La kato estas bela.

to be

Breakdown of La kato estas bela.

• bela: beautiful
• kato: the cat

Questions & Answers about La kato estas bela.

Why is there a la in La kato estas bela if there's no indefinite article in Esperanto?

Esperanto uses la as the definite article, meaning the. There is no separate word for the indefinite article a, so if you leave out la, it implies a cat in a more general sense rather than the cat.

Why is it kato and not katon?

The ending -n is the accusative marker in Esperanto, typically used for direct objects. In La kato estas bela, the cat is the subject, so there is no need for the accusative ending.

What does -o mean at the end of kato?

In Esperanto, nouns end with -o. This is a standard suffix showing that the word is a noun (like cat).

Why does bela end with -a?

Adjectives in Esperanto end with -a. This shows that bela (meaning beautiful) is describing the noun kato.

Do I always need to use estas between a noun and an adjective?

In copular sentences (where something is something else), you use estas. So if you want to say The cat is beautiful, you need estas between the noun kato and the adjective bela.