Esperanto · Chapter 13 · Lesson 14 · Grammar primer
Adverbs: -e, and why estas varme has no noun
Any root takes -e, the predicate takes -a only when a noun is there to agree with, and hejmen tells you where things are heading. The adverb system in full.
The short version
-e works on noun roots, not just adjective ones
English tacks -ly onto adjectives and then needs a whole prepositional phrase for everything else. Esperanto's -e takes any root in the dictionary: bela gives bele, but nokto gives nokte (at night), hejmo gives hejme (at home), vespero gives vespere (in the evening). Stop translating English adverbial phrases word by word and reach for the -e form directly. Add -n to a place adverb and you get direction: hejmen, homeward; kien?, where to?
Mi laboras nokte kaj poste iras hejmen.
No noun to agree with, no -a: estas varme
An adjective's whole job is agreeing with a noun, so when the sentence has none the -a form has nothing to do. La supo estas varma keeps its -a because supo is sitting there. Estas varme has no subject at all, since Esperanto uses no dummy it, so the predicate falls back on the adverb ending. Same with an infinitive or a clause as subject: lerni Esperanton estas facile, estas bone, ke vi venis. Find the subject: noun or pronoun takes -a, anything else takes -e.
La supo estas varma, sed ekstere estas malvarme.
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