Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Esperanto: Fremda petanto bezonas vizon. - A foreign applicant needs a visa.

Hardcore Esperanto
/Renewing a passport at a consulate
/Fremda petanto bezonas vizon.

Fremda petanto bezonas vizon.

Word

Fremda petanto bezonas vizon.

Meaning

A foreign applicant needs a visa.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Esperanto

Lesson

Renewing a passport at a consulate

Breakdown of Fremda petanto bezonas vizon.

foreign; unfamiliar

Questions & Answers about Fremda petanto bezonas vizon.

Why does vizon end in -n?

The -n marks the direct object in Esperanto.

In Fremda petanto bezonas vizon, the thing being needed is vizo (visa), so it becomes vizon.

fremda petanto = the subject, the person doing the needing
bezonas = needs
vizon = the object, the thing needed

This -n ending is called the accusative ending.

Compare:

La petanto bezonas vizon. = The applicant needs a visa.
La vizo bezonas petanton. = The visa needs an applicant.
This is odd in meaning, but it shows how the -n helps identify the object.

Why is fremda not changed, but vizo becomes vizon?

Because fremda describes the subject, not the object.

In Esperanto:

adjectives agree with the nouns they describe
nouns and adjectives take -n only if they are in the accusative

Here:

fremda petanto is the subject, so no -n
vizon is the direct object, so it gets -n

If the adjective were describing the object, it would also take -n:

Li bezonas fremdan vizon. = He needs a foreign visa.

So adjective agreement matters. If a noun gets -n or -j, its adjective usually matches.

What kind of word is petanto?

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Esperanto grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Esperanto now

Petanto is built regularly from Esperanto word parts:

pet- = ask for, request, apply for
-ant- = someone doing the action
-o = noun ending

So petanto literally means someone who is requesting/applying.

In practice, it often means applicant.

This is a very common Esperanto pattern:

lernanto = learner, student
parolanto = speaker
laboranto = worker
petanto = requester, applicant

So even if you have never seen petanto before, the ending helps you recognize what kind of word it is.

Why is there no word for a or the?

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

So:

petanto can mean an applicant or just applicant
vizon can mean a visa

Esperanto does have a definite article, la, for the.

So:

Fremda petanto bezonas vizon. = A foreign applicant needs a visa. / The foreign applicant needs a visa.
The context decides.
La fremda petanto bezonas la vizon. = The foreign applicant needs the visa.

This is normal in Esperanto: if something is indefinite, no article is used.

Why does bezonas end in -as?

The ending -as marks the present tense in Esperanto.

So bezonas means needs or is needing.

The tense endings are very regular:

-as = present
-is = past
-os = future
-us = conditional
-u = command/wish

Examples with the same verb:

bezonas = needs
bezonis = needed
bezonos = will need

This regularity is one of the easiest parts of Esperanto grammar.

Can the word order be changed?

Yes. Esperanto word order is fairly flexible because the -n ending shows the object.

The most neutral order is:

Fremda petanto bezonas vizon.

But these are also grammatically possible:

Vizon bezonas fremda petanto.
Bezonas vizon fremda petanto.

They all still mean basically the same thing because vizon is marked as the object.

That said, the usual beginner-friendly order is subject + verb + object, so the original sentence is the most natural neutral version.

Does fremda petanto mean foreign applicant, and is fremda just a normal adjective here?

Yes. Fremda is an ordinary adjective meaning foreign, strange, or not belonging to one’s own group/place, depending on context.

Here it simply modifies petanto:

fremda = foreign
petanto = applicant

So fremda petanto = foreign applicant

It behaves like any regular Esperanto adjective:

singular: fremda petanto
plural: fremdaj petantoj
accusative singular: fremdan petanton
accusative plural: fremdajn petantojn

Why is the adjective placed before the noun? Can it come after?

In Esperanto, adjectives usually come before the noun, as in English:

fremda petanto

But they can also come after the noun:

petanto fremda

That is grammatically possible, though it is less common in ordinary neutral style. For most learners, putting adjectives before nouns is the safest and most natural choice.

So in this sentence, fremda petanto is the standard order.

Is bezoni always followed by a direct object like this?

Usually, yes. Bezoni means to need, and the thing needed is normally a direct object.

So:

Mi bezonas helpon. = I need help.
Ŝi bezonas tempon. = She needs time.
Fremda petanto bezonas vizon. = A foreign applicant needs a visa.

That is why vizo becomes vizon here.

Would the sentence change if there were more than one applicant or more than one visa?

Yes. Esperanto marks plurals with -j, and objects still take -n.

So:

Fremdaj petantoj bezonas vizojn. = Foreign applicants need visas.

Breakdown:

fremdaj = plural adjective
petantoj = plural noun
vizojn = plural direct object

If a word is both plural and accusative, it gets -jn.

Could this sentence mean both A foreign applicant needs a visa and The foreign applicant needs a visa?

Yes. Without la, Esperanto often leaves that distinction to context.

So Fremda petanto bezonas vizon can naturally be understood as:

A foreign applicant needs a visa
The foreign applicant needs a visa

If you specifically want the, use la:

La fremda petanto bezonas vizon.

If you specifically want to emphasize some/one in a context where that matters, Esperanto usually does it through context or added words, not through an indefinite article.

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io