Lesson 9 - Adverbs

Adverbs are words that can be used to answer questions like how?, when, where and why? An example of an Esperanto adverb that we already know is tie which can be given as the answer to the question kie? (where).
In English many adverbs that correspond to how can be derived from adjectives by attaching the ending -ly to the adjective. The Esperanto equivalent of this -ly is the ending -e.

nova = new
nove = newly

granda = great
grande = greatly

But unlike its English equivalent the ending -e is only used with adverbs (-ly is sometimes used with adjectives, as in a lovely girl). Furthermore, considering the replacement of the adjectival ending -a by -e would be a rather limited view of what we can do with the -e ending. We can in fact attach this ending to any root to create an adverb. These adverbs are often equivalent to a combination of a preposition with a noun in English. Here are a few examples of such adverbs:

hejme = at home
ghardene = in the garden
printempe = in spring
aute = by car

Instead of hejme we could also say en la hejmo, but by using adverbs we can often say the same thing with fewer words.

It is also possible to attach -e to prepositions. In English there is no difference in form between a preposition and its corresponding adverb. We can say "He is inside the house" (inside is a preposition) and "He is inside" (inside is an adverb). However, in Esperanto it is important to distinguish between en (preposition) and ene (adverb).

Mi estis en la domo = I was in(side) the house.
Mi estis ene = I was inside.

There are a few adverbs like tie that end in -e, but here the e is just a part of the root. There are also some adverbs that end in -au or other letters, but the great majority of Esperanto adverbs are made by attaching the -e ending to a root.

**Vocabulary**
Esperanto	English
baldau	soon
de	of
diligenta	dilligent
fari	do, make
fisho	fish
ke^*	that (conjunction)
piedo	a foot (cf. pedal)
plezuro	pleasure
rapida	fast, quick
scii ("stsee-ee")	to know
somero	summer
tre	very
vintro	winter

^* Do not confuse ke with tiu, tio or kiu, which can also be translated as that. The word ke is a conjunction that corresponds to the German daß. It is used to translate English that in sentences like "I know that ..." As a conjunction that is often omitted, but Esperanto ke should never be left out!

Exercise 9-1

Translate into English:

1. Mi faros tion plezure. 2. Autune multaj birdoj flugas al Afriko. 3. Ni ne volas vojaghi piede. 4. Li laboris diligente en la ghardeno. 5. Baldau ili vojaghos al Europo. 6. Li marshis rapide al la domo de Johano (John). 7. Mi scias ke li faros tion plezure. 8. Somere tiuj chi plantoj kreskas tre rapide. 9. Li diris ke sia patro estas^* ene. 10. Ni iris aute al ilia domo. 11. Shi scias ke mi ne estas tie chi vintre. 12. Li ne povas scii ke ni baldau vojaghos al Afriko. 13. Kiuj vojaghos automobile? 14. La infanoj ludis hejme.

^* This sentence could be re-phrased as Li diris: "Mia patro estas ene." In Esperanto when using indirect speech (he said that..., they told me..., etc.) the same tense is used as the one used in direct speech. That is why estas and not estis is used here for English was. The rule called sequence of tenses that exists in English and many other European languages does not exist in Esperanto.

Exercise 9-2

Translate into Esperanto:

1. He was not working very dilligently. 2. Those trees do not grow very fast. 3. He said that I had to work dilligently. 4. We ate the pears at home. 5. He quickly walked to his uncle's house. 6. I forgot to do that, but I shall quickly do it now. 7. He went to his home and is now inside. 8. They want to travel to Africa by motor-car. 9. There are very many fish in that lake. 10. In autumn these birds fly to Africa and in spring they fly to Europe. 11. She said that she would be working downstairs (sube). 12. The cat quickly ate the fish.

Key to the exercises