La teritorio estas granda.

to be

Breakdown of La teritorio estas granda.

• la: the
• granda: large
• teritorio: the territory

Questions & Answers about La teritorio estas granda.

What does la mean, and why is it used here?

La is the Esperanto definite article, equivalent to the in English.

So la teritorio means the territory, not just a territory or territory in general.

A useful point for English speakers: la never changes. It does not have different forms for:

• singular vs. plural
• masculine vs. feminine
• different cases

It is always just la.

Why does teritorio end in -o?

In Esperanto, nouns normally end in -o.

So:

• teritori- = the root
• -o = noun ending

That tells you immediately that teritorio is a noun.

This is one of the most helpful features of Esperanto: word endings clearly show the part of speech.

Is teritorio basically the same word as English territory?

Yes. Teritorio is a very transparent cognate for an English speaker.

Many Esperanto words are built from roots that look familiar if you know English, especially words of Latin or Romance origin. Here:

• English: territory
• Esperanto: teritorio

The Esperanto form follows regular spelling and noun formation rules.