Esperanto is an artificial key-language designed as a means of international communication. It was invented by Dr Zamenhof of Warsaw, who first produced his system in 1887 by publication of 'An International Language, by Dr.Esperanto'. The leading characteristics of Esperanto are its simplicity of construction, the facility by which it may be acquired, and the practical ease and euphony of its pronunciation. The alphabet is composed of 28 letters each having an invariable sound. The vocabulary consists of about 900 roots selected from the most familiar languages. There are no exceptions to the rules, perfect regularity being a leading feature of the language.
There are no silent letters. The accent is always on the penultimate syllable. All nouns end in o in the singular, and all adjectives in a. The plural of these is formed by adding j (pronounced y). All derived adverbs end in c. The only case inflexion is n for the objective. The verbal endings are; i for the infinitive; as, is, os for the present, past, and future tenses respectively; us for the conditional; u for the imperative; anta, inta, onta for the present, past, and future participles active respectively; ata, ita, otu for the present, past, and future participles passive respectively. The definite article is la in all cases and numbers, and there is no indefinite article. An ingenious system of prefixes and suffixes enables all shades of meaning to be expressed. Thus; bona, good, malbona, evil; patro, father, patrino, mother; gepatroj, parents; kudri, to sew, kudrilo, needle; arbo, tree, arbaro, forest; bela, beautiful, beleco, beauty; morti, to die, mortigi, to kill.
The following is the Lord's Prayer in Esperanto: - Patro Nia, kiu estas en la cielo, sankta estu Via nomo, venu regeco Via, estu farata volo Via, kielen la cielo, tiel ankau sur la tero. Panon nian ciutagan donu alni hodiau, kaj pardonu alni suldojn niajn, kielni ankau pardonas al niaj suldantoj, Ne konduku nin en teuton; sed liberigu nin de la malbona, car Via estas la regado, la forto, kaj la gloro eterne. Amen! The British Esperanto Association was founded in the autumn of 1904; its official organ was The British Esperantist. Research Esperanto