Kilo Lingo
Esperanto grammar Part of Chapter 17

CEFR B1-B2

5 min read

Test yourself (22 questions)

Esperanto Participles as Nouns: parolanto, venkinto

By Michael McGettrickUpdated 12 October 2026

Put -o on a participle and you get a person, and the person carries a tense. is speaking now, has spoken, is about to. English speaker and winner say nothing about when.

-ant- (doing it)-int- (has done it)-ont- (about to)another suffix (-ist-, -an-, -aĵ-, -ec-)object -nWhat do the colours mean?
EndingMeansExampleEnglish
-antodoing it nowthe speaker
-intohas done itthe winner
-ontoabout to do itthe groom-to-be
-a ea teacher
-a thinga drink
-ontacoming next week

Quick check

Now use it: three quick questions on the chart above. The full practice is further down.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Each sentence has one wrong form. Tap it.

The grid of --, -- and -- is in participles. This page takes the -o forms, the suffixes they compete with, and the time phrases.

People who carry a tense

One root gives three people, one per tense:

FormEnglish
the person speaking, a speaker
the person who has spoken
the next speaker, still to speak
a reader
a beginner
Four panels, each person in the middle of an action: a woman with long hair and a bow reads an open book; a man with a moustache stirs a steaming pot on the stove; a boy runs, arms swinging; a girl with pigtails talks on the phone, with sound waves and a speech bubble.

Legantino, a woman reading; kuiranto, a man cooking; kuranto, a boy running; parolantino, a girl talking. Each is in the middle of it, so -ant-.

From there they are ordinary nouns. They take -j, -n, -- and the article:

  • . - I listened to the speakers.
  • . - The (woman) speaker is my sister.

The -- people say in one word what English needs a phrase for: is the man about to marry, the people about to arrive.

venkinto, not venkanto

English winner has no tense, so English speakers reach for -- and get the wrong moment:

  • . - The winner received the . (The race is over.)
  • . - The one who is winning is running ahead of everyone. (The race is still on, though in a race people more often just say , the first.)

Both are real words; they make different claims. The same choice runs through the vocabulary:

Still goingEnglishDoneEnglish
a dying personthe deceased
people leavingpeople who have left
the one winningthe winner

Ask where the action has got to at the moment you are talking about, and the vowel follows.

Role, trade or member

-ant- (doing it)another suffix (-ist-, -an-, -ul-)What do the colours mean?

Four suffixes make people, and each makes a different claim:

SuffixClaimExampleEnglish
--doing it, while it lastswhoever is teaching
--does it as a ea teacher
--belongs to ita club member
--is marked by ita young person

against is the sharpest pair. An teaches for a living, even on holiday; an is whoever is teaching now, trade or no trade:

  • . - She is a teacher.
  • Petro. - Today the one teaching is Petro.
Four people in their work clothes: a woman doctor with long hair and a bow, in a white coat with a stethoscope; a man teacher with glasses, a moustache and a tie, pointing at a board and holding a book; a man cook with a moustache, in a chef's hat and apron, holding a frying pan with an egg; a man police officer with a moustache, in a blue uniform and cap.

Kuracistino, a (woman) doctor; instruisto, a teacher; kuiristo, a cook. Each one's job, so -ist-. The teacher at the board is also an instruanto, for as long as he is teaching.

That is why a beginner is : beginning is a phase you grow out of, not a trade, so nobody is a o. is the usual word for a pupil or a learner on a course, and a university student is a .

-aĵ-: a thing, not a person

-aĵ- (a thing)What do the colours mean?

Put -- on the bare root instead and you get a concrete thing, not a person:

RootThingEnglish
a drink
food
a building
a e of news
  • on? - Would you like a drink?

The participle can go inside too: o is something that has been drunk. It is grammatical and heavier. Build on the bare root by default, and keep the participle form for when the finished action is really the point.

Next week, last year

-int- (has gone by)-ont- (still to come)object -nWhat do the colours mean?

