Kilo Lingo
Esperanto grammar Part of Chapter 10

CEFR B1

4 min read

Test yourself (18 questions)

Esperanto Word Order: Emphasis, ne and ankaŭ

By Michael McGettrickUpdated 12 October 2026

Esperanto's neutral order is subject, , object, as in English. The -n lets you move words, and moving one is emphasis. Small words like , and work on the word right after them, so where you put them decides what you say.

object -nthe word in focusne, nur, ankaŭ, eĉ, neni- wordsWhat do the colours mean?
EsperantoEnglish
.I read the book. (neutral)
.The book is what I read.
.I did not see him.
.It was not me who saw him.
.I love her too.
.I saw nothing.

Quick check

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

Pick the right one

0/3

What does the sentence say?

  1. Ankaŭ mi vidis la knabon.

  2. Mi vidis ankaŭ la knabon.

  3. Nur mi legis la libron.

The neutral order is SVO

object -nWhat do the colours mean?

Start here: most of your sentences should live here.

Subject
Verb
Object
  • . - I read the book.

The rest of the unmarked pattern:

ElementNeutral placeExample
adjectivebefore its noun
question wordfirst ?
questionfirst, no change ?
prepositionbefore its phrase
time, placefront or end .

Questions need no inversion and have no do. ? is . with in front, and after a question word the subject can simply stay before the verb:

  • ? - What did you see?
  • ? - Where does your brother live? (Inversion is free too, and common with a noun subject.)

A time or place word at the front is not emphasis at all: is as neutral as .

Fronting means emphasis

object -nthe word in focusWhat do the colours mean?

Move the object to the front and you tell the reader: this is what the sentence is about, as opposed to something else.

Front
Subject
Verb
After
empty
empty
  • . - The book is what I read. (The magazine I did not.)

The -n keeps it clear who did what. English needs scaffolding for the same effect: it was the book that I read, or a stressed syllable.

How marked each order is:

NeutralStrongly marked
  1. Hieraŭ mi laboris.time word first: neutral
  2. Venis letero por vi.verb first: the subject is the news
  3. La libron mi legis.object first: contrast
  • . - Yesterday I worked.
  • . - A letter has come for you.
  • . - The book is what I read.

The test is one question: does the moved word deserve the stress? If not, put it back. A page where every sentence is rearranged has no emphasis anywhere.

Where ne sits

the word in focusne, nur, ankaŭ, eĉWhat do the colours mean?

denies the word right after it. Before the verb, that is the whole clause:

DeniedSentenceEnglish
the seeing .I did not see him.
that it was me .It was not me who saw him.
that it was him , .I saw not him, but her.
the coming .I asked him not to come.

takes like any other verb:

  • . - He is not my brother.

One negative per clause

the negative wordWhat do the colours mean?

Careful Esperanto keeps one negative word per clause. With two, a reader may take them as cancelling each other:

EsperantoEnglishVerdict
.I saw nothing.one negative
.I did not see anything.one negative
.I did not see nothing?avoid

The same goes for (nobody) and (never):

  • . - Nobody came.
  • . - She never says anything.

Spanish, Russian and Polish stack negatives as a rule, so their speakers find this the hardest habit to drop. Drop it: the single negative reads the same to everyone.

ankaŭ, nur and eĉ: the word after

the word in focusne, nur, ankaŭ, eĉWhat do the colours mean?

These words point forwards, at what follows them. In careful usage you put them directly before the word you mean:

Points atSentenceMeaning
.Others love her, and so do I.
.I love her as well as others.
.Nobody but me read it.
.I read nothing else.
.Even the child understood.

English drops also and only in the middle and lets the voice sort it out. In Esperanto the position carries the meaning, so before you move on, look at the word to the right and check it is the one you are pointing at.

Mistakes English speakers make

AvoidBetterEnglish
. .I saw nothing.
. .I, too, love her.
. .Only I read it.
. .I read a book.

Habits of good prose

  • Keep the -n. It is what makes the freedom safe.
  • Front sparingly, on a word that has earned the stress.
  • Park , and next to their target.
  • Prefer the simple tenses. covers most of what you need; see compound tenses.
  • Do not calque English idioms. Your reader may be Brazilian, Korean or Hungarian.

What to do next

  1. Write five neutral sentences, then front the object in each and say what changed.
  2. Read Claude Piron's Gerda , a short novel written for learners, and watch where its and sit.
  3. Revise negation for the neni- words in full.

See also

Practise: test yourself

Put the words in order

0/5

Put the words in order.

  1. Neutral: I read the book.

    Your sentence is empty.

  2. Front the object: the book (not the magazine) is what I read.

    Your sentence is empty.

  3. It was not me who saw him.

    Your sentence is empty.

  4. I asked him not to come.

    Your sentence is empty.

  5. Only the child understood.

    Your sentence is empty.

Pick the right one

0/4

What does the sentence say?

  1. Ankaŭ mi vidis la knabon.

  2. Mi vidis ankaŭ la knabon.

  3. Nur mi legis la libron.

  4. Mi legis nur la libron.

Sort into groups

0/6

What does ne deny: the whole sentence, or one word?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Pick the right one

0/3

Tap the Esperanto that says the English, with one negative.

  1. I saw nothing.

  2. Nobody came.

  3. She never says anything.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the normal word order in Esperanto?
Subject, verb, object, as in English: . Adjectives usually come before their noun ( ), question words come first ( ?) and prepositions come before their phrase ( ). The -n means none of this is compulsory, but neutral prose sticks to it.
If Esperanto word order is free, why does everyone still use SVO?
Because moving a word carries meaning. says the book, and not something else, is what I read. Rearrange every sentence and you stress everything, which means you stress nothing. Time and place words are the exception: and are equally neutral.
Where does go in an Esperanto sentence?
Right in front of the word it denies. Before the verb it denies the whole clause: , I did not see him. Before another word it denies only that word: means it was not me who saw him. English needs a cleft sentence or a stressed syllable for that; Esperanto moves one small word.
Where do I and in Esperanto?
In careful usage, directly before the word they apply to. : I love her too, as others do. : I love her too, as well as others. : nobody else read it. : I read nothing else. works the same way.
Does Esperanto use double negatives?
Careful Esperanto keeps one negative word per clause: , or , I saw nothing. With two, a reader may take them as cancelling: can read as I did not see nothing. Speakers of Spanish, Russian or Polish, where negatives stack, need to drop the habit.