Estis necese, ke la dentisto eltiru la muelodonton.

to be

Breakdown of Estis necese, ke la dentisto eltiru la muelodonton.

• la: the
• ke: that
• necesa: necessary

Questions & Answers about Estis necese, ke la dentisto eltiru la muelodonton.

Why does Esperanto say estis necese here instead of something like ĝi estis necesa?

Esperanto often uses an impersonal expression where English would use a dummy subject like it.

So English says:

• It was necessary that...

But Esperanto can simply say:

• Estis necese, ke...

There is no need for a word like English it.

Also, necese is used here because the idea is general and impersonal: it was necessary / it was necessary that... If there were a real noun being described, you would normally use necesa instead:

• La operacio estis necesa. = The operation was necessary.

But in your sentence, there is no real subject noun, so the impersonal pattern estis necese is very natural.

Why is necese ending in -e instead of -a?

The ending -e makes it an adverb, and Esperanto often uses adverbs in expressions like this:

• Estas grave, ke... = It is important that...
• Estis strange, ke... = It was strange that...
• Estis necese, ke... = It was necessary that...

This is a very common Esperanto pattern.

If you used necesa, that would usually describe a noun:

• La eltiro estis necesa. = The extraction was necessary.

So in your sentence, necese does not describe a noun; it helps form an impersonal statement.