Mi sendis vivresumon kaj motivleteron antaŭ la laborintervjuo.

Because they are the direct objects of sendis (sent).

In Esperanto, the direct object usually takes -n:

• Mi sendis vivresumon. = I sent a résumé.
• Mi sendis motivleteron. = I sent a cover letter / motivation letter.

Since both things are being sent, both get -n:

• vivresumon kaj motivleteron

This is one of the most important uses of the accusative ending in Esperanto.

Because -is marks the past tense in Esperanto.

• sendas = send / am sending
• sendis = sent
• sendos = will send

So:

• Mi sendis ... = I sent ...

Esperanto verb endings are very regular, so once you know the tense endings, you can recognize them immediately.

Esperanto has an indefinite article? No. It has only one article: la, which means the.

So:

• vivresumo can mean a résumé or just résumé, depending on context.
• la vivresumo would mean the résumé.

In this sentence:

• Mi sendis vivresumon kaj motivleteron ... simply means I sent a résumé and a cover letter ...

English requires an article more often than Esperanto does, so this is a very common thing for English speakers to notice.

Because antaŭ here is a preposition, and prepositions normally take the nominative, not the accusative.

So:

• antaŭ la laborintervjuo = before the job interview

The -n ending is not used here because la laborintervjuo is not the direct object of the verb. It is part of a prepositional phrase telling when something happened.

A useful comparison:

• Mi sendis la dokumentojn antaŭ la intervjuo. = I sent the documents before the interview.

It is a compound word:

• labor- = work / job
• intervjuo = interview

So:

• laborintervjuo = job interview

Esperanto uses compounds very freely. Instead of needing a completely separate word, you can often build a clear meaning from smaller parts.

It is also a compound word:

• viv- = life
• resumo = summary

So vivresumo literally means life summary, which corresponds to résumé or CV in English.

This is a good example of how Esperanto often forms practical vocabulary in a transparent way.

Yes, in this context motivletero is basically a motivation letter, which is often equivalent to a cover letter in English job-application language.

It breaks down as:

• motiv- = motivation / motive
• letero = letter

Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• cover letter
• letter of motivation
• motivation letter

The word order is fairly natural, but Esperanto word order is more flexible than English because the endings show grammatical roles.

This sentence:

• Mi sendis vivresumon kaj motivleteron antaŭ la laborintervjuo.

could also be rearranged, for example:

• Antaŭ la laborintervjuo mi sendis vivresumon kaj motivleteron.

That version puts more emphasis on before the job interview.

Because vivresumon and motivleteron have -n, you can still tell they are the objects.

Because -n attaches to the nouns (or adjectives/pronouns) that are in the accusative, not to conjunctions like kaj.

So:

• vivresumon = accusative
• kaj = and
• motivleteron = accusative

If there were adjectives modifying the nouns, those adjectives would also take -n:

• Mi sendis bonan vivresumon kaj zorgeme verkitan motivleteron.

In Esperanto, agreement endings go on the words that actually belong to the noun phrase, not on linking words like kaj.

Not exactly. It tells you the action happened before the job interview, but it does not specify how long before.

So it could mean:

• shortly before the interview
• several days before
• weeks before

The phrase antaŭ la laborintervjuo gives a relative time reference, not a precise date or duration.

Yes, you may also encounter CV in practice, especially in international or professional contexts. But vivresumo is a clear Esperanto form built from native elements.

So:

• vivresumo = fully Esperanto-style word
• CV = also understandable in many contexts

A learner will benefit from knowing vivresumo, even if real-world usage sometimes includes international abbreviations.

Using la here often makes sense because the speaker likely has a specific interview in mind: the job interview they were preparing for.

So:

• antaŭ laborintervjuo would sound more like before a job interview
• antaŭ la laborintervjuo means before the job interview, a particular one known from context

Esperanto uses la when something is specific or identifiable, much like English the.