So, from this second you are a recruit of the galactic corps... or a defender of plant rights... or a young elf, intending to write a beautiful ballad in solitude... or... Pardonon! But we are supposed to be speaking Esperanto already!
Do (so), vi estas rekruto de galaksia korpuso. La galaksia korpuso defendas (defends) rajtojn (rights) de inteligentaj homoj. (Recall that the ending of nouns in the accusative case is “n”: ami homojn – to love people, vidi birdojn – to see birds, trinki teon – to drink tea).
Jen (here) via unua (first) tasko (task): vi observos (you will observe) delfenojn (dolphins) kaj aliajn (other) marajn estajojn (sea creatures) apud Krimeo (near Crimea), planedo Tero (planet Earth).
Jen vi staras (you stand). Vi staras sur roko kaj observas (you stand on a rock and observe). Vi rigardas (you look) en lorneton (into a little spyglass; lorno means spyglass, and the suffix -et- means “small”. For example, domo – house, dometo – little house; homo – person, hometo – little person; libro – book, libreto – booklet; hundo – dog, hundeto – puppy). Kiam (when) vi vidas (see) sipon (ship), vi raportas:
– Sinjoro majoro! Mi vidas sipon!
Under no circumstances should the verb “vidi” (vidas, vidos, vidis) be confused with the verb “rigardi” (to look). You can rigardi, sed (but) ne vidi – (to look but not see). It is unlikely that you will manage to vidi, sed ne rigardi. Well, unless you have telepathic abilities.
Kiam (when) vi vidas submarinon (submarine), vi raportas:
– Sinjoro majoro, mi vidas submarinon!
Sinjoro in Esperanto is a polite address to a man. It translates as “master”, “pan”, “comrade”, “mister” or “sir”, depending on the situation and geography.
Kiam vi vidas delfenon (a dolphin), vi raportas:
– Sinjoro majoro! Mi vidas delfenon!
Kiam vi vidas ne unu (one), sed du (two) delfenojn, vi raportas:
– Mi vidas du delfenojn!
Kiam vi vidas tri (3), kvar (4), kvin (5), ses (6), sep (7), ok (8), nau (9), dek (10), vi raportas:
– Mi vidas tri (4, 5...) delfenojn!
Kaj la majoro respondas (answers):
– Dankon, amiko! (spasibo, drug!)
Well, if you are lucky and you see a whole school of dolphins, to count them you will have to learn to count not only up to ten. So: 11 – dekunu, 12 – dekdu, 13– dektri, 14 – dekkvar, 15 – dekkvin, 16 – dekses, 17 – deksep, 18 – dekok, 19 – deknau; 20 – dudek, 21– dudek unu, 22 – dudek du, 23 – dudek tri...; 30 – tridek, 31 – tridek unu, 32 – tridek du, 33 – tridek tri...; 40 – kvardek, 50 – kvindek, 60 – sesdek, 70 -sepdek, 80 – okdek, 90 – naudek; 100 – cent, 101 – cent unu, 102 – cent du, 103 – cent tri; 110 – cent dek, 111 cent dekunu, 115 – cent dekkvin; 120 – cent dudek, 130 – cent dudek, 140 – cent kvardek; 200 – ducent, 300 – tricent, 400 – kvarcent, 500 – kvincent, 600 – sescent, 700 – sepcent, 800 – okcent, 900 – naucent; 1.000 – mil, 10.000 – dek mil, 25.000 – dudek kvin mil, 1.000.000 – miliono, 1.000.000.000 – miliardo.
As you can see, the counting system in Esperanto is very simple. Once you memorize counting to ten, you can count to infinity. Now let’s practice. How do you say in Esperanto, say, 36.980? And 898.098? And 1.298.187? Got it? And what year were you born?
But – back to our sheep..., pardon, dolphins. If you see neither dolphins, nor ships, nor submarines on the horizon, and the captain keeps asking about the situation on the horizon, boldly answer: “Mi vidas nulo” (that is, zero – you see nothing). Numerals in Esperanto are not declined; the only exceptions are substantivized numerals – that is, those that have become nouns: unuo – unit, deko – ten, dekduo – dozen).
Ordinal numerals are formed with the ending “a” (like adjectives): unua – first, dua – second, tria – third, kvara – fourth, okdek sepa – eighty-seventh, milcent tria – one thousand one hundred third (as in Russian, the ending is added only to the last word).
And, allow me to guess, tomorrow when you go somewhere on business, you will automatically say: “mi vidas auton (car), mi vidas traktoron (tractor), mi vidas trolejbuson, mi vidas buson (bus). Right? And maybe you will even count and say: mi vidas tri busojn, mi vidas kvin homojn, mi vidas ses librojn. If we guessed wrong, I strongly advise you to do it!
Answer: tridek ses mil naucent okdek, okcent naudek ok mil naudek ok, miliono ducent naudek ok mil cent okdek sep.