Prerequisite: Lesson 10.
No new word
| Word | Meaning | Taught in |
|---|---|---|
| es | is, am, are — before a noun | Lesson 6 |
Nothing new here. es arrived five lessons ago, in one line at the foot of the possession lesson, because Lesson 7 could not ask Yu es kim? without it. It is the most widely shared word on Earth — Spanish es, English is, German ist, Russian est’, Hindi hai, Persian ast, Latin est — and you have been using it since. This lesson is where it gets its rule stated in full.
This page called it a new word until September 5, 2026, which meant a learner was told twice that the same word was new.
Before a noun: es
| Mi es doktor. | I am a doctor. |
| Yu es rafiki mi. | You are my friend. |
| Sol es anak. | Sol is a child. |
| Kita es familia. | We are a family. |
| Nama mi es Luma. | My name is Luma. |
Before anything else: nothing
You have been doing this since Lesson 3. Nothing changes.
| Dom kabir. | The house is big. |
| Ca garam. | The tea is hot. |
| Mi sini. | I am here. |
| Familia mi situ. | My family is there. |
Why the difference
Put two nouns together and Amadunia already reads them: the second one owns the first.
| doktor rafiki mi | my friend’s doctor |
| Rafiki mi es doktor. | My friend is a doctor. |
Without es you have said whose doctor. With es you have said what your friend is. An adjective cannot own anything, so it never needs the help.
Was, will be
es is a verb. Put the tense word in front of it:
| Mi suda es anak. | I was a child. |
| Yu saufa es doktor. | You will be a doctor. |
Adjectives and place words take the tense word themselves — no es:
| Dom suda kabir. | The house was big. |
| Ca saufa garam. | The tea will be hot. |
| Ta-ta suda sini. | They were here. |
Asking
| Nama yu es ke? | What is your name? |
| Yu es kim? | Who are you? |
| Ta es doktor? | Is she a doctor? |
| Dom kabir? | Is the house big? |
A conversation
— Salam! Nama yu es ke? — Nama mi es Sol. Mi es doktor. Yu? — Mi es rafiki Luma. Luma sini? — No, Luma situ. Ta suda es anak keci — sasa ta es doktor! — Ta hao? — Ya, ta hao.
Hello! What’s your name? — My name is Sol. I’m a doctor. You? — I’m Luma’s friend. Is Luma here? — No, Luma is there. She was a small child — now she’s a doctor! — Is she good? — Yes, she is good.
Practice
- Mi es insan. — I am a person.
- Ain ta kabir. — Her eyes are big.
- Yu-yu es familia? — Are you a family?
- Ta suda es rafiki mi. — He was my friend.
- Hotel es dom? — Is a hotel a house?
- Din saufa garam. — The day will be hot.
What you can already say
Eleven lessons, 93 roots — not one of them new on this page. You can say what anything is, was or will be, and what it is like, and the whole of it rests on one word you already had.
Negation is covered in Lesson 14 — Mi no es doktor. See the open questions in grammar/.