The -a forms are adjectives, and two of them give the time phrases you need every week:

EsperantoEnglish
next week
next month
last week
last year
this year

  • la pasinta semajno (gone by)

  • ĉi tiu semajno

  • la venonta semajno (still to come)

Timeline from past to future, with now marked.

They agree like any adjective, including the -n of a time phrase:

  • . - I will see you next week.

usually means final in a series:

  • - the last week of the year.

It can also mean most recent ( , the latest news), so is not wrong for last week, but it can be read as the final one. For the week just gone, is the unambiguous choice. And (current) is not a participle at all: it is (now) plus the adjective ending.

estonteco and pasinteco

-int- (has gone by)-ont- (still to come)-ec- (the quality)What do the colours mean?

-- makes a quality or state. On a participle it gives two everyday nouns:

  • - the future (the state of being about to be).
  • - the past.
  • . - In the future we will live in another town.

The adjective has two near neighbours: (coming, next) picks out the next in a sequence, while (future, to-be) is what someone or something will become. So a wife-to-be is ; would be his next wife.

Mistakes English speakers make

AvoidBetterWhy
after the race, it is over: --
the participle agrees, -n included
obeginning is a phase, not a e
ooa drink: build on the bare root

What to do next

  1. Build the three people from , and , and say who each is.
  2. Write one sentence each with and .
  3. Then read the passive for the -ata, -ita and -ota forms.

See also

Practise: test yourself

Build the word

0/5

Build the noun: root, then the suffix, then -o.

  1. paroli: the person speaking now

    Accents optional - cx, gx, ux work for ĉ, ĝ, ŭ

    Your word is empty.

  2. venki: the winner (the winning is over)

    Accents optional - cx, gx, ux work for ĉ, ĝ, ŭ

    Your word is empty.

  3. edziĝi: the man about to marry

    Accents optional - cx, gx, ux work for ĉ, ĝ, ŭ

    Your word is empty.

  4. instrui: a teacher by trade

    Accents optional - cx, gx, ux work for ĉ, ĝ, ŭ

    Your word is empty.

  5. trinki: a drink

    Accents optional - cx, gx, ux work for ĉ, ĝ, ŭ

    Your word is empty.

Sort into groups

0/6

When is each person doing it?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Complete the story

0/4

Choose the word for each gap.

The race

Hieraŭ estis granda kuro en nia urbo. La estis Ana, nia instruistino. Post la kuro ŝi trinkis , kaj ŝiaj kantis por ŝi. La kuro estos en majo.

Gap 1 of 4

Spot the mistake

0/3

Each sentence has one wrong form. Tap it.

Pick the right one

0/4

Which word does the English need?

  1. La jaro estis malfacila. (last year, the one gone by)

  2. Tio estas la paĝo de la libro. (the final page)

  3. La jaro estas bona. (this year)

  4. En la ni loĝos en alia urbo. (in the future)

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Frequently asked questions

Is the winner a or a in Esperanto?
, in almost every sentence you will write. The participle carries a tense, and by the time somebody is called the winner the winning is over: . is a real word for the one winning right now, while the contest is still on. The same logic makes the deceased , not .
What is the difference between , and ?
Three suffixes, three claims. is somebody beginning: -ant- names a role you are in while it lasts. is a teacher by trade, because -ist- names a profession, while is whoever is teaching right now. is the usual word for a pupil or a learner on a course.
What is the difference between o and trinkitaĵo?
o is a drink, and it is the word you want almost every time: the bare root plus -aĵ- makes a thing of that kind, as in o (food) and (a building). Trinkitaĵo puts a passive participle inside and means something that has been drunk. It is grammatical, but heavier, so keep it for when the completed action is the point.
How do you say next week and last week in Esperanto?
and : is the one coming, the one gone by. They agree like any adjective, so . usually means final in a series ( ), and can also mean most recent, so is the unambiguous choice for the week just gone.
How do you say the future and the past in Esperanto?
and : a participle plus -ec-, the suffix for a quality or state. Est- plus -ont- plus -ec- plus -o is the state of being about to be, which is the future. They are ordinary everyday words, and you will rarely need to build more of this shape.