Ili vidas la malamikon.

the

Breakdown of Ili vidas la malamikon.

• vidi: to see
• ili: they
• malamiko: the enemy

Questions & Answers about Ili vidas la malamikon.

Why is the verb vidas and not something different for they?

In Esperanto, verbs do not change according to the subject.

So:

• mi vidas = I see
• vi vidas = you see
• li vidas = he sees
• ili vidas = they see

The ending -as always marks the present tense. That makes Esperanto simpler than English, where we say I see but he sees.

What does ili mean exactly?

Ili means they.

It is the regular third-person plural pronoun and can refer to:

• a group of men
• a group of women
• a mixed group
• a group whose gender is unknown or unimportant

So ili is naturally gender-neutral in the way they often is in English.

Why does malamikon end in -n?