Mi lernas Esperanton en mia ĉambro.

I learn Esperanto in my room.

Breakdown of Mi lernas Esperanton en mia ĉambro.

• mi: I
• en: in
• lerni: to learn
• Esperanto: Esperanto
• mia: my
• ĉambro: the room

Questions & Answers about Mi lernas Esperanton en mia ĉambro.

Why does Esperanton end in -n in this sentence?

In Esperanto, the ending -n usually marks the accusative case, which is used for the direct object of a verb.

• The basic noun for the language is Esperanto (ending in -o, like most nouns).
• In Mi lernas Esperanton, Esperanton is the thing being learned, so it is the direct object.
• Therefore, we add -n → Esperanton.

Compare:

• Mi lernas Esperanton. – I learn / I am learning Esperanto.
• Esperanto estas facila. – Esperanto is easy. (Here it is not an object, so no -n.)

Why doesn’t ĉambro also have an -n ending?

The -n is not “for all nouns”; it is mainly for direct objects and also used (optionally) for direction.

In Mi lernas Esperanton en mia ĉambro:

• The direct object of lernas is Esperanton, so it gets -n.
• The phrase en mia ĉambro describes where the action happens (location), not what is being learned, so ĉambro is not a direct object.
• Therefore, ĉambro stays in its basic form: ĉambro, not ĉambron.

You would use -n on a place word if you want to show movement towards it:

• Mi eniras mian ĉambron. – I enter my room.
  • Here ĉambron has -n because it marks direction/motion into the room.

Why does Mi lernas mean both “I learn” and “I am learning”?

Esperanto verbs do not mark the difference between simple and continuous aspect like English does.

• The ending -as means simply “present tense”.
• So mi lernas can mean:
  • I learn Esperanto. (in general, habitually)
  • I am learning Esperanto. (right now)

Context usually makes it clear which meaning is intended. Esperanto does not need a form like “I am learning” with esti plus a participle in normal situations.

You can say:

• Mi estas lernanta Esperanton.

But this sounds more like emphasizing the ongoing process (literally “I am in the state of learning Esperanto”) and is less common in everyday speech than just Mi lernas Esperanton.

How do I form other tenses of lernas, like past and future?

Esperanto verbs are very regular. You keep the verb stem lern- and change the ending:

• Present: lernas – I learn / I am learning
  
  • Mi lernas Esperanton.
• Past: lernis – I learned / I was learning
  
  • Mi lernis Esperanton hieraŭ.
• Future: lernos – I will learn / I will be learning
  
  • Mi lernos Esperanton morgaŭ.
• Conditional: lernus – I would learn
  
  • Mi lernus Esperanton, se mi havus tempon.
• Imperative / jussive: lernu – learn! / let (someone) learn
  
  • Lernu Esperanton! – Learn Esperanto!

The infinitive (“to learn”) is lerni.

What exactly does mia mean, and where does it go in the phrase?

Mia means my. It is a possessive pronoun used like an adjective.

• mi = I
• mia = my

It comes before the noun it modifies:

• mia ĉambro – my room
• via ĉambro – your room
• lia ĉambro – his room
• ŝia ĉambro – her room
• ilia ĉambro – their room
• nia ĉambro – our room

In en mia ĉambro, mia is simply “my”, just as in English “in my room”.

Do I need the article la in mia ĉambro? Why not en la mia ĉambro?

When you use a possessive pronoun like mia (my), la (the) is normally not used in front of it if the noun is present.

So:

• en mia ĉambro – in my room ✅
• en la mia ĉambro – sounds wrong / unnatural ❌

However, la can appear with possessives when the noun is omitted and the possessive stands alone:

• Tiu ĉambro estas la mia. – That room is mine.
  (Here, mia is functioning like “mine”, and ĉambro is omitted.)

But in your original sentence, you have the noun ĉambro, so the natural form is simply en mia ĉambro.

Why is Esperanton capitalized, but ĉambro is not?

In Esperanto:

• Names of languages, countries, cities, and people are capitalized:
  • Esperanto, Angla (English), Francio (France), Londono (London), Marko (Mark).
• Ordinary common nouns are not capitalized:
  • ĉambro (room), libro (book), hundo (dog), etc.

So:

• Esperanton is capitalized because it is the name of a language (a proper noun).
• ĉambro is a normal object noun, so it is lowercase.

What is the letter ĉ in ĉambro, and how is it pronounced?

The letter ĉ is a distinct letter in the Esperanto alphabet. It has:

• A circumflex (the little “hat”) over c.
• The sound of ch in English “church”.

So:

• ĉambro is pronounced roughly like “CHAHM-bro”.
  • ĉ = ch (as in church)
  • a = a in father
  • mbro = m-bro, with a clearly pronounced r

Other consonants with a circumflex in Esperanto:

• ĝ – like j in “judge”
• ĥ – like a hard ch in Scottish “loch” (rare in modern usage)
• ĵ – like s in “measure”
• ŝ – like sh in “shoe”

Where is the stress in words like Esperanton and ĉambro?

Esperanto has a fixed stress rule:

The stress is always on the second-to-last (penultimate) syllable.

So:

• Es-pe-RAN-ton → stress on RAN: Es-pe-RAN-ton
• ĈAM-bro → stress on ĈAM (the first syllable here)

More examples:

• MI ler-nas Es-pe-RAN-ton en MI-a ĈAM-bro.
  • MI, LER, RAN, MI, ĈAM are the stressed syllables.

Can I change the word order, for example say En mia ĉambro mi lernas Esperanton?

Yes. Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, because roles like subject and object are shown with endings (especially the -n of the accusative), not by strict position.

All of these are grammatically correct and mean essentially the same thing:

• Mi lernas Esperanton en mia ĉambro.
• En mia ĉambro mi lernas Esperanton.
• Esperanton mi lernas en mia ĉambro.

Differences are mostly about emphasis:

• Starting with En mia ĉambro emphasizes the place.
• Starting with Esperanton emphasizes what you are learning.

For a beginner, it is usually easiest to stick with the straightforward order: Subject – Verb – Object – (other information):

• Mi lernas Esperanton en mia ĉambro.

Could I say Mi studas Esperanton instead of Mi lernas Esperanton?

You can, but there is a slight difference in nuance:

• lerni = to learn (acquire knowledge or a skill that you do not yet have)
  • Mi lernas Esperanton. – I am learning Esperanto (from not knowing it or not knowing it well).
• studi = to study (examine systematically, often more formally or in depth)
  • Mi studas Esperanton. – I am studying Esperanto (perhaps at a higher level or in a more academic way).

In everyday use:

• Beginners usually say Mi lernas Esperanton.
• Advanced learners or researchers might say Mi studas Esperanton, for example:
  • Mi studas la historion de Esperanto. – I study the history of Esperanto.