Ŝi iras rekte tra la placo, kaj la biblioteko estas maldekstre.

In Esperanto, -as marks the present tense. So iras means go / goes / is going, depending on context.

• iri = to go
• iras = go(es), is going
• iris = went
• iros = will go

So Ŝi iras means She goes or She is going.

Rekte is an adverb, and Esperanto adverbs usually end in -e.

Here it describes how she goes:

• rekta = direct, straight (adjective)
• rekte = directly, straight (adverb)

Because it modifies the verb iras, the adverb form is needed:

• Ŝi iras rekte = She goes straight

If you used rekta, it would need to describe a noun instead:

• rekta vojo = a straight/direct road

Tra means through or across, depending on context. It suggests movement from one side of something to another, passing within or across that space.

So:

• tra la placo = through the square / across the square

With an open area like a square or plaza, English often prefers across, but Esperanto still uses tra naturally.

Because after a preposition like tra, Esperanto normally uses the basic noun form without -n.

So:

• la placo = the square
• tra la placo = through/across the square

The -n ending is not used just because there is movement. It is mainly used for:

1. direct objects
2. direction toward something in certain cases

But tra already expresses movement through something, so la placo stays as placo, not placon.

No. Placo does not mean the general English word place.

Placo means a square, plaza, or open public space in a town or city.

This is a very common beginner trap because it looks like English place, but the meanings are different.

If you want the general idea of place, Esperanto often uses:

• loko = place, location

So:

• placo = square / plaza
• loko = place / location

La is the Esperanto word for the.

It is used when the speaker means a specific thing:

• la placo = the square
• la biblioteko = the library

Esperanto has only one definite article, la, and it does not change for gender, number, or case the way articles do in some other languages.

Maldekstre is an adverb, again shown by the ending -e.

It means:

• on the left
• to the left
• leftward, depending on context

In this sentence, it describes location, so:

• la biblioteko estas maldekstre = the library is on the left

Because it is not describing a noun directly, the adverb form is used.

Compare:

• la maldekstra flanko = the left side
  (maldekstra is an adjective)
• ĝi estas maldekstre = it is on the left
  (maldekstre is an adverb)

This is a very common question.

• maldekstre = on the left / to the left as a location
• maldekstren = to the left as a direction

In this sentence, the library is simply being located:

• la biblioteko estas maldekstre = the library is on the left

If someone were turning or moving leftward, then maldekstren could be used:

• Turnu maldekstren = Turn left

So here maldekstre is correct because it describes where the library is, not where something is moving.

Mal- is a very useful Esperanto prefix meaning the opposite of.

So:

• dekstre = on the right
• maldekstre = on the left

This is one of Esperanto’s most characteristic patterns. Instead of learning completely unrelated opposite words, you can often build one from the other with mal-.

More examples:

• bona = good → malbona = bad
• fermi = to close → malfermi = to open
• amiko = friend → malamiko = enemy

Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, although some orders sound more natural than others.

The original sentence:

• Ŝi iras rekte tra la placo

is very natural.

You could also say:

• Ŝi rekte iras tra la placo

but that may sound a little more marked or stylistically different. In ordinary speech, keeping rekte close to the verb is usually easiest and most natural.

So the safest beginner pattern is:

• subject + verb + adverb + other information

The comma separates two clauses:

• Ŝi iras rekte tra la placo
• kaj la biblioteko estas maldekstre

In Esperanto, punctuation is somewhat flexible, but using a comma before kaj to separate two full clauses is common and clear.

You may also see sentences without that comma in some contexts, but here it helps readability.

Ŝi is pronounced approximately like shee in English.

A few details:

• ŝ sounds like English sh
• i sounds like ee

So:

• ŝi ≈ shee

This word means she.

Yes. In natural English, this part can be translated as:

• the library is on the left
• the library is to the left

Both are reasonable depending on context. Esperanto maldekstre is broad enough to cover both kinds of wording.

In Esperanto, nouns normally end in -o.

So:

• biblioteko = library
• placo = square
• flanko = side

This makes it easy to recognize word classes:

• -o = noun
• -a = adjective
• -e = adverb
• -i = infinitive verb

That regularity is one of the main features of Esperanto grammar.