Congress Speech Excerpt | Esperanto Grammar

Public speech makes grammar audible. A speaker must identify the audience, build a long sentence that listeners can still follow, and place emotionally important material where it will land. This excerpt from Zamenhof's opening address to the first Universal Congress in Boulogne-sur-Mer on 5 August 1905 shows those tasks being handled through vocatives, apposition, balanced phrases, and marked predicate-first clauses.

The passage is public domain and is attested in the 1905 printed text and later collections. The wording below follows Tekstaro's source-restored transcription, checked against the published speech. It combines two short passages from the opening, with the omission explicitly marked; historical courtesy capitals and pro la nomo de, which is not the usual modern collocation, are retained.

The complete excerpt

Estimataj Sinjorinoj kaj Sinjoroj!
Mi salutas vin, karaj samideanoj, fratoj kaj fratinoj el la granda tutmonda homa familio, kiuj kunvenis el landoj proksimaj kaj malproksimaj, el la plej diversaj regnoj de la mondo, por frate premi al si reciproke la manojn pro la nomo de granda ideo, kiu ĉiujn nin ligas.
[…]
Sankta estas por ni la hodiaŭa tago. Modesta estas nia kunveno.

In compact English: “Esteemed ladies and gentlemen! I greet you, dear fellow idealists, brothers and sisters of the great worldwide human family, who have gathered from countries near and far, from the most diverse states of the world, to press one another's hands fraternally in the name of a great idea that binds us all. Sacred for us is this day. Modest is our gathering.” The slightly elevated English mirrors the ceremonial register; it is not a template for ordinary conversation.

Opening the channel: direct address without -n

Estimataj Sinjorinoj kaj Sinjoroj!

Esteemed ladies and gentlemen!

The plural adjective estimataj agrees with the coordinated plural audience Sinjorinoj kaj Sinjoroj. None of these words takes accusative -n, because direct address is outside the subject–predicate structure of the following sentence. English learners often see I address ladies and gentlemen behind the phrase and add -n, but the actual construction is simply a vocative. The source's courtesy capitals are historical editorial style, not morphology; present-day prose normally lowercases common titles here: Estimataj sinjorinoj kaj sinjoroj!

The adjective estimata is a passive participial form historically related to estimi, “to esteem.” In a salutation it is lexicalized as “esteemed” or “dear” and belongs to formal ceremonial or written style. Karaj kongresanoj! is a natural contemporary alternative.

Karaj kongresanoj, bonvenon al la malferma kunsido.

Dear congress participants, welcome to the opening session.

This fresh imitation preserves direct address while using a more current event-specific noun.

Salutas vin and the appositional audience

Mi salutas vin, karaj samideanoj, fratoj kaj fratinoj el la granda tutmonda homa familio.

I greet you, dear fellow idealists, brothers and sisters of the great worldwide human family.

Now vin does take -n, because it is the direct object of salutas. Everything between the commas renames that same vin. The nouns in this appositional address remain nominative in form: the phrase functions rhetorically as direct address even though it explains the object.

Samideano is morphologically transparent: sam- “same,” ide- “idea,” and -an- “member/adherent.” Within Esperanto culture it traditionally means a person sharing the Esperanto ideal. It is community-specific and can sound historical or movement-formal outside that setting. Modern speakers also use esperantistoj, kongresanoj, or geamikoj, depending on the relationship intended.

The sequence karaj samideanoj, fratoj kaj fratinoj expands rather than merely repeats. First the audience shares an idea; then the metaphor of kinship intensifies solidarity. That rhetorical progression is culturally situated in the early movement's ideal of international human fellowship.

Mi salutas vin, karaj kolegoj, kunlaborantoj el multaj landoj.

I greet you, dear colleagues, collaborators from many countries.

Keeping a long relative chain trackable

Kiuj kunvenis el landoj proksimaj kaj malproksimaj, el la plej diversaj regnoj de la mondo.

Who gathered from countries near and far, from the most diverse states of the world.

The relative pronoun kiuj resumes the plural human audience and is the subject of kunvenis, so it has -j but no -n. Two parallel el phrases then name origin. In landoj proksimaj kaj malproksimaj, the adjectives follow the noun. That order gives the paired contrast more audible weight than neutral proksimaj kaj malproksimaj landoj would.

This line is not an independent sentence in the source; it depends on samideanoj ... kiuj. It is shown separately only for analysis. Reading by punctuation and relative markers prevents the common error of treating kiuj as the object of kunvenis.

Ni dankas la volontulojn, kiuj venis el urboj grandaj kaj malgrandaj.

We thank the volunteers who came from cities large and small.

The imitation uses the same relative architecture and postposed balanced adjectives.

Purpose and reciprocity

Por frate premi al si reciproke la manojn.

In order to press one another's hands fraternally.

