La publiko aplaŭdis la spektaklon.

the

Breakdown of La publiko aplaŭdis la spektaklon.

• publiko: the public; audience
• spektaklo: the show; performance
• aplaŭdi: to applaud

Questions & Answers about La publiko aplaŭdis la spektaklon.

Why is it la publiko and not la publikoj?

Publiko means the public / the audience as a collective group, so it is normally singular in Esperanto.

Even though it refers to many people, Esperanto often treats this kind of word as one group:

• la publiko = the audience, the public
• la homoj = the people, individual persons

So in this sentence, la publiko means the audience as a whole.

Why does spektaklon end in -n?

The -n ending marks the direct object in Esperanto.

Here:

• la publiko = the subject, the one doing the action
• aplaŭdis = applauded
• la spektaklon = the thing being applauded

So la spektaklon gets -n because it receives the action.

Without the -n, the grammar would be incomplete or wrong in standard Esperanto.

Why doesn’t publiko have an -n too?