La dunganto respondis al mia retpoŝto.

La means the.

So la dunganto means the employer (or the person who hired), referring to a specific employer that is already known from the context.

If you said just dunganto, it would mean an employer / employer in a more general or less specific way.

Examples:

• La dunganto respondis. = The employer replied.
• Dunganto respondis. = An employer replied. / An employer answered.

Dunganto is built from:

• dungi = to hire
• -ant- = a person currently doing the action
• -o = noun ending

So dunganto literally means a person who hires.

In normal English, that is usually employer.

This is a very common Esperanto pattern:

• lernanto = learner, student
• parolanto = speaker
• helpanto = helper
• dunganto = employer

The opposite is:

• dungito = employee

because -it- often refers to someone affected by the action.

Respondis is the past tense form of respondi = to reply / to answer.

Esperanto verb endings are very regular:

• -as = present
• -is = past
• -os = future
• -us = conditional
• -u = command / jussive
• -i = infinitive

So:

• respondas = replies / is replying
• respondis = replied
• respondos = will reply

In your sentence, respondis shows that the reply already happened.

Because in Esperanto, respondi normally takes al before the person or thing being replied to.

So you say:

• respondi al iu = to reply to someone
• respondi al demando = to answer a question
• respondi al retpoŝto = to reply to an email

This is one of the most important things to notice in the sentence.

English often says answer an email, with no preposition, but Esperanto usually says respondi al retpoŝto.

So:

• La dunganto respondis al mia retpoŝto. = The employer replied to my email.

Because retpoŝto comes after the preposition al.

In Esperanto, nouns after a preposition normally do not take the -n ending.

So:

• al mia retpoŝto = to my email
• not al mian retpoŝton

The -n ending is mainly used for a direct object or for motion toward something in certain cases.

Here, mia retpoŝto is part of the prepositional phrase al mia retpoŝto, so no -n is used.

Normally, no — not if you mean replied to my email.

The usual Esperanto structure is:

• respondi al io/iu = reply to something/someone

So the standard sentence is:

• La dunganto respondis al mia retpoŝto.

If you remove al and use mian retpoŝton, it sounds wrong for this meaning.

A useful rule to remember is:

• English: answer an email
• Esperanto: respondi al retpoŝto

Retpoŝto means email.

It is a compound word:

• reto = network, internet
• poŝto = mail, post

So retpoŝto is literally internet mail.

Esperanto makes a lot of vocabulary this way, by combining clear pieces.

Related words:

• retadreso = internet address, web address
• retejo = website
• retumi = browse the internet / be online

In many contexts, it can mean either answer or reply.

But in a sentence like this one, English usually sounds most natural with reply:

• La dunganto respondis al mia retpoŝto.
• The employer replied to my email.

If you translate it as answered my email, the meaning is still understandable in English, but Esperanto keeps the structure with al, so replied to matches the grammar better.

Mia means my.

It is a possessive adjective, and it describes retpoŝto.

So:

• mia retpoŝto = my email

Other possessives work the same way:

• via retpoŝto = your email
• lia retpoŝto = his email
• ŝia retpoŝto = her email
• nia retpoŝto = our email

Notice that mia does not change here, because the noun is not plural and is not taking -n.

Yes. Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, because grammar endings and prepositions show the relationships clearly.

The most neutral order is:

• La dunganto respondis al mia retpoŝto.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Al mia retpoŝto respondis la dunganto.
• Respondis la dunganto al mia retpoŝto.

These are grammatical, but they sound more marked or stylistic. A beginner should usually stick with the neutral order:

• subject + verb + prepositional phrase

A rough pronunciation guide:

• retpoŝto ≈ ret-POSHT-oh
• respondis ≈ res-PON-dees

A few helpful points:

• ŝ sounds like English sh
• stress in Esperanto is almost always on the second-to-last syllable

So:

• ret-POŜ-to
• re-SPON-dis
• dun-GAN-to

That regular stress pattern makes Esperanto pronunciation much easier to predict than English.