Breakdown of La infano ploris, kaj mia fratino konsolis ŝin.
kaj
and
infano
the child
mia
my
fratino
the sister
Questions & Answers about La infano ploris, kaj mia fratino konsolis ŝin.
Why is it la infano and not just infano?
La is the definite article, meaning the. So la infano means the child.
If you said just infano, it would mean a child or simply child depending on context. Esperanto has no separate word for a/an.
Why does infano not show whether the child is a boy or a girl?
Because infano is normally gender-neutral. It just means child.
That is very common in Esperanto: many nouns do not automatically tell you the person’s sex. In this sentence, you only find out later that the child is female because of ŝin, which means her.
What does the ending -is mean in ploris and konsolis?
The ending -is marks the past tense in Esperanto.
So:
- ploras = cries / is crying
- ploris = cried / was crying
- konsolas = comforts / is comforting
- konsolis = comforted / was comforting
Esperanto uses the same past-tense ending for all subjects, so there is no change like I cried / she cried / they cried. It is always -is.