Questions & Answers about La riĉa homo aĉetis novan biciklon.
Why is there la at the beginning?
La is the definite article, like English the. It shows that the speaker has a specific person in mind: la riĉa homo = the rich person.
Esperanto has only one definite article, la, and it never changes form.
Why is there no word for a before novan biciklon?
Esperanto normally has no indefinite article. English distinguishes a bicycle and the bicycle, but Esperanto usually just has:
- biciklo = a bicycle / bicycle
- la biciklo = the bicycle
So novan biciklon naturally means a new bicycle here.
What do the endings -o, -a, and -is mean?