Questions & Answers about Mi skribis la limdaton en la kalendaro.
Why does skribis end in -is?
In Esperanto, -is marks the past tense.
- skribi = to write
- skribis = wrote / did write
So Mi skribis ... means that the writing happened in the past.
Why does limdaton have an -n at the end?
The -n shows the direct object of the verb.
In this sentence, the thing being written is la limdato (the deadline / due date), so it becomes:
- la limdato → la limdaton
A useful way to think about it:
- Mi skribis = I wrote
- What did I write? → la limdaton
That is why it takes -n.
Why doesn’t kalendaro also take -n?
Because kalendaro is not the direct object here. It is part of the prepositional phrase en la kalendaro.
- la limdaton = direct object
- en la kalendaro = location / place where it was written
Normally, after a preposition like en, you do not add -n unless there is a special reason, such as motion toward something. Here it just means location, so:
- en la kalendaro = in the calendar
not en la kalendaron.