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Learn Hardcore Esperanto: La dentisto tenis la injekton. - The dentist held the injection.

Hardcore Esperanto
/Attending a dental appointment
/La dentisto tenis la injekton.

La dentisto tenis la injekton.

La dentisto tenis la injekton.

The dentist held the injection.

Breakdown of La dentisto tenis la injekton.

Questions & Answers about La dentisto tenis la injekton.

Why does injekton end with -n?

The -n marks the direct object in Esperanto.

In this sentence, la dentisto is the one doing the action, and la injekton is the thing being held. So injekto becomes injekton.

la dentisto = the subject
tenis = held
la injekton = the direct object

This -n ending is called the accusative.

Why doesn’t dentisto also have -n?

Because dentisto is the subject, not the direct object.

In Esperanto, the subject normally does not take -n. Only the direct object does.

So:

La dentisto tenis la injekton. = The dentist held the injection.
La injekto tenis la dentiston. would mean the injection held the dentist, because now dentiston has the -n.

What does tenis mean grammatically?

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The ending -is shows the past tense.

So tenis is the past form of teni, meaning to hold.

Some useful verb endings in Esperanto are:

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

So:

tenas = holds / is holding
tenis = held
tenos = will hold

What is the dictionary form of tenis?

The dictionary form is teni.

Esperanto verbs are usually listed in the -i form, which is the infinitive, like English to hold.

So:

teni = to hold
tenis = held

A learner should get used to spotting the root and the tense ending:

root: ten-
past ending: -is

Why is la used twice?

Because both nouns are definite here:

la dentisto = the dentist
la injekton = the injection

Esperanto has only one article: la, which means the.

It does not have a separate word for a/an. So:

dentisto = a dentist / dentist
la dentisto = the dentist

Using la twice is completely normal when both nouns are definite.

Does Esperanto have an indefinite article like a or an?

No. Esperanto has no indefinite article.

So English a dentist is usually just:

dentisto

And English the dentist is:

la dentisto

That means the difference between a dentist and the dentist is shown only by whether la is present.

Does dentisto mean a male dentist?

No. Dentisto is normally gender-neutral.

In modern Esperanto, profession words like dentisto usually refer to a person of that profession without saying anything about gender unless the context makes it clear.

If someone wants to be explicitly feminine, they may use a feminine form such as dentistino.

So:

dentisto = dentist
dentistino = female dentist

But in ordinary usage, dentisto by itself does not force a male meaning.

What does the ending -ist- in dentisto mean?

The element -ist- is a common Esperanto suffix meaning a person associated with a profession, activity, or ideology.

So dentisto can be understood as:

dent- = tooth
-ist- = professional/person involved with
-o = noun ending

So literally, it is something like tooth-professional.

This suffix appears in many words, for example:

pianisto = pianist
artisto = artist
ĵurnalisto = journalist

Can the word order be changed?

Yes, to some extent.

Because Esperanto marks the direct object with -n, word order is more flexible than in English. The normal order here is:

La dentisto tenis la injekton.

But you could also say:

La injekton tenis la dentisto.

That still means The dentist held the injection, because injekton has the object marker -n.

Even so, the usual and most neutral order is still subject + verb + object, especially for beginners.

How is this sentence pronounced?

A simple pronunciation guide is:

la den-TIS-to TE-nis la in-yek-TON

A few helpful points:

Stress in Esperanto is always on the second-to-last syllable.
So:
- dentisto → den-TIS-to
- tenis → TE-nis
- injekton → in-yek-TON

Also:

j is pronounced like English y
e is pronounced like e in get, not like English ee
o is a clear o sound

What is the basic form of injekton?

The basic form is injekto.

Like most Esperanto nouns, it ends in -o. When it becomes the direct object, you add -n:

injekto = injection
injekton = injection, as a direct object

So the change is:

injekto + -n → injekton

Could teni mean something slightly different from English hold?

Yes. Teni often matches English hold, but depending on context it can also mean things like keep, maintain, or grip.

In this sentence, held is the natural meaning. The exact English translation depends on context, but grammatically the Esperanto sentence is straightforward: someone was holding something.

So the key thing for a learner is:

teni is the verb
tenis is its past tense
the object is marked with -n

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