Breakdown of Mia telefono ne funkcias en la arbaro.
Questions & Answers about Mia telefono ne funkcias en la arbaro.
Esperanto uses fixed endings to show a word’s role:
- telefono, arbaro end in -o: this marks nouns (phone, forest).
- mia ends in -a: this marks adjectives, including possessive ones (my).
- funkcias ends in -as: this marks a present‑tense verb (works / is working).
So:
- mia (my) + telefono (phone)
- funkcias (works / functions)
- en la arbaro (in the forest)
Mi means “I” (the subject pronoun).
To say “my”, Esperanto uses a special possessive form that behaves like an adjective:
- mi = I
- mia = my
So:
- Mi havas telefonon. = I have a phone.
- Mia telefono… = My phone…
Using mi telefono would sound like “I phone” (and is simply wrong grammar).
Possessive words like mia, via, lia, ŝia, nia, ilia, sia all behave like adjectives in Esperanto.
All adjectives end in -a, so:
- bela domo = a beautiful house
- mia telefono = my phone
If the noun is plural, the adjective also gets -j:
- miaj telefonoj = my phones
The ending -n (accusative) is used mainly for direct objects and for movement toward a place.
Here, mia telefono is the subject, not an object, so it stays in the simple -o form:
- Mia telefono (subject) ne funkcias.
You would use -n in a sentence like:
- Mi havas telefonon. = I have a phone.
(telefonon is the direct object of havas)
You could say that, but it is longer and less natural.
In Esperanto, the verb funkcii already means “to function / to work (properly)”, so:
- Mia telefono ne funkcias.
literally: My phone does not function
= My phone doesn’t work / isn’t working.
The estas + -ant- form is usually reserved for when you want to emphasize the ongoing process of an action, which is unnecessary here. The simple verb funkcias is the normal way to say this.
The ending -as is the present tense in general. It covers both:
- English simple present: doesn’t work
- English present continuous: is not working
Context decides which English translation sounds better. So Mia telefono ne funkcias can mean either, depending on the situation.
The standard place for ne is right before the word it negates, and most often that is the main verb:
- Mia telefono ne funkcias. = My phone does not work.
You could put ne elsewhere for emphasis (more advanced style), but as a learner you should generally place ne immediately before the verb.
La is the definite article, like English “the” (Esperanto doesn’t have an indefinite article like a/an).
- en arbaro = in a forest, in some forest (very general)
- en la arbaro = in the forest (a specific one already known from context, or “the forest” as a concrete place where you are or often go)
In a typical sentence like this, you are talking about a particular forest you’re in, so la arbaro is natural.
With en (in), Esperanto uses -n only when there is movement into a place.
- Mi estas en la arbaro. = I am in the forest. (location, no movement → no -n)
- Mi iras en la arbaron. = I go into the forest. (movement into → -n)
In Mia telefono ne funkcias en la arbaro, we are just talking about where it doesn’t work (location), not a movement into the forest, so the correct form is en la arbaro.
Yes. Esperanto word order is quite flexible because the endings show the roles of words.
All of these are grammatically correct and mean the same:
- Mia telefono ne funkcias en la arbaro.
- En la arbaro mia telefono ne funkcias.
Changing the order can slightly shift the emphasis (e.g. stressing “in the forest” first), but the basic meaning stays the same.
Not really. In Esperanto:
- labori = to work (as a person does a job, makes an effort)
- funkcii = to function, to work (in the technical sense, for machines, systems, etc.)
A phone funkcias or ne funkcias.
A person laboras.
So Mia telefono ne laboras sounds wrong; you should say Mia telefono ne funkcias.