Por + infinitive states the purpose of gathering. Frate is an -e adverb, so it modifies the manner of premi; it does not describe manojn. The phrase al si reciproke distributes the action among the plural participants: each extends the gesture toward the others. In contemporary prose, reciproke premi al si la manojn or simply reciproke manpremi may be easier to process.

The reflexive si refers back to the plural subject of the infinitive, understood from kiuj. It does not mean the speaker. The plural object la manojn receives -n because the hands are what participants press or clasp.

La delegitoj kunvenis por reciproke prezenti siajn proponojn.

The delegates met in order to present their proposals to one another.

This fresh sentence retains purpose and reciprocity without imitating the historical hand-clasp image.

Pro la nomo and a second relative clause

Pro la nomo de granda ideo, kiu ĉiujn nin ligas.

In the name of a great idea that binds us all.

The source has pro la nomo de. Modern neutral Esperanto normally uses en la nomo de for “in the name of”; pro ordinarily introduces a cause or motive. Preserve pro when quoting the speech, but do not infer that it is the sole or preferred contemporary pattern.

In kiu ĉiujn nin ligas, kiu refers to singular ideo and is the subject of ligas. The object is emphatic ĉiujn nin: both words carry -n, while ĉiujn foregrounds total inclusion. Neutral kiu ligas nin ĉiujn would express the same roles with a different rhythm.

Ni kunlaboras en la nomo de celo, kiu ligas nin ĉiujn.

We cooperate in the name of a goal that binds us all.

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In a long sentence, locate every finite verb—salutas, kunvenis, ligas—and assign each its own subject. The relative endings then stop looking ornamental: kiuj belongs with the gathered people, while kiu belongs with the singular idea.

Predicate first: ceremonial evaluation

Sankta estas por ni la hodiaŭa tago.

Sacred for us is the present day.

Modesta estas nia kunveno.

Modest is our gathering.

Neutral prose would normally say La hodiaŭa tago estas sankta por ni and Nia kunveno estas modesta. By fronting sankta and modesta, the speaker makes the evaluation arrive first. The two matching clauses create cadence: elevated importance is followed by material modesty. This is literary and ceremonial ordering, fully grammatical but marked.

Grava estas nia celo, sed limigitaj estas niaj rimedoj.

Important is our goal, but limited are our resources.

The imitation deliberately preserves the parallel rhetoric. In a routine report, prefer the neutral order Nia celo estas grava, sed niaj rimedoj estas limigitaj.

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Marked order is meaningful only against a neutral alternative. Before copying a rhetorical line, rewrite it in neutral order and ask what the fronted element gains: contrast, cadence, or emotional prominence.

Norm, variation, and historical voice

The agreement endings, accusative objects, relative-pronoun roles, por + infinitive, and flexible constituent order all follow the foundational system. Postposed adjectives and predicate-first clauses are accepted stylistic choices. The strongly fraternal vocabulary and the collocation pro la nomo de are attested features of this historical speech, not universal present-day norms.

Pedagogically, imitate the architecture—clear vocative, recoverable relatives, balanced phrases—before imitating the period vocabulary. A contemporary international audience may understand karaj kongresanoj faster than karaj samideanoj, fratoj kaj fratinoj. Historical fidelity belongs in quotation; present-day clarity belongs in your own speech.

Compare the full systems described under vocatives and direct address and rhythm-driven ordering.

Key Takeaways

Direct address has no accusative ending, but vin as the object of salutas does.
Long ceremonial sentences remain parseable when each relative pronoun has a clear antecedent and clause role.
Predicate-first order creates emphasis and cadence; it is a rhetorical choice, not the neutral default.

Common Mistakes

Giving a vocative an accusative ending

❌ Estimatajn sinjorinojn kaj sinjorojn!

Incorrect—the audience being addressed is not a direct object.

✅ Karaj sinjorinoj kaj sinjoroj!

Dear ladies and gentlemen!

Omitting -n from the true object

❌ Mi salutas vi, karaj kolegoj.

Incorrect—vi is the object of salutas.

✅ Mi salutas vin, karaj kolegoj.

I greet you, dear colleagues.

Choosing the relative pronoun from English word order

❌ La gastoj, kiun kunvenis el multaj landoj, eniris la salonon.

Incorrect—the plural guests are the subject of kunvenis, so use kiuj.

✅ La gastoj, kiuj kunvenis el multaj landoj, eniris la salonon.

The guests, who gathered from many countries, entered the hall.

Treating historical phrasing as mandatory modern usage

Ni parolas pro la nomo de la komitato.

Historically interpretable, but marked and not the neutral modern way to say ‘in the name of the committee.’

✅ Ni parolas en la nomo de la komitato.

We speak in the name of the committee.

Losing agreement while fronting the predicate

❌ Gravaj estas nia celo.

Incorrect—the fronted predicate adjective must agree with the singular subject celo.

✅ Grava estas nia celo.

Important is our goal.

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