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Line drawing of bona
Coloured illustration of bona
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Translation

good

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Examples

.

That is very good.

.

You are a good person.

?

Did you see the good gentleman?

.

Good people tell the truth.

.

He speaks the language well.

The root is bon-, and the ending tells you the job: good, bone well, goodness, a good sort. Swap in - and you get the exact opposite, , which is why Esperanto learners need roughly half the vocabulary they expect. Like every adjective it agrees with its noun, so it picks up -j in the plural and -n in the accusative: . is the best.

Where this fits

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Word family

Words built on bona with Esperanto's affixes. Read each one from its parts.

  • bondezironoun

    a good wish; greetings, best wishes

    bonadeziri

  • boneconoun

    goodness, kindness

    bona-ec-: the quality of being good

  • bonegaadjective

    excellent, splendid, great

    bona-eg-

  • bonetaadjective

    fairly good, quite nice

    bona-et-: a little good

  • bonkoraadjective

    kind-hearted, kindly

    bonakoro

  • bonulonoun

    good person, good soul

    bona-ul-: a good person

  • bonvenaadjective

    welcome

    bonaveni

  • bonvoliverb

    to be so kind as to, to please

    bonavoli

  • malbonaadjective

    bad; evil, wicked

    mal-bona

  • malbonaĵonoun

    an evil, a bad thing; harm

    mal-bona-aĵ-: something bad

  • malbonulonoun

    villain, baddie

    mal-bona-ul-: a bad person

  • plibonigiverb

    to improve, to make better

    plibona-ig-: to make more good

  • plimalbonigiverb

    to make worse, to worsen

    plimal-bona-ig-: to make more bad

Used in

Stories

(9)

Grammar articles

(22)

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Esperanto · Free printables

bona: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "bona" (good): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

This word is taught in chapter 1, lesson 10: bona, antaŭ, tie and 11 more words.