Learn Hardcore Esperanto: Sabate mi ne laboras en la oficejo. - On Saturdays I do not work in the office.

So Sabate mi ne laboras… literally means “Saturday‑ly I do not work …”, i.e. “On Saturdays I don’t work …” or “On Saturday I don’t work …” in a habitual sense.

Putting the -e on a day of the week is the normal way to say “on [day]” in general:

Lunde mi studas. – I study on Mondays.
Dimanĉe li vizitas siajn gepatrojn. – On Sundays he visits his parents.

Could I say En sabato mi ne laboras instead of Sabate mi ne laboras?

You can say En sabato or en sabatoj, but the nuance is different and it’s less idiomatic for a general habit.

Sabate mi ne laboras. – Natural way to say “I don’t work on Saturdays (as a rule).”
En sabato mi ne laboras. – Literally “in Saturday I do not work”; grammatical, but sounds a bit stiff or unusual for a standing rule.
En sabatoj mi ne laboras. – “On Saturdays I don’t work”, clearer than en sabato, but still less common than the simple adverb sabate.

For general, habitual statements about days of the week, prefer:

Sabate / lunde / marde …

What’s the difference between Sabate and Sabaton?

Both can relate to time, but they’re used differently:

Sabate (adverb) – says when something (habitually) happens, in a general / repeated sense:
- Sabate mi ne laboras. – I don’t work on Saturdays (as a rule).
Sabaton (accusative of time) – typically means for (the duration of) Saturday or this/that specific Saturday, often with a more concrete, one‑time reference:
- Ĉi sabaton mi ne laboros. – I won’t work this Saturday.
- Mi restos hejme la tutan sabaton. – I’ll stay home all Saturday.

So:

General habit: sabate
A particular Saturday or the duration of Saturday: often sabaton (usually with ĉi, pasintan, venontan, la tutan, etc.)

Why is it mi ne laboras and not mi laboras ne?

In Esperanto, ne normally comes right before what it negates. In simple sentences, that’s usually the verb:

Mi ne laboras. – I do not work.
Mi ne manĝis. – I did not eat.

You can move ne for emphasis, but it changes what you’re negating:

Mi laboras ne en la oficejo, sed hejme.
- Here, ne negates “en la oficejo” (not in the office, but at home).
Ne mi laboras, sed li.
- Now ne negates mi = it’s not I who work, but he does.

In the original sentence, the intended meaning is simply “I do not work”, so mi ne laboras is the normal word order.

Why is it en la oficejo and not just en oficejo?

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

en la oficejo – in the office (a specific, known office, typically “my” or “our” usual workplace)
en oficejo – in an office (some office or other, not specifically identified)

In this context, we normally mean the person’s usual workplace, which is specific and known from context, so Esperanto uses la:

Sabate mi ne laboras en la oficejo.
- On Saturdays I don’t work in the office (i.e. at my job site).

If you really meant “in some office, unspecified”, then en oficejo would be possible, but that’s not the usual everyday meaning here.

Could I say ĉe la oficejo instead of en la oficejo?

You could, but the meaning shifts slightly:

en la oficejo = inside the office, physically in the office space.
ĉe la oficejo = at the office, near or at that location, not necessarily indoors, but associated with that place.

In practice:

For working in an office building, en la oficejo is more straightforward.
ĉe la oficejo can emphasize the general location: at the office premises, possibly inside, at the door, somewhere around there.

For the usual “I don’t work in/at the office on Saturdays”, en la oficejo is idiomatic and clear.

What does oficejo literally mean, and how is it formed?

Esperanto builds words from roots and endings:

ofic- – root related to office / duty / official function
-ejo – suffix meaning place associated with [root]

So:

oficejo = the place where office work is done → office (as a workplace).

Related examples with -ejo:

lernejo (lern- + -ejo) – school, place of learning.
dormejo (dorm- + -ejo) – dormitory, sleeping place.
preĝejo (preĝ- + -ejo) – church (building), place of praying.

That’s why it’s oficejo, not something like ofico (which would mean an office/position/role, not necessarily a physical room).

Is the word order fixed, or can I move parts around, like Mi sabate ne laboras en la oficejo?

Esperanto word order is relatively flexible; endings (like -as, -o, -e) show the grammar. So several orders are possible and grammatical, with slight emphasis changes:

Sabate mi ne laboras en la oficejo.
Neutral: time first, then the statement.
Mi sabate ne laboras en la oficejo.
Emphasizes mi a bit more (it’s I who, on Saturdays, don’t work in the office).
Mi ne laboras sabate en la oficejo.
Still fine; sabate is just later in the sentence.
En la oficejo mi sabate ne laboras.
Strong emphasis on in the office (maybe implying you do work elsewhere).

All of these are correct Esperanto. The original order (time first) is very typical and natural:

Sabate mi ne laboras en la oficejo.

Do day names like Sabato / sabato have to be capitalized in Esperanto?

Usage varies somewhat, but both of these are seen:

Sabato – with a capital letter, like English Saturday.
sabato – with a lowercase letter, treating it as a common noun.

Traditional usage (and many textbooks) often capitalize days and months, but modern practice increasingly allows or prefers lowercase. In your sentence, Sabate appears at the beginning, so it’s capitalized anyway.

So:

Sabate mi ne laboras… is fine.
In the middle of a sentence, you’ll see both lunde and Lunde in real texts.

How do I pronounce Sabate mi ne laboras en la oficejo and where is the stress?

Every Esperanto word is stressed on the second‑to‑last syllable.

Syllable breakdown and stress:

Sa-BA-te – stress on BA
MI – single syllable (stressed by default)
NE – single syllable
la-BO-ras – stress on BO
EN – single syllable
la – single syllable
o-FI-ce-jo – stress on FI

So you say:

saBAte mi ne laBOras en la oFIcejo

Consonants and vowels are read as in most European languages:

a, e, i, o, u are pure vowels (like in Spanish or Italian).
c in oficejo is like ts in “cats”: o‑FI‑tse‑yo.