Ni vidis strangan rokon.

to see

Breakdown of Ni vidis strangan rokon.

• ni: we
• roko: the rock; rock mass
• stranga: strange; odd

Questions & Answers about Ni vidis strangan rokon.

What does vidis mean, and why does it end in -is?

Vidis is the past-tense form of vidi, which means to see.

In Esperanto, verb endings are very regular:

• -as = present tense
• -is = past tense
• -os = future tense

So:

• vidas = see / am seeing
• vidis = saw
• vidos = will see

That makes Ni vidis mean we saw.

Why do strangan and rokon both end in -n?

They both have -n because they are part of the direct object.

In Esperanto, the direct object usually takes the accusative ending -n.

Here:

• roko = a rock
• rokon = a rock, as the direct object

Since strangan describes rokon, the adjective must match the noun. That means it also takes -n:

• stranga roko = a strange rock
• strangan rokon = a strange rock, as the object

So the sentence literally has:

• Ni = we
• vidis = saw
• strangan rokon = a strange rock