La laborintervjuo komenciĝas nun.

In Esperanto, compound ideas are very often written as a single word. Laborintervjuo is made from labor- + intervjuo.

The general pattern is that the main idea comes last, and the earlier part modifies it. So this is literally an interview related to work/job.

This is very normal Esperanto word-building, and it is one of the language’s most useful features.

Because -o is the normal noun ending in Esperanto.

So:

• laborintervjuo = a noun
• laborintervjua would be an adjective form
• laborintervjue would be an adverb form, if needed

In this sentence, the word is the subject, so it appears in its basic noun form: -o.

La is the definite article, so it means the.

Esperanto has only one definite article:

• la

It does not have separate words for a or an. If something is indefinite, Esperanto often just uses the noun without an article.

So:

• la laborintervjuo = the job interview
• laborintervjuo = a job interview or just job interview, depending on context

This is a very common learner question.

Komenci by itself often means to begin/start something or to begin doing something. But when you want to say that something itself begins, Esperanto very often uses komenciĝi.

So:

• Mi komencas la lecionon. = I start the lesson.
• La leciono komenciĝas. = The lesson begins.

In your sentence, the interview is not starting something else. Rather, the interview itself is beginning, so komenciĝas is the natural choice.

The suffix -iĝ- often shows that something comes into a new state or happens by itself / becomes rather than acting on a direct object.

So:

• komenci = to begin, to start
• komenciĝi = to begin, to start happening

You can think of komenciĝas here as something like comes into the state of having begun.

That sounds a bit unnatural in English, but it helps explain why Esperanto uses this form.

No, not exactly.

That is another very common confusion. -iĝ- is not the same as a passive.

• La laborintervjuo komenciĝas. = The interview begins / is starting.
• A true passive would be something like La laborintervjuo estas komencata. = The interview is being started.

The first sentence focuses on the event beginning. The second focuses on someone starting it.

So in your sentence, komenciĝas is better understood as an intransitive begins, not a passive form.

Because Esperanto verbs already include tense in their endings.

Here, -as marks the present tense:

• komenciĝ-as = begins / is beginning

Esperanto does not need a separate verb like English is in this sentence.

Also, Esperanto often uses the simple present where English might prefer a progressive form. So komenciĝas nun can naturally mean both:

• begins now
• is beginning now
• is starting now

depending on context.

Because not every adverb in Esperanto has to use -e.

It is true that -e is the normal adverb ending for many words, but Esperanto also has a number of basic adverbs that are used as they are. Nun is one of them.

So nun simply means now.

Other common adverbs like this include:

• jam = already
• tre = very
• ne = not

So nun is completely normal in this sentence.

Because there is no direct object here.

The subject is la laborintervjuo, and the verb is komenciĝas. The sentence is complete without any object:

• The job interview begins now.

In Esperanto, the accusative -n is usually used for a direct object or sometimes for motion toward something. Neither of those is happening here, so no -n is needed.

The word order is fairly flexible.

La laborintervjuo komenciĝas nun is a very normal order, but these are also possible:

• Nun la laborintervjuo komenciĝas.
• La laborintervjuo nun komenciĝas.

The basic meaning stays the same. The choice mostly affects emphasis and style.

So yes, nun can move around, although the original sentence sounds very natural.

Esperanto stress is very regular: it falls on the second-to-last syllable of each word.

So:

• laborintervjuo → la-bor-in-ter-VJU-o
• komenciĝas → ko-men-CI-ĝas

A rough English-style pronunciation of the whole sentence is:

• lah lah-BOR-in-ter-VYOO-oh koh-men-TSEE-jahs noon

A few useful sound notes:

• c = ts
• ĝ = the j sound in judge
• u = oo

That makes komenciĝas sound roughly like koh-men-TSEE-jahs.