Negation

The rules of negation are much as in English:

• Nek li nek ŝi respondis. – Neither he nor she answered.
• Vi nek sidas nek rigardas. – You are neither sitting nor looking.
• Mi neniam diros al iu. – I shall never tell anyone.

⚠️ Watch out: unlike colloquial English, Esperanto has no double negative. Mi neniam diros al neniu is wrong, just as "I shan't never tell no-one" is in English — one negative word is enough.

Mem

mem means "-self" (myself, yourself, himself …) and emphasizes the word it follows. (Compare the reflexive si in lesson 4.)

• Mi mem faris tion. – I myself did that; I did that myself.

Mem is not the same as sola ("alone"):

• Mi mem iris. – I myself went.
• Mi iris sola. – I went alone.

Bye…

There are several ways to say "goodbye" in Esperanto; the most usual is:

• ĝis la revido – literally "until the re-seeing" (compare English "see you", French "au revoir")

It can also be shortened, without the article:

• ĝis revido

The Prefix ek-

shows either the beginning of an action or a sudden, momentary one:

• ekparoli – to start speaking
• eksilenti – to fall silent
• eksidi – to sit down, to take a seat
• ekridi – to burst out laughing

The Prefix for-

For shows movement away or removal:

• forkuri – to run away
• forflugi – to fly away
• forĵeti – to throw away

The Suffix -aĵ

means a concrete "thing":

• manĝaĵo – food
• trinkaĵo – drink, beverage
• belaĵo – something beautiful
• sendaĵo – something sent, a missive

💡 Memory aid: -aĵ turns an action or quality into a tangible thing:

• manĝi (to eat) → manĝaĵo (food)

Ekde, laŭ and sen in word building

Some small words are useful inside longer words too:

• ekde nun – from now on
• laŭ + plane → laŭplane – according to plan
• sen + lima → senlima – limitless

Relative kiu and pointing tiu

Kiu can connect a clause to a noun. Tiu points to someone or something already known:

• la libro, kiun vi legas – the book that you are reading
• tiu libro – that book