is accepted in dialogue, but it is a poor default for a context-free information request.
❌ La biblioteko estas malfermita dimanĉe?
Unclear as a standalone neutral question.
✅ Ĉu la biblioteko estas malfermita dimanĉe?
Is the library open on Sunday?
4. Losing case marking in a repaired object.
❌ — Mi invitis Martinon. — Kiu?
Incorrect for asking which person was invited; kiu would be a subject.
✅ — Mi invitis Martinon. — Kiun?
— I invited Martin. — Whom?
5. Adding ne to a negative correlative.
❌ Vi ne vidis neniun?
Usually means ‘Is it not the case that you saw nobody?’ rather than a simple negative echo.
✅ Vi vidis neniun?
You saw no one?
Key Takeaways
- Echo only the word, phrase, or proposition that needs repair.
- Keep case and prepositions: Kiun?, Kun Nora?, Je la kvina?
- Use ĉu for an unambiguous whole-clause confirmation question.
- Declarative-shaped questions are accepted in dialogue, especially for surprise, but are context-dependent.
- After a negative echo question, answer with a full short clause when jes or ne could be interpreted two ways.
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Start learning Esperanto →Related Topics
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- Content Questions with Ki-CorrelativesA1 — Ask for people, things, qualities, places, times, reasons, manners, and quantities with Esperanto's systematic ki-correlatives.
- Question Word OrderA1 — Place ĉu and ki-phrases correctly while preserving ordinary Esperanto clause order and clear grammatical roles.
- Tag and Confirmation QuestionsA2 — Seek confirmation with sentence-final ĉu, ĉu ne, ne vere, and explicit follow-up questions without copying English tag agreement.
- Reformulation and ClarificationB1 — Restate, specify, repair, and check meaning in Esperanto without confusing equivalence, correction, and inference.