Ĉe la kruciĝo ni rigardis jen la kompason, jen la itineron.

Ĉe usually means at, by, or near.

So Ĉe la kruciĝo means something like at the intersection / at the crossroads. It tells you the location where the action happened.

A few comparisons:

• ĉe la domo = at/by the house
• ĉe la tablo = at the table
• ĉe la kruciĝo = at the intersection

It does not necessarily mean literally inside something. It is more about being at that place.

Kruciĝo means crossing, intersection, or crossroads.

It is built from the idea of crossing:

• kruc- = cross
• -iĝ- = become, come into a state
• -o = noun ending

So kruciĝo is literally something like a place where things cross / where crossing happens.

For a learner, the important thing is simply that kruciĝo is the normal word for a road intersection or crossroads.

La is the definite article, meaning the.

So la kruciĝo = the intersection.

Esperanto uses la when the speaker has a specific thing in mind, just like English uses the. In context, this probably means a particular intersection the speakers had reached or were talking about.

Rigardi means to look at, while vidi means to see.

That difference matters:

• vidi = to perceive with your eyes
• rigardi = to direct your eyes toward something, to look at it intentionally

So ni rigardis means we looked at. It suggests a deliberate action: they were checking the compass and the itinerary.

The ending -is marks the past tense in Esperanto.

So:

• rigardas = look / are looking
• rigardis = looked
• rigardos = will look

Thus ni rigardis means we looked.

They have -n because they are direct objects of the verb rigardis.

In Esperanto, the thing directly affected by the verb usually gets -n:

• ni rigardis la kompason = we looked at the compass
• ni rigardis la itineron = we looked at the itinerary

Even though English uses looked at, Esperanto still treats the thing looked at as a direct object with -n after rigardi.

So:

• la kompaso = the compass
• la kompason = the compass as direct object

and:

• la itinero = the itinerary/route
• la itineron = the itinerary/route as direct object

Jen ..., jen ... shows alternation: first one thing, then the other, back and forth.

In this sentence, it means something like:

• now the compass, now the itinerary
• first the compass, then the itinerary
• alternately the compass and the itinerary

So the idea is that at the intersection, they kept looking from one to the other.

This is a very common Esperanto pattern.

Examples:

• Jen li ridas, jen li ploras. = Now he laughs, now he cries.
• Jen pluvo, jen suno. = Now rain, now sun.

It is not exactly the same as English either...or. It suggests repeated switching or alternation.

Because the pattern is a pair: jen X, jen Y.

The repetition is what creates the sense of alternation:

• jen la kompason = now the compass
• jen la itineron = now the itinerary

If you used only one jen, the structure would be different. In this sentence, the two jen words work together.

Itinero usually means an itinerary, route, or planned route.

Depending on context, it could refer to:

• a planned route
• a route description
• a travel plan
• sometimes something like a route sheet

In this sentence, it is probably the route they were following, not necessarily a full map.

So la kompason and la itineron together suggest they were navigating: checking the compass and checking the route plan.

Because each item is its own noun phrase:

• la kompason
• la itineron

In Esperanto, when two parallel items are listed like this, each one normally keeps its own article if it needs one.

This is very natural. English often does the same:

• the compass and the itinerary

The word order here is normal and clear:

• Ĉe la kruciĝo = location
• ni = subject
• rigardis = verb
• jen la kompason, jen la itineron = alternating objects

Esperanto word order is fairly flexible because the endings show the grammatical roles, especially the -n on objects. But this sentence uses a very standard order, so it sounds natural and easy to understand.

Because Esperanto rigardi normally takes a direct object without a preposition.

English says:

• look at the compass

But Esperanto says:

• rigardi la kompason

This is a common difference between English and Esperanto. You should learn verbs with their Esperanto patterns, not assume they work exactly like English verbs.

That translation gives the basic meaning, but it misses an important nuance.

The Esperanto jen ..., jen ... does not just mean a simple and. It specifically suggests alternating between the two.

So a better sense would be:

• At the intersection, we looked now at the compass, now at the itinerary.
• At the intersection, we kept glancing between the compass and the itinerary.

So yes, and gives the general idea, but it is less precise than the Esperanto.

Yes, the comma helps show the pairing and rhythm of the jen ..., jen ... structure.

It makes the alternation easier to read:

• jen la kompason, jen la itineron

In practice, punctuation can vary a little, but with paired expressions like this, the comma is very natural and helpful.