La katido miaŭas nokte.

the

Breakdown of La katido miaŭas nokte.

• nokte: at night
• katido: the kitten
• miaŭi: to meow

Questions & Answers about La katido miaŭas nokte.

Why is katido used here instead of kato?

Katido means kitten, while kato means cat.

It is built from:

• kat- = cat
• -id- = offspring, young one
• -o = noun ending

So katido literally means young cat. This is a very common Esperanto word-building pattern.

What does the ending -as in miaŭas mean?

The ending -as marks the present tense.

So:

• miaŭi = to meow
• miaŭas = meows / is meowing

Esperanto verbs always show tense with a fixed ending:

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

Why does nokte end in -e?