La ĵetkubo estas apud la blua ludpeco.

Because la is the Esperanto definite article, meaning the.

In this sentence, both noun phrases are definite:

• la ĵetkubo = the die
• la blua ludpeco = the blue game piece

Esperanto normally uses la whenever you mean a specific thing or things already identifiable from context. Unlike English, la never changes form.

Ĵetkubo is a compound word:

• ĵeti = to throw
• kubo = cube

So ĵetkubo literally means something like throw-cube, which is the normal Esperanto word for die.

This is very common in Esperanto: smaller meaningful parts are combined into a single word.

Related forms:

• ĵetkubo = one die
• ĵetkuboj = dice

Estas means is / are / am depending on context. It is the present tense of esti = to be.

One helpful thing about Esperanto is that verbs do not change according to the subject:

• mi estas = I am
• vi estas = you are
• li estas = he is
• ili estas = they are

So in this sentence, estas simply means is because the subject is singular: la ĵetkubo.

Apud means next to, beside, or by.

It shows position near something, usually very close to it. In this sentence:

• apud la blua ludpeco = next to the blue game piece

It is a preposition, so it comes before the noun phrase it relates to.

Because blua is an adjective, and adjectives in Esperanto end in -a.

• blua = blue
• bluo = blueness / the color blue as a noun

Here, blue describes ludpeco, so you need the adjective form:

• blua ludpeco = blue game piece

Not:

• bluo ludpeco ✘

Because adjectives usually come before the noun in Esperanto, just as they often do in English:

• blua ludpeco = blue game piece

However, Esperanto is a bit more flexible than English, and sometimes adjectives can come after the noun:

• ludpeco blua

That is less neutral here, though. The normal, straightforward order is:

• blua ludpeco

In Esperanto, adjectives agree with the noun they describe in number and case, not in word order.

Here, ludpeco is:

• singular
• not accusative

So the adjective is also:

• singular
• not accusative

That gives:

• blua ludpeco

If it were plural, you would get:

• bluaj ludpecoj = blue game pieces

If it were accusative, you would get:

• bluan ludpecon

And if both plural and accusative:

• bluajn ludpecojn

Because there is no direct object here, and the sentence describes a static location, not motion toward somewhere.

The structure is:

• La ĵetkubo = subject
• estas = verb
• apud la blua ludpeco = prepositional phrase

So there is no direct object that would need -n.

Also, apud here describes location: the die is already next to the piece.

A learner might compare this with a motion idea such as moving something to a place next to another object. In that kind of sentence, Esperanto may use -n to show direction.

Ludpeco is also a compound word:

• ludo = game
• peco = piece

So ludpeco literally means game piece.

This is another very typical Esperanto pattern: combine simple roots to make a clear new word.

A useful approximation is:

• ĵ sounds like the s in measure or the zh sound in vision
• e is like e in bed, but clearer and steadier
• j sounds like English y
• stress in Esperanto falls on the second-to-last syllable

So:

• ĵetkubo is pronounced roughly zhet-KOO-bo

The stress is on ku.

Roughly:

• lud = lood
• pe = peh
• co = tso

So:

• ludpeco ≈ lood-PEH-tso

Again, the stress is on the second-to-last syllable:

• ludPEco

The special letter here is ĵ.

It represents the zh sound, like:

• s in measure
• g in genre for many speakers

So:

• ĵeti
• ĵetkubo

both begin with that zh sound.

Esperanto’s accented letters each have one regular pronunciation, which makes reading easier once you learn them.

The given order is the most neutral one:

• La ĵetkubo estas apud la blua ludpeco.

But Esperanto word order is fairly flexible because endings show grammatical roles clearly. For example, you could also say:

• Apud la blua ludpeco estas la ĵetkubo.

That still means essentially the same thing, but it shifts the emphasis a bit toward the location.

For a beginner, the original order is the safest and most natural.

Yes. Because both noun phrases use la, the sentence refers to specific, identifiable objects:

• the die
• the blue game piece

If you removed la, the meaning would become less definite, depending on context.

So the sentence is not talking about dice and game pieces in general; it is talking about particular ones.