Tiam la bibliotekisto skanas mian karton.

Tiam usually means then, at that time, or after that, depending on context.

In this sentence, it sets the time frame: Then, the librarian scans my card.

Esperanto word order is fairly flexible, so tiam can often move around, but putting it at the beginning is very natural when you want to emphasize the sequence of events.

La is the Esperanto word for the.

So la bibliotekisto means the librarian.

A few useful points:

• Esperanto has only one definite article: la
• It does not change for gender, number, or case
• Esperanto has no indefinite article, so bibliotekisto could mean a librarian or just librarian, depending on context

So:

• bibliotekisto = a librarian / librarian
• la bibliotekisto = the librarian

The suffix -isto means a person զբաղled in a profession, activity, or role.

So:

• biblioteko = library
• bibliotekisto = librarian

This is a very common Esperanto pattern. For example:

• arto = art → artisto = artist
• piano = piano → pianisto = pianist
• turisto = tourist

So bibliotekisto is built very regularly.

In Esperanto, all present-tense verbs end in -as.

So:

• skani = to scan
• skanas = scans / is scanning

This is one of the nicest things about Esperanto verbs: they do not change based on the subject.

For example:

• mi skanas = I scan
• vi skanas = you scan
• li skanas = he scans
• la bibliotekisto skanas = the librarian scans

The verb form stays skanas every time.

Yes. Skani is a normal Esperanto verb.

Esperanto often takes international roots and adapts them to its regular spelling and grammar. Once a root is in the language, it behaves like any other Esperanto word.

So you get forms like:

• skani = to scan
• skanas = scans
• skanis = scanned
• skanos = will scan
• skanilo = scanner

Even if the word feels modern, its grammar is completely regular.

The -n marks the direct object.

In this sentence, the thing being scanned is my card, so karton gets the accusative ending:

• karto = card
• karton = card as the direct object

Compare:

• La karto estas sur la tablo. = The card is on the table.
  (Here it is just the subject, so no -n.)
• La bibliotekisto skanas la karton. = The librarian scans the card.
  (Here it is the object, so it takes -n.)

Because adjectives in Esperanto must agree with the noun they describe.

Mia is a possessive adjective meaning my. Since karton has -n, the adjective must also have -n:

• mia karto = my card
• mian karton = my card (as a direct object)

This agreement rule applies to all adjectives and possessives:

• la granda libro = the big book
• la grandan libron = the big book (object)

So mian karton is correct because both words match.

Yes. Words like mia, via, lia, ŝia, nia, ilia are possessive adjectives.

That means they behave grammatically like adjectives:

• they go with a noun
• they agree in number and case
• they can take -j for plural and -n for accusative

Examples:

• mia karto = my card
• miaj kartoj = my cards
• mian karton = my card (object)
• miajn kartojn = my cards (object)

So in this sentence, mian is simply agreeing with karton.

Yes, to some extent.

Because Esperanto marks the direct object with -n, word order is more flexible than in English. The basic, neutral order here is:

Tiam la bibliotekisto skanas mian karton.

But you could also say things like:

• Tiam mian karton skanas la bibliotekisto.
• La bibliotekisto tiam skanas mian karton.

These may sound more marked or emphasize different parts of the sentence, but they are still understandable because mian karton is clearly marked as the object.

For learners, though, the normal subject–verb–object order is the safest choice.

The subject is la bibliotekisto because it has no accusative -n and it appears as the doer of the verb skanas.

The object is mian karton because it has the accusative marking.

So:

• la bibliotekisto = the person performing the action
• skanas = the action
• mian karton = the thing affected by the action

This is one reason the accusative is so useful in Esperanto: it makes the roles in the sentence very clear.

A rough pronunciation is:

TEE-am la bee-blee-oh-teh-KEE-sto SKA-nas MEE-an KAR-ton

A few notes:

• tiam has two vowel sounds: ti-am
• bibliotekisto is pronounced clearly by syllables: bi-bli-o-te-kis-to
• stress in Esperanto is usually on the second-to-last syllable
  • TI-am
  • biblioteKISto
  • SKAnas
  • MIan
  • KARton

Esperanto spelling and pronunciation are very regular, so once you learn the sound system, words are usually pronounced exactly as written.

It follows a very straightforward pattern:

Tiam = time word
la bibliotekisto = subject
skanas = verb
mian karton = direct object

So the sentence is:

Then + the librarian + scans + my card

This is a very common and useful Esperanto sentence structure, and it shows several core rules at once:

• -as for present tense
• -n for the direct object
• adjective agreement in mian karton
• regular word building in bibliotekisto