Li kultivas plantojn en la ĉambro.

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Breakdown of Li kultivas plantojn en la ĉambro.

• la: the
• en: in
• ĉambro: the room

Questions & Answers about Li kultivas plantojn en la ĉambro.

Why does kultivas end in -as?

In Esperanto, -as marks the present tense. So kultivas means that the action is happening in the present: cultivates, grows, or is growing, depending on context.

A useful breakdown is:

• kultiv- = the word root
• -as = present tense verb ending

So kultivas is simply is cultivating / cultivates.

Does kultivas mean cultivates, grows, or is growing?

It can cover all of those in practice. Esperanto does not usually make the same sharp distinction that English does between cultivates, grows, and is growing in a simple sentence like this.

So Li kultivas plantojn en la ĉambro can naturally correspond to:

• He cultivates plants in the room
• He grows plants in the room
• He is growing plants in the room

The exact English translation depends on the context.

Why doesn’t the verb change for li the way English changes grow to grows?

Because Esperanto verbs do not change according to the subject. The verb form stays the same for I, you, he, she, we, they, and so on.