Mil homoj vizitis la bufedon.

The ending -j marks the plural in Esperanto.

• homo = a person / a human being
• homoj = people

So mil homoj means a thousand people.

Esperanto uses the same plural ending for nouns and adjectives:

• homo → homoj
• bona homo → bonaj homoj

In this sentence, homoj is plural because the subject is more than one person.

Mil is the normal numeral thousand. In Esperanto, numerals like unu, du, tri, cent, mil usually go directly before the noun:

• tri libroj = three books
• cent homoj = one hundred people
• mil homoj = one thousand people

So mil homoj is the standard form here.

By contrast, words like miliono and miliardo are nouns, so they usually take da:

• miliono da homoj = a million people

So the contrast is:

• mil homoj = correct
• miliono da homoj = correct

Yes, you can, but mil homoj is usually enough.

Both can mean:

• mil homoj = a thousand people
• unu mil homoj = one thousand people

Adding unu can make the number feel more explicit or contrastive, but in ordinary use it is often omitted.

The ending -is marks the past tense in Esperanto.

The verb here is:

• viziti = to visit

So:

• vizitas = visits / is visiting
• vizitis = visited
• vizitos = will visit

That means Mil homoj vizitis la bufedon is in the past: A thousand people visited the buffet.

One nice thing about Esperanto is that verb endings are very regular:

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

The -n ending marks the direct object. This is called the accusative.

In this sentence:

• Mil homoj = the subject, the people who did the action
• vizitis la bufedon = what they visited

So:

• bufedo = buffet
• bufedon = buffet as the direct object

Esperanto often marks the object with -n, which makes sentence structure very clear.

Compare:

• La hundo mordis la katon. = The dog bit the cat.
• La katon mordis la hundo. = The dog bit the cat.

Because katon has -n, it is still the object even if the word order changes.

Because homoj is the subject, not the direct object.

In Mil homoj vizitis la bufedon:

• mil homoj = who did the visiting
• la bufedon = what was visited

Only the direct object gets -n here.

So:

• homoj = subject
• bufedon = object

If homoj had -n, it would change the grammar of the sentence.

La is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• la bufedon = the buffet

It shows that the speaker has a specific buffet in mind.

But Esperanto often does not use any article where English might use a, some, or no article at all. There is no indefinite article like a/an in Esperanto.

So:

• mil homoj = a thousand people / one thousand people
• la bufedon = the buffet

The lack of la before mil homoj means the phrase is not marked as definite. It is just a thousand people, not the thousand people.

Bufedo usually refers to a buffet, and depending on context it can mean things like:

• a buffet meal
• a buffet counter
• a snack bar or refreshment area
• sometimes a sideboard or serving cabinet

In a sentence like this, the exact English translation depends on context. If the meaning has already been given to the learner, then that context decides whether buffet, buffet restaurant, or snack bar is the best translation.

This is normal in language learning: one Esperanto word may cover a range that English divides up differently.

Yes, it can be rearranged more freely than in English, because Esperanto marks the object with -n.

The most neutral order is:

• Mil homoj vizitis la bufedon.

But you could also say:

• La bufedon vizitis mil homoj.

That still means A thousand people visited the buffet, because bufedon is marked as the object.

Even so, the standard subject-verb-object order is usually the easiest and most natural unless you want emphasis.

Because viziti is a normal transitive verb in Esperanto: it takes a direct object.

So you say:

• Mi vizitis la urbon. = I visited the city.
• Ili vizitis la muzeon. = They visited the museum.
• Mil homoj vizitis la bufedon. = A thousand people visited the buffet.

You do not need a preposition before the place being visited. English learners sometimes expect something like to, but Esperanto does not use one here.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• Mil ≈ meel
• homoj ≈ HO-moiy
• vizitis ≈ vee-ZEE-tees
• la ≈ lah
• bufedon ≈ boo-feh-DON

A few useful pronunciation points:

• i sounds like ee
• o sounds like o in a pure, short vowel
• e sounds like eh
• stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable

So:

• HO-moj
• vi-ZI-tis
• bu-FE-don

That regular stress pattern is one of the helpful features of Esperanto.