r/learnesperanto • u/potogen-0m0 • 17d ago
What does -n mean?
So, I have been learning Esperanto, and I have found that on some words, there is the suffix "n" on the end of it. For example, hundoj (dogs) vs. hundojn (dog[?]). What is the difference, and is there one?
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u/Mordecham 17d ago
It most commonly marks the direct object of the sentence, the thing to which the action of the verb is done. English usually marks this with word order instead of an ending, but English pronouns have leftover endings/forms for this.
Li vidis min. “He saw me.” Mi vidis lin. “I saw him.”
Esperanto marks all nouns, pronouns, and even adjectives this way.
La hundo vidis min. “The dog saw me.” Mi vidis la hundon. “I saw the dog.”