Ni rigardas la televidon kune vespere.

We watch television together in the evening.

Breakdown of Ni rigardas la televidon kune vespere.

• ni: we
• kune: together
• vespere: in the evening
• televido: the television
• rigardi: to look at

Questions & Answers about Ni rigardas la televidon kune vespere.

What tense is rigardas? Does it mean “we watch” or “we are watching”?

Rigardas is the present tense of rigardi (“to look at / to watch”).

In Esperanto, the simple present (-as) usually covers both English:

• “We watch TV (in general).”
• “We are watching TV (right now).”

So Ni rigardas la televidon kune vespere can mean:

• “We watch TV together in the evenings.” (habit) or, in the right context,
• “We are watching TV together this evening.”

The exact nuance comes from context, not from a different verb form.

Why is it rigardas and not vidas?

In Esperanto:

• rigardi = to look at, to watch (an intentional action)
• vidi = to see (to perceive with your eyes)

Watching TV is something you do on purpose, so rigardi (or even more idiomatically spekti) is used.

Compare:

• Ni rigardas la televidon. – We look at / watch the TV.
• Ni vidas la televidon. – We see the TV (it’s in our field of view), but we’re not necessarily watching it as an activity.

So vidas would sound odd here if you mean “watching TV” as an activity.

Why does televidon end with -n?

The -n at the end of televidon marks the accusative case, which in Esperanto is mainly used for the direct object of a verb.

• Ni rigardas… – “We watch…”
• kion? (what?) – la televidon

So:

• Ni rigardas la televidon. – televidon is the thing being watched → it must take -n.

Without -n (la televido), the sentence would be grammatically wrong, because the object of the verb would not be properly marked.

Why is there la in la televidon? Could you also say just televidon?

La is the definite article, like English “the”.

• la televidon – “the television / the TV” (a specific one)
• televidon – “television / TV” in general, without specifying which

Both forms can appear, but they don’t mean exactly the same:

• Ni rigardas la televidon.
  • Often suggests “We are watching the TV set” or some specific TV program/channel.
• Ni rigardas televidon.
  • More like “We watch TV (as an activity).”

Many speakers, when talking about watching TV in general, prefer:

• Ni spektas televidon. – “We watch TV.”

So yes, you can see televidon without la, but it changes the nuance from a specific “the TV” to TV in general.

What exactly does televido mean? Is it the TV set or the broadcasts?

Televido is a noun built from:

• tele- (distance)
• vido (seeing)

In practice:

• televido usually refers to television as a medium (TV as a system or kind of broadcasting).
• televidilo is the TV set (the physical device).

So:

• Ni rigardas televidon. – We watch television (in general).
• Ni rigardas la televidilon. – We look at / watch the TV set itself (for example, to inspect it).

Your sentence Ni rigardas la televidon… is a bit ambiguous: it could mean watching TV as a specific program/channel, or watching the set. Context would clarify it.

Is rigardi la televidon the most natural way to say “watch TV”?

It’s understandable and grammatically correct, but many Esperanto speakers find this more idiomatic:

• Ni spektas televidon.

Spekti is “to watch (a show, film, performance, etc.).” So:

• spekti filmon – to watch a movie
• spekti teatraĵon – to watch a play
• spekti televidon – to watch TV

Rigardi focuses more on the act of looking:

• rigardi fenestron – look at a window
• rigardi la televidilon – look at the TV set

So your sentence is fine, but if you want the very idiomatic “We watch TV together in the evenings,” many would say:

• Ni spektas televidon kune vespere.

Why is kune (“together”) at the end of the verb phrase? Could I say Ni kune rigardas la televidon instead?

Word order in Esperanto is quite flexible. Both are possible:

• Ni rigardas la televidon kune vespere.
• Ni kune rigardas la televidon vespere.

They all basically mean the same thing: “We watch TV together in the evening.”

Some typical positions for kune:

• Ni kune rigardas la televidon.
• Ni rigardas la televidon kune.

Placing kune before or after the verb can add a slight emphasis, but it doesn’t change the core meaning. Beginners are often taught the neutral order: Subject – Verb – Object – (other information), so your sentence follows that pattern (with kune vespere as extra information at the end).

What does kune really modify here—ni or rigardas?

Logically, kune describes how the action is done: it modifies the verb (“we watch together”).

But semantically it concerns the subject: it means that the people in “ni” are together when doing the action.

So you can think of it either as:

• We together watch the TV. or
• We watch the TV together.

Grammatically speaking, it’s an adverb (ending in -e) modifying the verb phrase rather than the pronoun itself.

Why is it vespere and not something like en la vespero?

Vespere is an adverb of time, formed from vespero (evening) + -e (adverb ending).

• vespero – evening (the noun)
• vespere – in the evening / during the evening (adverb)

Using the adverb form is a very common, compact way to express habitual or general time:

• matene – in the morning
• tage – during the day
• nokte – at night
• vespere – in the evening

You can say en la vespero, but:

• vespere sounds more general/habitual: “in the evenings / in the evening (as a general time).”
• en la vespero can sound more like a specific evening or a bit more formal.

For “We watch TV together in the evenings,” vespere is a natural choice.

Why is there no preposition before vespere? In English we say “in the evening”.

In Esperanto, time expressions often appear as adverbs without prepositions, especially when you talk about general or habitual time.

Examples:

• Hodiaŭ ni laboras. – Today we work.
• Morgaŭ mi vojaĝos. – Tomorrow I will travel.
• Matene mi trinkas kafon. – In the morning I drink coffee.
• Vespere ni rigardas la televidon. – In the evening we watch TV.

Because vespere is already an adverb (“in the evening”), you don’t need another word like en in front of it.

Can vespere mean “every evening”, or just “this evening”?

Vespere by itself is usually understood as a general or habitual time:

• Ni rigardas la televidon kune vespere.
  • Most naturally: “We watch TV together in the evenings / in the evening (as a routine).”

If you mean specifically this evening, you might say:

• Ni rigardos la televidon kune ĉi-vespere. – We will watch TV together this evening.

Context still matters, but without ĉi- or future tense, vespere leans toward the habitual meaning.

Does Ni rigardas la televidon kune vespere sound more like a general habit or a specific event?

As written, it most naturally suggests a habitual action:

• “We (usually) watch TV together in the evenings.”

Reasons:

• Present tense -as (often used for habits).
• The adverb of time vespere, which in this position commonly refers to a general time of day.

To make it clearly one specific occasion, you’d normally add something like:

• Hodiaŭ vespere ni rigardas la televidon kune. – This evening we are watching TV together.