I just wanted to ask about the grammar of this sentence really quick for those of you that know Esperanto well.

As part of the Ana Pana course, a sentence in the exercise said "Cxu la familio de Ana logxas en propra domo?"

Since "domo" is the direct object, why is it not "domon"

P.S. How long did it take for you to learn Esperanto so that you felt relatively fluent in it?

violonoknabino:I just wanted to ask about the grammar of this sentence really quick for those of you that know Esperanto well.

As part of the Ana Pana course, a sentence in the exercise said "Cxu la familio de Ana logxas en propra domo?"

Since "domo" is the direct object, why is it not "domon"

The sentence is fine - in this case, domo isn't a direct object, as the verb is to "live in" something, not to "live" something (note the translation: "Do Ana's family live in their own house?)

violonoknabino:P.S. How long did it take for you to learn Esperanto so that you felt relatively fluent in it?

I could more or less read through a magazine like Kontakto, with the aid of a dictionary, after a few months. Speaking well took a little longer, but then I worked at it less! Your mileage may vary though.

It all depends on how much work you do/how often you practice. Try to keep doing a little bit (for example 20 minutes on lernu!) every day, it's much better than doing 2-3 hour marathon sessions on an irregular basis. Pretty soon it'll start coming together!

violonoknabino:I just wanted to ask about the grammar of this sentence really quick for those of you that know Esperanto well.

As part of the Ana Pana course, a sentence in the exercise said "Cxu la familio de Ana logxas en propra domo?"

Since "domo" is the direct object, why is it not "domon"

As Kwekubo pointed out, "domo" isn't a direct object. If you think about it, the word "direct" in "direct object" implies "without any intermediary." Well, in this case the preposition mediates between the verb and the "object."

In Esperanto, if you're using a preposition, you don't use the -n ending. The only exception to this, and it isn't really an exception, is when you are talking about direction "into" the house.

In English we could say, "I walked in the house" or "I walked into the house" pretty much interchangeably. In Esperanto they're not interchangeable. If you say "Mi marŝis en la domo" you've said that you walked (around) in the house. If you want to say "into" you could say "Mi marŝis al en (to in) la domo", but that form is seldom seen. The usual way is to drop the "al" and use the -n ending to indicate that a preposition has been omitted. This is sometimes called the "accusative of direction" but it's really not an accusative; it's just using the -n to signal an omitted preposition.

I know that's more than you wanted to know.

P.S. How long did it take for you to learn Esperanto so that you felt relatively fluent in it?

My experience is the same as Kwekubo's. I could read straightforward Esperanto after a couple of months. Conversation took longer, mainly because I had fewer opportunities to practice. But that was in pre-internet days!

Cool! Thanks! That is exactly what I needed to know. =D