Esperanto verbs never change for first, second, or third person, and never change for singular or plural. Mi laboras, ŝi laboras, ni laboras, and ili laboras all use exactly the same verb form. The six endings -i, -as, -is, -os, -us, and -u express non-finite status, time, or mood—not the identity or number of the subject. This makes the rules for expressing the subject especially important.
This invariance is part of the foundational grammar and holds in every register. There are no irregular person paradigms, not even for esti “to be.”
One form across the whole person system
For any finite ending, the verb remains identical while the subject changes.
| Subject | Present | Past | Future | Conditional | Volitive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mi | laboras | laboris | laboros | laborus | laboru |
| vi | laboras | laboris | laboros | laborus | laboru |
| li/ŝi/ĝi | laboras | laboris | laboros | laborus | laboru |
| ni | laboras | laboris | laboros | laborus | laboru |
| ili | laboras | laboris | laboros | laborus | laboru |
Mi laboras hejme, sed mia frato laboras en hospitalo.
I work at home, but my brother works in a hospital.
Ni laboras ĝis la kvina, kaj ili laboras ĝis la sesa.
We work until five, and they work until six.
The shared -as ending means present time in each clause. It is not comparable to English third-person singular -s: Esperanto laboras appears with I, you, she, we, and they alike.
Esti is regular too
English be has am, is, are, was, and were. Esperanto esti follows the same invariant system as every other verb: estas, estis, estos, estus, estu.
Mi estas preta, kaj la infanoj estas pretaj ankaŭ.
I am ready, and the children are ready too.
La ĉambro estis malplena, sed la koridoroj estis plenaj.
The room was empty, but the corridors were full.
In these examples, estas/estis do not change. The predicative adjectives do agree with their subjects: singular preta, malplena versus plural pretaj, plenaj. This is adjective agreement, not verb agreement.
The contrast is visible in a compound passive as well:
La letero estas skribita, kaj la dokumentoj estas subskribitaj.
The letter is written, and the documents are signed.
Finite estas is invariant. Participles ending in -a behave as adjectives here and take plural -j when they describe a plural subject. Keeping those two systems separate prevents the false rule that “nothing in the predicate agrees.”
The subject carries person and number information
Because the verb ending does not identify who acts, an ordinary finite clause normally states or clearly shares its subject. Personal pronouns do not repeat information already encoded in the verb, as they do in languages with rich person conjugation; they supply the person information themselves.
Ŝi venos je la oka, sed ili venos iom poste.
She will come at eight, but they will come a little later.
Without ŝi or ili, venos alone does not reveal singular, plural, or person. Esperanto therefore is not generally a pronoun-dropping language. Subjects can be omitted in direct second-person commands, shared across coordinated verbs, or recovered through genuine ellipsis, but not because a verb form secretly contains person.
Mi malfermis la fenestron kaj fermis la pordon.
I opened the window and closed the door.
Here one expressed mi is shared by malfermis and fermis. This is coordination, not agreement or a special first-person verb ending.
Venu ĉi tien kaj montru al mi la mesaĝon.
Come here and show me the message.
The omitted subject is understood vi because this is a direct volitive command. The two verbs still have the same -u form that would occur with ni, li, or ili if those subjects were expressed.
The six endings divide meaning, not subjects
| Ending | Core contribution | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -i | infinitive, no tense assertion | labori |
| -as | present | laboras |
| -is | past | laboris |
| -os | future | laboros |
| -us | imagined/conditional mood | laborus |
| -u | wanted/volitive mood | laboru |
None of these endings may be followed by noun plural -j or accusative -n. Forms such as *laborasj and *vidisn confuse verb morphology with noun/adjective morphology.
Ĉu vi finis la raporton? — Ne, sed ni finos ĝin morgaŭ.
Did you finish the report? — No, but we'll finish it tomorrow.
Finis and finos contrast time only. The move from vi to ni causes no additional change to the verb.
Valency is independent of agreement
A verb's complements depend on its lexical meaning, not on the person or number of its subject. Doni takes a transferred theme and commonly an al recipient whether the subject is mi, Ana, or ili.
Mi donis la ŝlosilon al Petro, kaj poste ili donis ĝin al la administranto.
I gave the key to Petro, and later they gave it to the administrator.
