Questions & Answers about Ni konstruis malgrandan muron.
How can I tell what kind of word each Esperanto word is in Ni konstruis malgrandan muron?
Esperanto makes this very regular by using endings:
- ni = pronoun
- konstru-is = verb in the past tense
- malgrand-a-n = adjective
- mur-o-n = noun
Some very important endings here are:
- -o = noun
- -a = adjective
- -is = past-tense verb
- -n = accusative ending, usually marking the direct object
So even before you know all the vocabulary, the endings tell you a lot about the grammar.
Why does konstruis mean a past action?
Because -is is the Esperanto ending for the past tense.
So:
- konstrui = to build
- konstruas = build / is building / are building
- konstruis = built
- konstruos = will build
The root is konstru-, and the tense ending tells you when the action happened. Esperanto verbs do not change for person, so:
- mi konstruis
- vi konstruis
- li konstruis
- ni konstruis
all use the same past-tense ending -is.
Why does muron end in ?