Questions & Answers about La deklivo estas longa.
La is the definite article in Esperanto, equivalent to the in English.
So La deklivo means the slope.
A learner often asks whether Esperanto has both a and the. It does not. Esperanto has only one article: la. There is no separate word for a/an. So:
- deklivo = a slope or slope
- la deklivo = the slope
In Esperanto, nouns end in -o.
So deklivo is a noun because of the -o ending. This is one of the most important patterns in Esperanto. For example:
- domo = house
- arbo = tree
- deklivo = slope
This makes parts of speech very easy to recognize.