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Newbie question: When to use "la"

од Odd-rationale, 09. новембар 2007.

Поруке: 7

Језик: English

Odd-rationale (Погледати профил) 09. новембар 2007. 23.48.42

Saluton! Hello!

First of all, I would like to like to express my thanks to lernu! and all those involved for providing such a quality website for people to learn Esperanto - for free!(no premium membership, etc.)

This is my first week in Esperanto. And I am enjoying it very much.

My question is how does one know when to use the article "la"?

For example, we say

"Ana estas en domo."

"La pilko estas sur la tablo."

Why does "tablo" have a "la" but "domo" does not?

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Dankon!

Miland (Погледати профил) 10. новембар 2007. 00.55.56

Odd-rationale:"Ana estas en domo."
"La pilko estas sur la tablo."
Why does "tablo" have a "la" but "domo" does not?
Welcome to the world of Esperanto!

Here's a rough rule: where you would use 'the' in English, use 'la' in Esperanto, and where you would use 'a' or 'an' in English, leave it out in Esperanto (which doesn't have an indefinite article).

I encourage you to keep up your Esperanto studies at a pace that you can manage without difficulty. Never mind slow progress so long as you keep going.

Odd-rationale (Погледати профил) 10. новембар 2007. 01.14.31

OK Thanks for your reply.

Let me see if I get this.

So I can say

"Ana estas en la domo."

to specify "Ana is in the house."

Likewise, if I say

"La pilko estas sur tablo."

it would mean "The ball is under a table"

And so on.

Is that correct?

RiotNrrd (Погледати профил) 10. новембар 2007. 02.13.20

Odd-rationale:So I can say

"Ana estas en la domo."

to specify "Ana is in the house."

Likewise, if I say

"La pilko estas sur tablo."

it would mean "The ball is under a table"

Is that correct?
Precisely.

Odd-rationale (Погледати профил) 10. новембар 2007. 02.21.46

OK That's great!

Thanks all for your help!

Dankon!

Matthieu (Погледати профил) 10. новембар 2007. 09.32.43

Odd-rationale:So I can say

"Ana estas en la domo."

to specify "Ana is in the house."

Likewise, if I say

"La pilko estas sur tablo."

it would mean "The ball is under a table"

Is that correct?
You correctly used the article, but sur means “on”, not “under”.

Odd-rationale (Погледати профил) 10. новембар 2007. 14.35.50

Oh, thanks for the correction!

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