Word
Mi kontrolas la fakturon, ĉar foje mi trovas malgrandan eraron en la prezo de trinkaĵo.
Meaning
I check the bill because sometimes I find a small mistake in the price of a drink.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Mi kontrolas la fakturon, ĉar foje mi trovas malgrandan eraron en la prezo de trinkaĵo.
mi
I
la
the
en
in
ĉar
because
Questions & Answers about Mi kontrolas la fakturon, ĉar foje mi trovas malgrandan eraron en la prezo de trinkaĵo.
Why is it Mi kontrolas and not Mi kontrolo or Mi kontrolis?
Kontrolas is the present-tense verb form of kontroli = to check / to inspect.
- mi kontrolas = I check / I am checking
- mi kontrolis = I checked
- kontrolo is not a verb at all; it is a noun meaning a check / an inspection
Esperanto present tense always ends in -as, so kontrolas is the correct form here.
Why does fakturon end in -n?
The -n ending marks the direct object in Esperanto.
In this sentence:
- Mi kontrolas la fakturon
- mi = the subject, the person doing the action
- la fakturon = the thing being checked
So fakturo becomes fakturon because it is the object of kontrolas.
Why is it la fakturon with la? Why not just fakturon?
La means the.
Using la fakturon suggests a specific bill or invoice, not just any bill in general. In a sentence like this, that is very natural: the speaker is checking the bill they have in front of them.
Without la, fakturon would sound more like a bill or bill(s) in general, depending on context.