Li portas bandaĝon kaj uzas lambastonon.

The -n ending marks the direct object in Esperanto. These are the things being acted on:

• Li portas bandaĝon = he wears/carries a bandage
• kaj uzas lambastonon = and uses a crutch

So bandaĝo becomes bandaĝon, and lambastono becomes lambastonon, because each noun is the object of a verb.

Li means he.

Si is a special reflexive pronoun, used when the object refers back to the subject, like himself / herself / itself in certain situations. But in this sentence, the subject is simply he, so Esperanto uses li.

• Li portas bandaĝon = He wears a bandage.
• Li lavas sin = He washes himself.

So si would not be used here as the subject pronoun.

Yes. Porti can mean both to carry and to wear, depending on context.

For example:

• porti sakon = to carry a bag
• porti ĉapelon = to wear a hat
• porti bandaĝon = to wear a bandage

In this sentence, wears is the natural meaning.

Esperanto does not use an indefinite article like English a/an.

So:

• bandaĝo can mean a bandage or just bandage, depending on context
• lambastono can mean a crutch

Esperanto does have a definite article: la = the.

So:

• bandaĝon = a bandage
• la bandaĝon would be wrong, because after la the noun still keeps -n, so it would be la bandaĝon only if it is a direct object, but the meaning would be the bandage
• In this sentence, no la is needed because the meaning is indefinite/general

The ending -as marks the present tense in Esperanto.

• uzas = uses / is using
• uzis = used
• uzos = will use

The same is true for portas:

• portas = wears/carries
• portis = wore/carried
• portos = will wear/carry

So the sentence is in the present tense.

Kaj means and.

It connects the two actions:

• portas bandaĝon
• uzas lambastonon

So the sentence literally has the structure:

• He wears a bandage and uses a crutch.

Its position works much like English and.

Yes, Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, especially because the -n ending shows which nouns are objects.

The normal order here is:

• Li portas bandaĝon kaj uzas lambastonon.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, such as:

• Bandaĝon li portas kaj lambastonon uzas.

That said, the original version is the most natural and beginner-friendly. In everyday Esperanto, subject + verb + object is very common.

A rough pronunciation is:

ban-DA-jon

More exactly:

• ban as in bahn
• da as in dah
• ĝ sounds like the j in jam
• o is a pure o sound
• final -n is pronounced

So bandaĝon is approximately bahn-DAH-jon.

A rough pronunciation is:

lahm-bas-TO-non

Breakdown:

• lam = lahm
• bas = bahs
• to = toh
• non = non with a clear n

Stress in Esperanto is always on the second-to-last syllable, so here the stress is on TO:

lam-bas-TO-non

It is singular because the basic noun ending -o is singular:

• lambastono = a crutch
• lambastonoj = crutches

As a direct object:

• lambastonon = a crutch
• lambastonojn = crutches

So this sentence says he uses one crutch, at least grammatically. If you wanted crutches, you would say:

• Li portas bandaĝon kaj uzas lambastonojn.

Yes, bandaĝo normally means a bandage or dressing in the medical sense.

So portas bandaĝon suggests that he has a bandage on his body. It would not usually mean a decorative strip of cloth or something unrelated unless the context made that clear.

Yes. It is a compound word:

• lam = lame
• bastono = stick, cane, staff

So lambastono literally suggests something like a lame-person’s stick, which is why it means crutch.

Compound words are very common in Esperanto, and learning to notice their parts is very helpful.

Grammatically, yes. Porti can mean either carry or wear.

But in normal context, if someone also uses a crutch, then portas bandaĝon will usually be understood as is wearing a bandage rather than is carrying a bandage.

So the exact meaning comes from context, not only from grammar.