				A QUICK GUIDE TO ESPERANTO

The following guide defines, in a technical sense, most of what you need
to know about Esperanto, as I currently understand it.  It is very succinct,
and I would certainly urge you to take, for instance, the Free Postal Course
in order to get a better introduction, but this should at least demonstrate
how simple the rules are.
(Disclaimer: I am relatively new to this stuff, so I may have missed a few
things or explained them badly, but this is the best I could do.  Most of
the material is adapted from the "Esperanto Dictionary", by J. C. Wells).

		The Alphabet
a b c ^c d e f g ^g h ^h i j ^j k l m n o p r s ^s t u ^u v z
Note that, e.g., the letter ^c should appear with the ^ above the c.
	A filter for line-printer output to do this is included below.  Actually,
	the character above the u should be an upside-down ^.  As per the ASCII
	standard, the circumflex appears before the character in ASCII text.
	I won't go into the details of pronunciation, but each letter has
	one unique sound.

			The Original 16 rules of Esperanto Grammar

		Parts of Speech

1. There is no indefinite article; there is only one definite article, la,
	which is invariable.
2. Nouns (substantives) are formed by adding o to the root.  To form the plural,
	j is added.  There are two cases, nominative and accusative; the accusative
	is formed by adding n to the nominative.  Equivalents of other cases
	are formed by the use of prepositions (e.g. de mia patro == my father's).
3. Adjectives are formed by adding a to the root.  They agree in case and number
	with the noun they qualify, forming plural and accusative in the same way.
	The comparative is formed by the word pli, the superlative by plej.
	"Than" is rendered by ol.
4. The basic cardinal numerals, which do not vary for case, are
	unu, du, tri, kvar, kvin, ses, sep, ok, na^u, dek, cent, mil.
	Tens and hundreds are formed by simple junction of the numerals,
	e.g. 583 == kvincent okdek tri.  Ordinals are formed by the addition of a,
	e.g. 4th == kvara.  Multiples, fractions and collective numerals are
	formed by the use of the suffixes -obl-, -on-, and -op-, respectively.
	Distributives are expressed with the help of the preposition po.
	Adverbials add e, e.g. firstly == unue.
5. The personal pronouns me, you, he, she, it, thou (rare), we, they, one are
	mi, vi, li, ^si, ^gi, si, ni, ili, oni.  Possessive pronouns are formed
	by adding a to these.  Declension is as for nouns.
6. Verbs do not vary for person or number.  Verb endings and participial
	formatives are described in the summary below.
7. Adverbs are formed by adding e to the root; comparison is as for adjectives.
8. All prepositions are followed by the nominative case.

		General Rules

9. Every word is pronounced as it is spelt.
10. The accent is on the second-to-last syllable.
11. Compound words are formed by simple junction of roots (the chief word coming
	at the end).  Grammatical endings count for this purpose as separate words
	(i.e. morphemes).
12. There isno multiple negation: if a clause contains another negative word it
	does not need "ne" (== not).
13. To show motion towards, words take the accusative ending.
14. Each preposition has a definite fixed meaning; but if the sense does not
	indicate which should be used, recourse may be had to the preposition
	je, which has no meaning of its own.  Alternatively, the accusative
	without a preposition may be used.
15. The so-called foreign words, which the majority of languages have taken
	from one source, undergo no change in the International Language beyond
	conforming to its orthography.  Derivatives, however, are preferably
	formed from one basic root according to the rules of Esperanto grammar.
16. The a of the definite article and the final o of nouns may be dropped
	and replaced by an apostrophe ("poetical license").

		Grammatical Summary

  -a	adjective: ama = of love, loving; telefona telephonic
  -as	verb, present tense: mi amas = I love; li telefonas = he telephones
  -e	adverb: ame = lovingly; telefone = by telephone, telephonically
  -i	verb, infinitive: ami = to love; telefoni = to telephone
  -is	verb, past tense: mi amis = I loved; li telefonis = he telephoned
  -j	plural: novaj telefonoj = new telephones
  -n	accusative: mi amas lin = I love him; li amas mian filon = he loves my son;
		kien? = where to?
  -o	noun: amo love; telefono = a telephone
  -os	verb, future tense: mi amos = I shal love, I'll love;
		li telefonos = he will telephone, he'll be telephoning
  -u	verb, imperative: amu! = love!;  li telefonu = let him telephone
  -us	verb, conditional: mi amus = I would love (if ...);
		li telefonus = he would telephone

		Participial Formatives

  -ant-	present active: konstruanta = building
  -at-	present passive: konstruata = being built
  -int-	past active: konstruinta = having built
  -it-	past passive: konstruita = built
  -ont-	future active: konstruonta = going to build
  -ot-	future passive: konstruota = going to be built

		Correlatives

The correlative nouns, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns are much more systematic in
	Esperanto than in English.  They are based on combinations of five initial
	elements with nine final elements, as follows:

  ti-	demonstrative: that
  ki-	interrogative and relative: which
  i-	indefinite: some
  ^ci	universal: every
  neni-	negative: no

  -o	pronoun: thing
  -u	pronoun and adjective: individual, one
  -a	adjective: kind of
  -es	possessive: one's
  -e	locative adverb: place
  -el	adverb of manner: way
  -om	adverb of quantity: amount
  -al	adverb of motive: reason
  -am	tempotal adverb: time

	The meaning of any correlative may be deduced from its composition.
	Thus io = some+thing = something; tiam = that+time = then;
	kiom = which+amount = how much;  ^cie = every+place = everywhere;
	neniam = no+time = never.

Other quick notes:
	word order is almost arbitrary 
	questions usually begin with ^cu (= whether) or a ki- correlative.
	all Esperanto verbs are either transitive or intransitive, unlike
	  English.  "ig" will make an intransitive verb transitive, and
	  "i^g, will make a transitive verb intransitive.  Thus:

	  we walked in the park (intransitive) = ni promenis en la parko
	  we walked a dog in the park	       = ni promenigis hundon en la parko

	  we sold a lot of books (transitive) = ne vendis multajn librojn
	  the books sold well		      = la libroj bone vendi^gis

Good luck!
