Mi laboras tage en la oficejo.

I work during the day in the office.

Breakdown of Mi laboras tage en la oficejo.

• mi: I
• la: the
• en: in
• labori: to work
• oficejo: the office
• tage: per day

Questions & Answers about Mi laboras tage en la oficejo.

What exactly does laboras mean in terms of tense? Does it mean “work” or “am working”?

Laboras is the present tense of the verb labori (“to work”).

In Esperanto, the present tense (-as) covers both:

• English simple present: I work (in the daytime in the office).
• English present continuous: I am working (in the daytime in the office).

Context decides which translation sounds better in English, but Esperanto itself doesn’t distinguish those two aspects here.

How is laboras formed from the dictionary form of the verb?

Esperanto verbs all end in -i in the dictionary (infinitive) form:

• labori = to work

To make the present tense, you replace -i with -as:

• labori → laboras = (I/you/he/etc.) work / am working

The ending -as is the same for all persons (I, you, he, we, they).
The subject mi tells you it means I work.

Why is it tage and not tago or la tago?

• tago = day (a noun)
• la tago = the day
• tage = by day / in the daytime / during the day (an adverb)

In this sentence, tage describes when the action happens, so it functions as an adverb of time.
In Esperanto, adverbs usually end in -e, so tago → tage means “in a day-like way,” which in practice is “by day / during the day.”

Using tago (without ending change) would not be correct here, because that would just be the noun day, not an adverb.

What part of speech is tage, and how is it made from tago?

Tage is an adverb.

Esperanto builds adverbs by taking the adjective or noun stem and adding -e:

• bela (beautiful) → bele (beautifully)
• rapida (quick) → rapide (quickly)
• tago (day) → tage (by day / in the daytime)

So tage is “in a day-ish manner,” used to say when you work.

What is the difference between tage and dum la tago?

Both can describe when you work, but there are slight nuances:

• Mi laboras tage
  Focuses on “by day / in the daytime (generally)”, often in contrast to nights.
  It sounds short and adverbial, almost like a general characteristic: I’m a daytime worker.

• Mi laboras dum la tago
  Literally: I work during the day.
  Slightly more concrete and phrase-like; it emphasizes the period of time more explicitly.

They are usually interchangeable in everyday speech, but tage is more compact and idiomatic for a general habit.

Why does oficejo have la, but tage doesn’t have any article?

Because they play different roles:

• oficejo is a noun (“office”), so it can take the definite article la:
  • en la oficejo = in the office
• tage is an adverb, not a noun, so it never takes articles:
  • you can’t say la tage; that would be ungrammatical.

In Esperanto, only nouns take articles (la). Adverbs (like tage, hodiaŭ, morgaŭ) do not.

Could I omit la and just say Mi laboras tage en oficejo? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can omit la, but the meaning shifts slightly:

• en la oficejo = in the office
  A specific, identifiable office (for example, my office or the one we both know about).

• en oficejo = in an office / in some office environment
  More indefinite and general. It doesn’t point to one particular office that speaker and listener already have in mind.

So:

• Mi laboras tage en la oficejo. → I work (by day) in the office (you know which one).
• Mi laboras tage en oficejo. → I work (by day) in an office (not specified which).

Why is it en la oficejo and not ĉe la oficejo? What is the difference between en and ĉe here?

• en means in, inside.
• ĉe means roughly at, by, at the place of.

So:

• en la oficejo = in the office (inside the office space)
  This is what you use if you physically work inside that office.

• ĉe la oficejo could mean at the office (at its location), e.g. standing by the building, and is more often used with people or organizations:

  • Mi laboras ĉe banko. = I work at a bank (as my employer).
  • Mi laboras ĉe firmao X. = I work at company X.

For this concrete, physical location inside where you work, en la oficejo is the normal choice.

Can I change the word order, for example to Tage mi laboras en la oficejo or Mi laboras en la oficejo tage?

Yes. Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, and these are all grammatically correct:

• Mi laboras tage en la oficejo.
• Tage mi laboras en la oficejo.
• Mi tage laboras en la oficejo.
• Mi laboras en la oficejo tage.

The basic meaning is the same, but the emphasis shifts:

• Starting with Tage ( Tage mi laboras… ) highlights when you work.
• Putting tage just before laboras (Mi tage laboras…) slightly ties the “by day” more tightly to the verb, like I do my working by day.
• Putting tage at the end (…en la oficejo tage) can sound like an afterthought or light emphasis on “by day”.

For a neutral, simple sentence, Mi laboras tage en la oficejo is perfectly natural.

Do I always have to say Mi, or can I drop the subject pronoun like in Spanish?

In standard Esperanto, you keep the subject pronoun:

• Mi laboras tage en la oficejo. = correct and normal
• Laboras tage en la oficejo. = possible in very informal, telegraphic style, but not normal full-sentence Esperanto.

Esperanto does not generally drop subject pronouns the way Spanish or Italian does. You normally say mi, vi, li, ŝi, ili, ni, oni explicitly.

What does the ending -ejo in oficejo mean? Is oficejo built from something?

Yes. -ejo is a common Esperanto suffix meaning “place associated with X”.

• lerni (to learn) → lernejo = school (a place for learning)
• preĝi (to pray) → preĝejo = place of worship, church
• pagi (to pay) → pagejo = paying point, till (less common)
• ofico (office, duty/position) → oficejo = office (place where that office/work is done)

So oficejo literally means “place of office/work” → office as a location.
You wouldn’t normally use ofico for “office room”; ofico is more like a post or official function, while oficejo is the room/building.

Does oficejo mean any kind of office, like a personal office room, or can it also be an office building or workplace in general?

Oficejo is flexible and can mean:

• An individual office room (your own office),
• An office suite or office premises,
• Or even an office-based workplace in general.

Context usually makes it clear. If needed, you can be more specific:

• mia oficejo = my office
• la ĉefa oficejo = the head office
• oficeja konstruaĵo = office building

How do you pronounce laboras, tage, and oficejo, and where is the stress?

General rules:

• Every vowel is clear and separate: a, e, i, o, u.
• Stress is always on the second-to-last syllable.

So:

• laboras → la-BO-ras

  • la (like la in lava without the v)
  • bo (like bo in bonus)
  • ras (like ras in raster but short)

• tage → TA-ge

  • ta (like ta in taco)
  • ge (like geh; g is always hard, as in go)

• oficejo → o-fi-CE-jo

  • o (like o in or)
  • fi (like fee)
  • ce (pronounced tse; c = ts) ← stressed syllable
  • jo (like yo in yoga; j = y)

So you say: o-fi-TSE-yo.