Kilo Lingo
Esperanto grammar Part of Chapter 1

CEFR A1-A2

4 min read

Test yourself (25 questions)

How to Ask Questions in Esperanto: Ĉu, Tags and Answers

By Michael McGettrickUpdated 11 October 2026

Put ĉu in front of any statement and it becomes a yes/no question. Nothing else moves: no inversion, no do.

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Pick the right one

0/3

Turn the statement into a yes/no question. Pick the correct Esperanto - and notice what does NOT change.

  1. Vi parolas Esperanton. (Make it: do you speak Esperanto?)

  2. Ŝi venos morgaŭ. (Make it: will she come tomorrow?)

  3. You want WHEN they will arrive - which question asks that?

Question word
The statement, unchanged
empty
.
?
  • . - You speak Esperanto.
  • ? - Do you speak Esperanto?

English needs an auxiliary from nowhere (do), an inversion, and a bare main verb. Esperanto needs one word.

Ĉu: the question mark you say out loud

has no meaning of its own. It flags whatever follows as asked rather than said, in every tense and for every verb:

QuestionEnglish
?Will she come?
?Is he there?
?Did they go?
?Could you help?

Zamenhof took the word from Polish czy, which does the same job.

The ki- words: questions with content

For more than yes or no, put a ki- word from the correlatives table first and leave the rest as a statement:

WordExampleEnglish
?Who said that?
?What is that?
?Where do you live?
?When will you come?
?Why did you not come?
?How are you?
?How much does it cost?

When the ki- word is the object, it takes the accusative -n, like any object:

object -nWhat do the colours mean?
  • ? - What did you see?
  • ? - Whom did you see?

never joins a ki- word in a direct question: the ki- word already is the question. ? is also correct: after the ki- word, the rest can come in either order. Each ki- word in full is on Esperanto question words.

Answering: jes, ne, and the trap

Positive questions behave: ? gets jes or ne, as in English. Negative questions are the trap, because languages disagree about what yes means in reply to one.

In the usual Esperanto convention, confirms the fact, not the wording:

QuestionAnswerMeans
?, .I am coming.
?, !I AM coming.
?, .I am not coming.

English works the same way. Japanese, among others, runs the opposite system (yes, you are right, I am not coming), and both conventions turn up in Esperanto conversation. So answer with a clause, not a syllable. Two extra words, no misunderstanding. The negation article covers the same trap from the side.

Ĉu ne? One tag for every sentence

English tags change with every sentence: isn't it, doesn't she, won't they. Esperanto has one, and it never changes:

  • , ? - You are coming, aren't you?
  • , ? - It is a lovely day, isn't it?
  • , ? - She knows, doesn't she?

A bare ? assumes less: , ? is closer to you' coming, are you? Use ? when you expect a nod, ? when you really want to know.

Indirect questions: ĉu as whether

When a yes/no question sits inside another sentence, means whether. English uses if for that and for conditions; Esperanto keeps them apart:

ĉu (whether)se (if, on condition)What do the colours mean?
  • , . - I do not know whether she will come.
  • , . - He asked whether the coffee was ready.
  • , . - If she comes, I will be glad.

The test: if the English still works with whether, write ; if only if works, write . Indirect ki- questions need no change at all:

  • , . - I do not know where he is.

More on these clauses in subordinate clauses.

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
? ? makes the question
? ?never with a ki- word
? ?an object ki- word takes -n
, , whether is
. (to a ĉu ne), .answer with a clause

What to do next

  1. Take five statements you know and put in front of each.
  2. Ask the same five with , or instead.
  3. Then read Esperanto question words for the whole ki- column.

See also

Practise: test yourself

Pick the right one

0/5

Turn the statement into a yes/no question. Pick the correct Esperanto - and notice what does NOT change.

  1. Vi parolas Esperanton. (Make it: do you speak Esperanto?)

  2. Ŝi venos morgaŭ. (Make it: will she come tomorrow?)

  3. You want WHEN they will arrive - which question asks that?

  4. Ĉu vi ne venos? - You ARE coming. The safest answer:

  5. Ĉu vi ne venos? - You are NOT coming. The safest answer:

Spot the mistake

0/3

Each question has one wrong word. Tap it.

Complete the story

0/5

Choose the question word each gap needs.

Meeting at the congress

vi parolas Esperanton? - Jes, iom. - vi loĝas? - En la urbo. - vi venis ĉi tien? - Por vidi la homojn! - Vi restos longe, ne? - Jes. - Bone. Mi ne scias, mi povos resti.

Gap 1 of 5

Fill in the blank

0/7

Fill in the missing question word. The correlatives table supplies all of them - the ki- column.

  1. vi loĝas? (where do you live?)

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

  2. estas tio? (what is that?)

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

  3. vi ne venis hieraŭ? (why did you not come yesterday?)

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

  4. vi fartas? (how are you?)

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

  5. vi alvenos? (when will you arrive?)

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

  6. vi vidis en la parko? (whom did you see? - watch the accusative) (the ki- word is the object of vidis)

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

  7. Mi ne scias, ŝi venos. (whether) (not se - that is the conditional if)

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

Translation drill

0/5

Translate into Esperanto. No inversion, no do - the statement stays a statement.

  1. Do you speak Esperanto?

  2. Where do you live?

  3. Who said that?

  4. You are coming, aren't you?

  5. I do not know whether she will come.

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Practice worksheets and infographics

Practice worksheets with answer keys built in, plus infographic and listicle formats. Open any one to view, print or save.

Infographics

  1. Key points infographic
  2. Ĉu: the question mark you say out loud
  3. The ki- words: questions with content
  4. Answering: jes, ne, and the trap
  5. Mistakes English speakers make

Other formats

  1. Listicle

Related grammar

Frequently asked questions

How do you ask a yes/no question in Esperanto?
at the start of the statement. (you speak Esperanto) becomes ? (do you speak Esperanto?). Nothing else changes: no inversion, no auxiliary do. has no meaning of its own; it is a spoken question mark, and it works on any statement in any tense.
What is the difference between and the ki- question words?
asks for a yes or a no; the ki- words ask for content. ? expects or . ? (when will you come?) expects a time. The two never combine in one direct question: if a ki- word is there, it is already the question. The ki- words are , , , , , , , and .
How do you answer a negative question like ?
By the fact, in the usual convention: to ?, means I AM coming and means I am not. Several languages, Japanese among them, run the opposite convention, and both turn up in Esperanto, so a bare syllable can misfire. The safe answer is a clause: , , or , .
What does mean at the end of a sentence?
It is the one question for every sentence: , ? means you are coming, aren't you? English builds a different each time (isn't it, doesn't she, won't they); Esperanto uses ? for all of them. A bare ? also works as a , closer to oh, are you?, asking rather than assuming.
How do you say whether in Esperanto?
With . An indirect yes/no question keeps : , , I do not know whether she will come. The classic English-speaker error is , because English if covers both jobs; Esperanto is only the conditional if: , . If you can say whether in English, the word is .