La firmao akiris metalon.

The -n marks the direct object in Esperanto.

In La firmao akiris metalon:

• La firmao = the company → the thing doing the action
• metalon = metal → the thing receiving the action

So metalo becomes metalon because it is what the company acquired.

This is called the accusative ending.

The ending -is shows the past tense in Esperanto.

So:

• akiras = acquires / is acquiring
• akiris = acquired

Esperanto verb endings are very regular:

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

So akiris tells you immediately that the action happened in the past.

Esperanto has la for the, but it has no indefinite article like English a/an.

So:

• la firmao = the company
• firmao = a company / company, depending on context
• metalo = a metal / metal
• metalon = a metal / metal as a direct object

That means Esperanto often leaves indefiniteness unmarked. If there is no la, the noun is usually understood as indefinite or general, depending on context.

Grammatically, metalon is singular and indefinite, so it most naturally means a metal or some metal, depending on context.

Esperanto does not force the same distinction English does between countable and uncountable wording in every case. So metalon could refer to:

• a quantity of metal
• a kind of metal
• a piece/object made of metal, if the context supports that

The exact nuance comes from context, not from the ending alone.

The ending -o marks a noun in Esperanto.

So:

• firmao = company
• metalo = metal

This is one of the most important patterns in Esperanto:

• -o = noun
• -a = adjective
• -e = adverb
• -i = infinitive verb

Because of this system, Esperanto word classes are very easy to recognize.

Yes, Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, partly because the -n on the direct object shows its role.

For example, these can mean the same basic thing:

• La firmao akiris metalon.
• Metalon akiris la firmao.

Both are understandable because metalon has the object marker -n.

That said, subject–verb–object is the most neutral and common order, so La firmao akiris metalon is the most straightforward version.

In this sentence, la firmao is the subject because:

• it does not have the -n ending
• it appears as the thing performing the action
• metalon does have -n, so it is the object

In Esperanto, the accusative -n often makes sentence roles clearer than word order alone does.

Neither. Esperanto nouns do not have grammatical gender the way many European languages do.

So firmao is just a noun meaning company. It is not grammatically masculine, feminine, or neuter in the way nouns are in languages like French or German.

No. Esperanto verbs do not change according to the subject.

So you would say:

• mi akiris = I acquired
• vi akiris = you acquired
• la firmao akiris = the company acquired
• ili akiris = they acquired

The verb form stays the same. Only the subject changes.

It is pronounced roughly ah-KEE-rees.

A few useful pronunciation points:

• a sounds like a in father
• i sounds like ee
• stress in Esperanto normally falls on the second-to-last syllable

So a-ki-ris is stressed on ki: a-KI-ris.