Questions & Answers about La paciento venis por dentokontrolo.
Why is there la at the beginning? Does Esperanto also have a/an?
La is the definite article, meaning the.
Esperanto has no indefinite article, so paciento can mean a patient or patient, depending on context. If you say La paciento, you are referring to a specific patient already known from the situation or conversation.
Why does paciento end in -o?
The ending -o marks a noun in Esperanto.
So paciento means patient as a noun. This is a very regular part of Esperanto grammar:
- -o = noun
- -a = adjective
- -e = adverb
- -i = infinitive verb
Because Esperanto uses these endings consistently, it is easy to recognize the part of speech.
Why is it venis instead of venas or venos?
The ending -is marks the past tense.
So:
- venas = comes / is coming
- venis = came
- venos = will come
In this sentence, venis shows that the patient’s arrival happened in the past.