Li skanas la bibliotekkarton.

Li means he. It is the subject pronoun here, the person doing the action.

In basic Esperanto:

• li = he
• ŝi = she
• ĝi = it
• ili = they

Unlike English, Esperanto pronouns are very regular. If li were the object instead of the subject, it would become lin. For example:

• Li skanas la bibliotekkarton. = He scans the library card.
• Mi vidas lin. = I see him.

So in this sentence, li is the one performing the scanning.

The ending -as is the standard Esperanto ending for the present tense.

Esperanto verbs are extremely regular:

• -as = present
• -is = past
• -os = future
• -us = conditional
• -u = command / wish form
• -i = infinitive

So:

• skani = to scan
• skanas = scans / is scanning
• skanis = scanned
• skanos = will scan

One nice thing for English speakers: the verb does not change depending on the subject. So:

• mi skanas
• li skanas
• ili skanas

all use the same -as ending.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Esperanto present tense does not force the same distinction that English often makes between:

• he scans
• he is scanning

So Li skanas la bibliotekkarton could mean:

• He scans the library card.
• He is scanning the library card.

Usually the situation makes it clear. If you really need to emphasize ongoing action, Esperanto can do that in other ways, but in normal usage the plain present tense is often enough.

Yes. Skani is a perfectly normal Esperanto verb.

Esperanto often takes international or modern technical words and adapts them to its own system. Here, the root is skan-, and then regular endings are added:

• skani = to scan
• skanas = scans / is scanning
• skanilo = scanner
• skanado = scanning

So even though it looks familiar to an English speaker, it behaves like any other Esperanto word.

La is the definite article, meaning the.

It is much simpler than English articles because it never changes:

• no gender changes
• no number changes
• no case changes

So it is always just la.

In this sentence, la bibliotekkarton means the library card, referring to a specific card rather than just any library card.

The final -n marks the direct object.

In Esperanto, the thing directly affected by the action usually gets -n. Here, the scanning is being done to the library card, so bibliotekkarto becomes bibliotekkarton.

You can think of it like this:

• Li skanas = He scans
• Li skanas la bibliotekkarton = He scans the library card

The answer to what does he scan? is la bibliotekkarton, so it takes -n.

This is one of the most important features of Esperanto grammar.

Because -n is added to the complete noun form, after all the other noun-building parts are in place.

The structure is:

• bibliotek-
  • karto = bibliotekkarto
• then add the object ending -n
• result: bibliotekkarton

So the -n goes at the very end of the noun phrase word.

That is normal in Esperanto:

• libro → libron
• ruĝa pomo → ruĝan pomon
• bibliotekkarto → bibliotekkarton

Bibliotekkarto is a compound word made from:

• biblioteko = library
• karto = card

In compounds, Esperanto often removes the final -o from the first noun root before attaching the next part:

• biblioteko → bibliotek-
• bibliotek-
  • karto → bibliotekkarto

That creates the double kk:

• one k from bibliotek-
• one k from karto

So the spelling reflects the two parts of the compound.

This kind of compounding is very common in Esperanto and is one of the language’s most useful features.

Yes. Esperanto word order is more flexible than English word order because the -n ending helps show what the object is.

The most neutral order is:

• Li skanas la bibliotekkarton.

But for emphasis, you could also say things like:

• La bibliotekkarton li skanas.

That still means He scans the library card, because bibliotekkarton has the object marker -n.

Even so, learners should usually stick to the normal subject-verb-object order at first, since it is the clearest and most natural in ordinary sentences.