Both clauses use invariant donis. In each, the object takes -n, and the recipient follows al. Do not compensate for lack of verb agreement by changing object marking; the two systems are unrelated.
Likewise, an intransitive verb stays intransitive with every subject:
La gasto alvenis frue, sed liaj amikoj alvenis malfrue.
The guest arrived early, but his friends arrived late.
Number changes gasto → amikoj and lia → liaj, but alvenis remains unchanged.
Infinitives and participles
The infinitive -i is also invariant: mi volas iri, ni volas iri, ili volas iri. Its understood performer comes from the controlling construction or context, not from an ending on iri.
Ŝi volas resti, sed ŝiaj amikoj volas foriri.
She wants to stay, but her friends want to leave.
Participles require a distinction. The participial core expresses voice and relative time, but an adjectival participle in -a agrees like any adjective: la veninta gasto, la venintaj gastoj. An adverbial participle in -e is invariant. Those are nominal/adjectival patterns around a verb-derived form, not finite person agreement.
English and other source-language traps
English speakers are most likely to misread -s inside -as. Li legas is not built as “third-person lega + s”; -as is one indivisible present ending. Therefore mi legas and ili legas are equally correct.
Do not create person or number agreement through an auxiliary either. Mi estas labori and ili estas labori are not Esperanto present-tense forms; use the invariant laboras. Genuine esti + participle combinations are different: there the participle carries voice and relative time, and an adjectival participle may show plural agreement.
Speakers of languages with extensive conjugation may invent different endings by analogy. Esperanto deliberately does not mark person on the verb. There is no colloquial alternative paradigm and no formal exception.
The simplicity does not mean the subject is optional. In Legas la raporton, context might allow a marked ellipsis, but the verb itself cannot tell whether I, she, or they reads. Neutral prose uses Mi legas la raporton, Ŝi legas..., or an expressed noun subject.
Common Mistakes
Treating -as as third-person singular
❌ Mi labora ĉi tie, sed ŝi laboras hejme.
Incorrect — -as is the present ending with every subject.
✅ Mi laboras ĉi tie, sed ŝi laboras hejme.
I work here, but she works at home.
Adding plural -j to a verb
❌ La infanoj ludasj en la ĝardeno.
Incorrect — plural is expressed by infanoj, not by the finite verb.
✅ La infanoj ludas en la ĝardeno.
The children are playing in the garden.
Making esti agree with person
❌ Mi esto preta, sed ili estas pretaj.
Incorrect — Esperanto has invariant estas for both subjects.
✅ Mi estas preta, sed ili estas pretaj.
I am ready, but they are ready.
Failing to pluralize a predicative adjective
❌ La fenestroj estas malfermita.
Incorrect — the verb is invariant, but the adjective agrees with the plural subject.
✅ La fenestroj estas malfermitaj.
The windows are open.
Omitting the subject because the verb seems sufficient
❌ Venas je la oka.
Incomplete in neutral context — venas does not identify who is coming.
✅ Ŝi venas je la oka.
She is coming at eight.
Key Takeaways
- Esperanto verbs have no person or number agreement, including esti.
- -I, -as, -is, -os, -us, and -u express infinitive status, time, or mood only.
- Subjects normally supply person and number explicitly; limited omission comes from syntax and context.
- Predicative adjectives and adjectival participles can agree in number even though the finite verb does not.
- Verb valency and object marking remain unchanged across all subjects.
Related Topics
- Esperanto Verbs: The Complete SystemA1 — See how six invariant endings express infinitive, tense, conditionality, and volition without person or number conjugation.
- The Present in -ASA1 — Use -as for actual situations in progress, current states, habits, and generally valid statements.
- The Conditional in -USA2 — Learn how invariant -us marks imagined and counterfactual situations, polite distance, and conditions without encoding tense.
- The Volitive in -UB1 — Learn how invariant -u expresses commands, requests, wishes, proposals, purposes, and desired actions in subordinate clauses.
- Expressing the SubjectB1 — Learn how Esperanto expresses subjects with noun phrases, pronouns, clauses, and controlled omission despite invariant verb forms.
- Adjective Agreement in NumberA1 — Learn why Esperanto adjectives take -j when they describe plural people or things, in both noun phrases and predicates.