Mi malfermis la bankkonton ĉe la bankejo.

I

Breakdown of Mi malfermis la bankkonton ĉe la bankejo.

• la: the
• ĉe: at
• malfermi: to open

Questions & Answers about Mi malfermis la bankkonton ĉe la bankejo.

Why does malfermis mean opened when it seems to contain ferm-, which means close?

Because Esperanto often makes opposites with the prefix mal-.

• fermi = to close
• malfermi = to open

So malfermis literally means something like un-closed, but in normal English we translate it as opened. This is a very common Esperanto pattern:

• bona = good → malbona = bad
• granda = big → malgranda = small
• fermi = close → malfermi = open

In this sentence, malfermi bankkonton means to open a bank account, just as in English.

What does the ending -is in malfermis mean?

-is is the Esperanto ending for the past tense.

So:

• malfermas = opens / is opening
• malfermis = opened
• malfermos = will open

Since malfermis ends in -is, the action happened in the past: I opened.

Why does bankkonton end in -n?