Socialaj servoj gravas.

to be important

Breakdown of Socialaj servoj gravas.

• servo: the service
• sociala: social (welfare-related)

Questions & Answers about Socialaj servoj gravas.

Why does servoj end in -oj?

Because -o is the basic noun ending in Esperanto, and -j marks the plural.

So:

• servo = a service
• servoj = services

The ending -oj is just -o + j.

Why does socialaj end in -aj?

Because socialaj is an adjective describing servoj, and Esperanto adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe.

Here is the pattern:

• sociala servo = a social service
• socialaj servoj = social services

So:

• -a = adjective ending
• -j = plural

Since servoj is plural, socialaj also has to be plural.

What does gravas mean grammatically?

gravas is a verb in the present tense.

• -as = present tense
• the verb is gravi

So gravas means is important / are important / matters, depending on context.

Esperanto verbs do not change form for singular vs. plural subjects, so:

• ĝi gravas
• ili gravas

both use gravas.

Why isn’t it gravaj instead of gravas?