Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of la
Coloured illustration of la
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Translation

the

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Short forms

  • l'in poetry and song, mostly after a preposition ending in a vowel: de l' mondo, pri l' amo

    La kanto parolas pri l' amo.

    The song is about love.

Examples

.

The person is good.

.

I can see the hand.

.

I speak the language.

.

The two gentlemen are coming to us.

.

She watched for the whole time.

Esperanto has exactly one article, , and it never changes shape: no gender, no number, no case, so it is , and alike. There is no indefinite article at all, so a bare noun does the work of "a": on its own is "a person". Learners tend to either drop where English keeps it or sprinkle it where English does not, and the safe rule is to use it roughly where English uses "the".

Where this fits

The 1,000 most common Esperanto words

Where this word sits in the core vocabulary, and what to learn around it.

Esperanto vocabulary by CEFR level

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Used in

Stories

(9)

Grammar articles

(80)

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Esperanto · Free printables

la: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "la" (the): 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 3: Your first ten words.